Villagers Plan 'Kerouac Fantasies' for US Tour

Posted on Jun 7th 2010 11:00AM by Eric R. Danton

Although Villagers leader Conor J. O'Brien performed in March at SXSW, the Irish singer and songwriter hasn't spent much time in America. All the more reason, O'Brien tells Spinner, that he's excited about a pair of US jaunts, one on the East Coast that starts June 16 and a West Coast trip slated for July.

"I'm looking forward to this tour like you wouldn't believe it," he says. "I'm going to live out my Kerouac fantasies."

O'Brien played most of the instruments on Villagers' deeply compelling full-length debut, 'Becoming a Jackal,' but he performs the songs live in various configurations, ranging from five-piece band to solo.

"This next stint in the US is going to be solo, which I'm kind of looking forward to because I like mixing it up a bit," he says. "There's a certain intimacy to solo shows, and I dig that."

Performing alone has become second nature for O'Brien, whose creative process includes visualizing how songs will go onstage.

"One of the things I do when I'm writing is I have a very definite idea of performing the song in question to an audience," he says. "So I always have that in my head when I'm writing the lyrics, and that helps me. It's my way of making sure it doesn't become too personally self-indulgent. That definitely plays a part, but I always want to the songs to be malleable -- I want them to be heard by someone else and be heard on their level, and not just on my level."

With only an LP, an EP and a single, Villagers don't yet have an extensive repertoire, but O'Brien manages to fill out a set list.

"I do songs from the previous EP, and from the previous single, and I've done the odd cover," O'Brien says. "But mainly I stick to the album, and I like to change the arrangements quite a lot, so some of the songs are almost unrecognizable in terms of the rhythm or even the chords sometimes. I sort of mix and match a bit. And there are a couple of other songs which haven't been released."

For Villagers tour dates, check out their official MySpace page.