“Happiness as a feedback loop”, a small talk with Vacations

The Australian band is back with a new album, “Pursuit of Anything”, set for release on October 2, and we talked with them about it.

[Qui l’intervista in italiano.]

Pursuit of Anything captures Vacations at a turning point as Burns reflects on the disorienting, often contradictory experience of growing up, tracing his path from Newcastle (Australia) to Los Angeles and New York — caught between ambition and the more traditional lives unfolding back home. Written by the band and produced by Burns, the album finds Vacations operating as a fully creative force with Burns drawing constant inspiration from his bandmates’ lives and perspectives: exploring how they’re each living out different lives yet share a common experience, all in their own “pursuits.”

Vacations is a band that loves to break records: sold-out world tours, double-platinum hits, and more than 3.7 billion streams. Today, they took 10 minutes to talk to us about their music, as well as emotions, togetherness, life stages, and places close to their hearts.

Hi, guys! Thanks for your time. How are you? I know you just wrapped up a long, sold-out tour around the world. How was it?

Exhausting, but still fulfilling. The tour was two months or so and involved a lot of flying due to the routing we had. This resulted in a lot of time spent passing through airports, going through security and customs, and waiting for luggage. Everyday started to feel the same, but we were progressively getting more worn out from the time zone differences and rushing to get to the venue after landing. In future, I wouldn’t have multiple continents back-to-back on a tour. I don’t think it impacted any of our performances, we’d give our all for it, but it did get close. Like I said though, the shows themselves were still great and it was wonderful to meet fans all over. Truly a case of, “oh no, my steak is too juicy and my lobster too buttery”, y’know?

Speaking of distances, your latest album, “Pursuit of Anything,” set for release on October 2, was composed between the United States and Australia, with Campbell in Los Angeles and Brooklyn and the rest of the band in Newcastle (South Wales). What was it like to write new songs with band members scattered across the globe? It seems to me that you still managed to find great chemistry.

We did it with No Place Like Home as well, it’s honestly not as wild as it seems. I write a lot of the foundation for a song anyway, so almost every part is sketched out and exists before a demo is shown to everyone else. From there, we can refine once we’re in the studio. Some parts will change, and others stay the same.

“Pursuit of Anything” is inspired by each of your lives and by reaching the age of 30, that is, the end of what we might call “post-adolescence”, and by all the changes and decisions that adulthood brings. What conclusions can you draw about your lives so far? If you could go back in time, what would you change, and what wouldn’t you?

I’ve thought about this before, but ultimately, I don’t think I’d change anything. I know if I did, there’d only be other things I’d want to change because I wouldn’t be able to predict every outcome. I think that takes away the whole point of life.

Question for Campbell: What’s it like to move away from home, more or less permanently? You’re all together on tour for months at a time, so I imagine you’re used to it, but how does changing something that serves as a point of reference for all of us, like our home and our city, affect your writing and inspiration? How much do you think our feelings and emotions can change when we’re in a place that’s more or less far away?

You find a new home, and so you find new meaning. I think it’s a beautiful, and necessary, process if you truly want to grow as a person. My hometown is so different compared to what I grew up in that it’s not the same anymore, and that’s okay. I live in NYC now and I love it here.

“Pursuit of Anything” was produced by Campbell (congratulations!) and mixed by Beatriz Artola, who has a truly impressive track record as a producer and has just collaborated with Geese on their album “Getting Killed.” Were you looking for that kind of inspiration for your sound?

Not really. Beatriz was recommended to us by our A&R. We gave her two songs that were complete opposites to one another, Last Call and I See Myself in You, and when we heard back the test mixes we knew she would be perfect to mix the record. I’m glad we had someone recommend her because she became a mentor, and a friend, for me. We’d spend days in her studio in Brooklyn going back and forth together mixing and trying out different ideas. Beatriz would handle the technical side and I’d be there to suggest some creative ideas around reverbs and delays, and then once she knew what I was trying to do, she could refine it further. I felt like we quickly built a respectful and admirable rapport between one another. I’ve never had so much fun in the mixing stage before.

The title you chose for your upcoming album, according to Campbell, “is about happiness as a feedback loop, how we’re always chasing the next thing.” But what if I told you that if you hadn’t chased your “next things,” we probably wouldn’t be here talking right now, so it can also be seen as a positive thing! What do you think? I think you can be happy with what you’ve accomplished!

Thank you. I try to remind myself of that. I think if I wasn’t in music then I’d be a photographer or a gardener.

In closing, all that’s left is for me to thank you once again and wish you all great music! Would you like to say hello to your Italian fans and the readers of Kalporz? Will you be coming to play in Italy on your next tour? 

I’d love to! I hope we can make it to Italy on our next European tour because the last time we were in Italy was 2019.