Sorry, Sad People, But It Doesn’t Look Like Any New Bon Iver Music Is Coming Soon

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Sometimes when an artist skyrockets to the top, adjusting to fame can be difficult for them. Such seems to have been the case for indie rocker Justin Vernon, leader of Bon Iver. When you win Best New Artist at the Grammys and Justin Timberlake is impersonating you on Saturday Night Live, it probably feels like a timeshift from four years ago when you were recording your debut in a cabin.

Still, in an interview in Grantland, Vernon says that he has no regrets, even though Bon Iver is pretty much done for the foreseeable future:

“As far as putting a record together, I don’t really know what’s happening. Our show is our main focus. We don’t have anything booked after this. We don’t have any plans. We’re not being secretive — we just don’t have any plans. It’s just about, Play the show and put all of our energy into one show — for once in my life, let’s just play one f*cking show and care just about this one show for a goddamn change.”

If there was one thing, however, that the “Holocene” singer wishes he could have back, it would be his ad campaign with Bushmills Whiskey:

“It was great for us, and everybody that worked at the company was great, and I love Bushmills and wanted to do the deal because my dad loved Bushmills — we bond over Irish whiskey. But the problem is that it isn’t just Bushmills. It’s run by a corporation, and you kind of forget that they’re not interested in you or really what you’re doing. They’re interested in your popularity and your reach, and it felt really sickening after a while. Not badmouthing Bushmills the company, but I regret it. I regret it because it wasn’t us and they put my face on a f*cking billboard, even though it was a cool billboard and I was with my brother and my sound engineer and we’re buds and we got drunk while we had the photo shoot. I just missed it. I missed the mark on that one and I let it all kind of get to me.”

So what is he doing now, if not recording with Bon Iver or shilling for Irish whiskey? Starting a music festival, of course. Eaux Claires Music Festival, taking place in Eau Claire, WI not far from Justin’s home, is a new fest curated entirely by the singer. And he said he created it out of necessity, due to all the other big festivals being so similar:

“I mean, I really don’t ever want to cross the line into hating on stuff or judging other people. [But] f*ck Lollapalooza. That isn’t rock and roll. I’m not going to sit and pretend that we aren’t charging people money to get into our festival. But I don’t know, man. You can see it every year: Coachella, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo — the lineups are the f*cking same. It’s about numbers, it’s about bottom lines, it’s about measuring groups and cultures of people and the numbers that they represent on a bottom-line agenda. All the lineups are becoming more and more the same, the same f*cking headliners.”

Who knew Justin Vernon was more punk than Perry Farrell? Either way, his Eaux Claires Music Festival takes place on July 17-18 in Wisconsin if you’re nearby. And you should probably hold off on your best falsetto impression of him.

(Via Grantland)

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