Why did Kurt Vile’s record label send him a vegan cheesesteak sculpture?
The Philly guitarist's "Pretty Pimpin'" has topped 100 million Spotify streams.
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Kurt Vile is the face of Philadelphia indie-rock, from his “Wakin on a Pretty Daze” mural in Fishtown to the sense of place that runs through Philly-proud songs like “Loading Zones” and “Mount Airy Hill (Way Gone).”
In a career that stretches back 15 years to his 2008 Constant Hitmaker debut, the beloved Lansdowne-born guitarist has built an impressive body of work but scored only one true hit in conventional popularity terms. That would be “Pretty Pimpin,” the ingeniously Zen understated bop, that country star Keith Urban once put on a five-songs-I wish-I’d-written list.
This month, “Pretty Pimpin” achieved a milestone when it crossed the threshold of 100 million streams on Spotify, more than twice the number of Vile’s second-highest streamer “Wakin on a Pretty Day.” To honor the achievement, Matador Records, the record label that released the song on Vile’s 2015 album, B’lieve I’m Goin Down, sent him a unique congratulatory gift: a cheesesteak sculpture.
A vegan cheesesteak sculpture, that is. And what more appropriate prize could there be to reward a member of Philly rock royalty?
Vile — who now records for Verve Forecast, the label that released his 2022 album, Watch My Moves — does not eat meat and is a vegan cheesesteak aficionado. Matador had the sculpture modeled after the vegan cheesesteak at Triangle Tavern in South Philly, which is his current favorite. (The members of the Matador staff, however, have a preference for a “whiz wit’” meaty steak from Pat’s Steaks, just down the street on Passyunk Avenue from the Triangle.)
The singer-guitarist expressed his appreciation for the award from his former label in a tweet with a picture of the impressively realistic looking vertical sandwich-trophy standing tall on the floor of his Mount Airy home.
“A hundred million streams of “pimpin” in a hectic KV world (and once I played a stoner squirrel),” he wrote, making reference to his voice acting performance as a rodent wearing a Philly Boy Roy shirt in the 2016 HBO animated series Animals. “Thanks @matadorrecords for my delicious trophy.”
Vile is about to embark on a concert tour of New Zealand and Australia in support of Watch My Moves that is scheduled to kick off in Auckland on March 23.