Like any good artist aiming for iconic status, Bon Iver’s main man Justin Vernon dabbles in a certain amount of unpredictability. For some that means public brush-ups with drugs, sex and/or guns, but for Bonny Bear, it’s more like Click Here to Read Entire Story!
All the secrets of Bon Iver main man Justin Vernon’s workout regimen will be revealed when the band comes to Manhattan for a four-night run at Radio City Music Hall later this month. Vernon’s so-called “fitness guru” Jeff Rogers will be hosting two free public training seminars for 100 lucky New Yorkers next week…
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On June 19, Bon Iver will release their first iTunes session, a special seven-song set that Justin Vernon and his nine-member touring outfit recorded last summer, shortly after the release of their self-titled, Click Here to Read Entire Story!
When Bon Iver captain Justin Vernon first announced Chigliak Records, his very own Jagjaguwar imprint, in September, he didn’t reveal too many details about the label, citing only the aim to “release extraordinary albums that were never commercially released… deeply special [records that] deserve to be in the homes of listeners who may not subscribe to the notion that life-changing music is both popular and current…
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By now you must be somewhat familiar with The Legend of Bon Iver, a tale of heartbreak and homesickness and career-making self-discovery that has often eclipsed the individual narratives of main man Justin Vernon’s former band, DeYarmond Edison, and the band its members/longtime friends went on to form, Megafaun…
“maybe some peeps get why @scareymusic is the fucking best now,” tweeted Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon about a month ago, shortly after 4AD-shot footage of he and vocalist/longtime drummer/multi-instrumentalist/not-so-secret weapon Sean Carey stripping down tracks from their Grammy-nominated sophomore full-length began to circulate online…
Bon Iver is on its first-ever tour in Australia, where the act has been hitting multiple festivals and solo venue shows throughout the continent. Yesterday, Justin Vernon visited the soundstage at the Melbourne-based triple j radio to perform a cover of folk singer Anaïs Mitchell’s song “Coming Down,” for the station’s “Like a Version” series. Mitchell, a rising, Vermont-based folk singer signed to Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records, has recently benefitted from the blessings of the Low Anthem, and DiFranco herself (in the form of guest appearances on her 2010 record, Hadestown).
Vernon has pretty consistently championed other artists since day one, one of the most notable being his open worship of Bonnie Raitt, whose songs he’s covered for Bon Iver 7″ B-sides. He and the band also make it a point of touting friends’ new releases, by artists from fellow Secretly Canadian/Dead Oceans/Jagjaguwar folk act Bowerbirds to the red-hot electro/minimalist Poliça, often via Twitter. (In effect, this habit of covers and promos makes it much easier for Bon Iver fans to see where the band — or Justin Vernon, at least — has come from, and where they’re going.)
The BI guys are coming back to the states next month, just in time for their two-weekend Coachella 2012 gig. Watch Vernon perform Mitchell’s “Coming Down,” below.
Post-Grammys, Bon Iver are boiling it back down to the essentials. Last night, the band posted video of a nearly 25-minute studio session featuring Justin Vernon and bandmate Sean Carey (who, incidentally, has an impressive solo project) performing five Bon Iver tracks on dueling grand pianos. The set, recorded in London at Associated Independent Recording (or AIR) Studio’s Lyndhurst Hall (according to the studio’s website, it’s one of the largest recording rooms in the world), is a stark retroactive move from Bon Iver, Bon Iver, the album for which the band received Best Alternative Music Album last Sunday. The tracks from that album performed here are given the For Emma, Forever Ago treatment, or even that of Blood Bank, the band’s interim EP. In other words, it reminds listeners that the air of intimacy that sold over 300,000 copies of For Emma isn’t going away, now that Bon Iver has, however reluctantly, nabbed some Grammys (and another 325,000 copies sold — before the awards).
Watch as they perform even more intimate (if it’s possible) renditions of “Hinnom, TX,” “Wash.”, “I Can’t Make You Love Me” (the heartbreaking Bonnie Raitt cover Vernon performed solo for the B-side of Bon Iver’s “Calgary” 7″ becomes a duet now), “Babys,” and “Beth/Rest.” All feature a few upgrades in arrangements or melodies — not like they needed fancy tricks to keep our attention here.
By the way, in case you hadn’t heard (or were still confused as to who the hell we’re talking about), SPIN spent Grammy weekend with Justin Vernon as he navigated his first-ever trip to the awards, and after winning Best New Artist, Vernon gave SPIN an exclusive post-Grammy Q&A.
The televised portion of the 54th Annual Grammy Awards haven’t even begun yet, and already Foo Fighters are leading all winners with four trophies. Skrillex has three, as does Kanye West. Taylor Swift is (ironically?) right behind with two wins, the same number Adele has so far. And Bon Iver has converted one of his four nominations into a win, for Best Alternative Music Album, beating out Radiohead! “I had completely forgotten how stiff the competition was,” Justin Vernon told SPIN. “It’s a trip.” It is indeed, friends, and we’re about to embark on a three-and-a-half-hour-long one together at 8 p.m. Get ready for our official live blog to lift off then!
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Rumor had it Bon Iver did a little jamming with late-night’s coolest house band when he was in New York recently, and now the evidence has finally arrived as a web-only clip from Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. Justin Vernon and the Roots’ ?uestlove, longtime Twitter pals, are totally vibing on this funkified remix of "Perth," the first track on the four-times-Grammy-nominated Bon Iver, Bon Iver. Watch the video and see if you, too, believe in a wondrous, mystical, smooth-funk-jam future where Roots Iver is a real thing.
And if you haven’t already, check out our recent SPIN cover story on Bon Iver. He’s nominated for Grammys!
