New Zealand singer/songwriter Liam Finn is on the road to promote his Yep Roc solo debut, “I’ll Be Lightning,” including a support slot for Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder’s first solo run in April.
“I’ve known Eddie since I was about 10 or 11 years old,” Finn tells Billboard.com. “He’s kind of a friend of the family, I suppose.”
This won’t be the first time Vedder and Finn have shared the same bill. “My last band Betchadupa supported Pearl Jam in Australia, and [Eddie] would get up and sing a song with us,” Finn recalls. “This is the first time he has really wanted to work with me on a tour, which is really exciting.”
Finn describes his live performance as a “wild one-man-band kind of show where I make guitar loops, then go and play drums. It’s pretty gnarly and wild.” The artist toured last year with his dad Neil’s band Crowded House, but “this will be the first time in America doing the 16-hour-drives-in-a-band kind of touring,” he says.
Asked what it was like growing up in such a musical environment, Finn says, “I don’t know any different. It was normal for me, because it was my reality. But it was really amazing to travel and watch music every night. It was a pretty inspiring way to grow up.”
Meanwhile, Finn says he will spend quite a bit of time Stateside promoting his current and future material, which includes a spring tour with indie act Laura Veirs. “I’ve got my visa for three years, so we’ll probably be here quite a lot over the next few years trying to take on America,” he reports.
