WHERE are you right now?
I just finished my last leg of my US tour on Sunday in Minneapolis, MN. Getting ready now for my UK/EU leg to start in Bristol.
How challenging was writing and recording your new album, The Wild Swan, your first release for Ed Sheeran's label Gingerbread Man Records?
When it comes to creating music and writing songs, my approach and process has not changed at all. Despite the greater notoriety now, knowing that I'm not aiming to be a big pop star or a singles artist has been very liberating.
If I happen to write a song that someone feels compelled to push to radio, then we'll be all guns blazing. But that's never my starting point.
Certain songs just came about, like Burden or Coco. I didn't necessarily write them with the intent of them being on the album, but it sort of happened that way.
It wasn't so stressful putting this album together because I got to make it what I wanted it to be.
Was recording an album in Nashville always one of your dreams?
It was more about knowing that I would be able to make the music I wanted to make more than anything else. When I started this record, that's exactly what Ed told me to do.
I actually flew out to meet Jacquire King, the producer, in person before I agreed to work with him because I wanted to look in the whites of his eyes and make sure we'd be on the same page.
I didn't want something too clean, polished and commercial. I really just hope fans can sense the honesty of the record. It's pretty different from (previous album) Joy of Nothing.
In what ways?
There's a lot more about love, and new love, and re-discovering love on this record than there was on the last one. The last one was more about the death of it.
I just wanted to pick songs that felt good enough and felt like they belonged together somehow.
The Joy Of Nothing, sonically speaking, sort of tied in all together from top to bottom, and this record is a bit more 'considered tangents'.
Did you write it at home in Scotland?
I record lots of ideas on the road, then when I'm back home I pluck through the ideas and pick the ones that feel the most relevant to me.
How have you have developed/matured as a singer and composer?
In my younger years, I was trying too hard to writing songs full of contrived philosophy, speaking about things I had no clue about.
I think only when I started writing for the sheer joy of it did I start making anything I could be proud of. Everything I do has an effect on my life and how I see the world, and I think things often affect me subconsciously when I start writing.
What was it like to tour with your fan and now label boss Ed Sheeran? How did that experience compare to your own gigs?
With each show it's different. I did a lot of touring before I met Ed and have done a lot since as well. I certainly learned a lot from Ed. He's the first guy in history to do Wembley as a one-man show.
Ed pretty much does what he wants and makes it work and what is he? 25, 26? You can't not be inspired by that.
Did you ever meet him when his dad used to take him to your gigs?
I first met Ed on Arthur's Day in Whelan's in Dublin when we were both playing there at the same time. In fact, there is a video of me singing Hallelujah and it's the worst version of Hallelujah you're ever going to hear. It's so embarrassing.
But, apparently, I'd met him before. He reminded the other week that he came backstage with his dad at a gig I played in Norfolk and I signed a CD.
That was the first time I ever met him properly and chatted with him and even then I was struck by the tenacity of the wee fella.
You've also opened for Elton John this year. How did that come about?
Ed introduced us. He and Ed are good friends, they work together a lot.
I'm looking forward to getting out on tour with him again next summer, not just for the honour of supporting a living legend but to experience his performances night after night.
How does a lad from Bangor end up being friends with the likes of Elton John, Ed Sheeran and Beyonce and Jay-Z? Do you pinch yourself every now and then?
I'm still not sure! I'm proudly myself everywhere I go and maybe it is easier to respect that? I really don't know.
Beyonce and Jay-Z were just lovely, down-to-earth folks. I kept calling him Jay-'Zed'.
How difficult is it for you to be a father and keep up your trans-Atlantic work?
I actually was able to have my daughter on the road with me for a period of time this tour. It can be tricky when you're on the road with varying starts and ends to a day whilst trying to fit in homework too!
Ultimately, it's a beautiful thing to travel with your child in tow; I wouldn't have it any other way.
Does your famous moustache require a lot of upkeep?
Ah, it isn't so bad. I think I started it during the Joy of Nothing, which is maybe why I've kept it. I was on tour, hadn't shaved and went straight into the studio.
By the end of whatever that was – six weeks or whatever – I looked like Fu Manchu!
It started off really patchy, since it takes me about two months to grow any hair on my face at all. I thought I'd just leave it for a bit of a laugh one day. I'm always equipped with my 'stache wax.
:: Foy Vance plays The Academy in Dublin on December 8, Rosin Dubh in Galway on December 9 and Belfast's Ulster Hall on December 10. The Wild Swan is out now.
