Vacations Reflect on a Decade of Change With Pursuit of Anything

WORDS: SAVANNAH GALLIMORE

For Vacations, growing up has been a collective experience. Across a decade as a band, the Newcastle-formed project has watched its members move through entirely different chapters of life, marriages, parenthood, international moves, and, in frontman Campbell Burns’ case, a move to New York and the looming milestone of turning 30. Those changes became the foundation for Pursuit of Anything, an album that reflects on the strange feeling of realising that everyone around you is moving at their own pace.

Ahead of the album’s release, Temper spoke with Burns about growing up, choosing the surprisingly last-minute title Pursuit of Anything, the band’s evolution over 10 years, and the surreal experience of watching Vacations grow from DIY shows in Australia to international stages.

Temper: This album feels like it was a reflection of growing up and realising that everyone around you was moving through life at different paces. What was happening in your life that made you want to explore that theme for the album?

Campbell Burns: I was watching a lot of friends and family in my life going through periods of transition and milestones, both good and bad. I guess I just couldn’t help but reflect and become very introspective, whether it was about myself or the people around me.

That was primarily due to the fact that I had turned 30 last year. It felt like there was all this anticipation and sense of dread at the thought of turning 30, and then it finally happened and the day after my birthday, I felt fine, honestly. Now I’m very glad that I’m in my 30s. But then, by reaching that milestone, we had been a band for 10 years. So I just got very bittersweet and nostalgic and really reflected on how we started and how we’ve grown and changed over the years.

The record really details that process as a band, but then also individually. Whether it’s myself moving to New York, Joey getting married and becoming a father, or Jake also getting married, Nate moving from his hometown to Melbourne, we’re all kind of scattered across the world, and we’re all sort of at different points in our lives. You can’t not notice it. I mean, it’s very apparent, especially when we’re all together and we’re talking about our lives and catching up. It’s like, “Oh, you’re doing this now. Oh, that’s very different. I don’t know what that experience is like,” and vice versa.

T: Your bandmates live in Australia and you’re in New York. To make this record did you come back to Australia? Did they go to New York? Were you guys kind of separate during the making of it? How did that work?

CB: It was easiest and most logical for me to fly back to Sydney because that was where the studio we wanted to record at was based. It was also not too far from home for all of us, because we all come from Newcastle. I wanted to see my family, my mum and dad. That made it very convenient. Joey isn’t too far away from his child, so if anything happened, he could easily get back home.

When it came to creating the record, I would do a lot of the preliminary writing, kind of getting the demos down, and then presenting that to the band. Then we would go into the studio, rehearse parts, talk over what we liked and what we didn’t like, and then slowly everyone’s influences and playing styles, their own artistic vision, started to creep into the tracks until it went from a Campbell Burns song into a Vacations song.

T: Did you know what you wanted this album to be about before you started writing, or did the themes reveal themselves as time went on?

CB: I always seem to run in parallel. I never necessarily or intentionally set out to write about a very particular theme or get too specific. I think that’s impossible for most people, honestly. Or maybe I just write differently to other people. I don’t know. Who can say?

It’s funny, too, because as I was writing this album, I would have to rewrite lines or whole sections of songs over and over again because I’d realise that I had already done it on a previous album. So lyrics were kind of a tough spot for this record, until I started sitting down and really thinking, like, “Oh, okay, hold on. I’ve got this one song here. What is this really trying to say?” It was like putting a puzzle together. It slowly reveals itself to you over time. Sonically, I knew what I wanted, and I think that helped inform the direction and thus the concept and the themes. Then I would just sit on my rooftop with my laptop open and Rhymes.com open as well. Shout out to that website. It really helps.

T: How has your songwriting and producing changed as Vacations has grown?

CB: I think I just know what I’m doing now. I mean, not that I didn’t in the past, but I was definitely a bit more naive. I didn’t necessarily know the concepts as deeply or, you know, what preamps to use, what compressors to use, how to actually apply certain effects, how to kind of use those tools in the studio to reinforce the narrative and emotional impact for the listener and for myself, rather than just, like, “Oh, it sounds cool.”

When I was initially writing and producing 10 years ago, it was just very simple, A to B. It was very much like, “Oh, I wrote a song. That’s amazing.” That’s all I really cared about. Whereas now it’s like, “How can I use the studio as an instrument to help shape the vision?” So there’s a lot more thought and intention put into it these days, simply because I’ve just done it enough times now and I have that experience behind me.

T: What song from the album are you most proud of?

CB: “Lucky Forever,” purely because it just feels so timeless. I don’t want to toot my own horn or anything, but I just remember the writing process for that song in particular and how it felt right immediately. Whereas most other songs, again, it’s that idea of a puzzle piece where you’re trying to put things together and you’re not really sure how it’s going to work. There’s doubt, or maybe you’re hesitant about even trying to make the song work, so you want to scrap it and write another song. But with “Lucky Forever,” we were like, “Oh, this feels good. This feels like something I would listen to.” It just feels like it’s broad and has appeal, and I just feel really proud of it.

It’s also the simplest song on the record. I’m pretty sure the whole song is only really two chords, and with the lyrics, I just wanted to write a very straight-to-the-point love song, because it’s inspired by Joey and Jake’s weddings, respectively.

T: The title, Pursuit of Anything - what inspired that?

CB: Crunch time. We had to deliver the album, and we did not have a title. In the past, I’ve usually had a title from inception, from the start date. Whereas this record, I just had no idea what to call it. And I kept fooling myself by saying, “Oh, no, leave it with me, guys. I’ve got a title. Don’t worry. I’ll think of something.” And then we just got to, like, a day before the deadline, and I was like, “I just don’t…” I did have some titles, but it was one of those things where we all couldn’t agree on a title either.

Then it got to this point where everything just felt like noise. Honestly, you could have slapped any string of words onto it, and it would have been the title. But Joey pulled out “Pursuit of Anything” from the lyrics. We were all like, “Yeah, this suits.” As I sat with it, I think it’s probably the most appropriate title for the record.

T: With the album about to be released, are you nervous? Are you excited? How do you feel right before an album comes out?

CB: I think right now I feel calm and impatient. Maybe a little bit stubborn. I don’t know. I’ve already been writing new music, whether it’s for Vacations or other projects, or working with other people. So I’m in a very different headspace. Whereas the record, all albums kind of serve as a time capsule. I feel like I’ve been sitting on the finished record since, I want to say, February or March. And it’s funny to think, like, by the time it comes out, it’s like, “Well, I’m not that person anymore.” And it’s not the latest iteration or update or whatever of myself. But I’m excited for people to hear it, it’s not mine anymore. It’s yours.

T: You’ve produced this record yourself. Do you find that you’re a little more hyper-aware and hyper-critical when producing your own music?

CB: I honestly think it is 50/50 either way. I’ve worked with producers in the past and felt exactly the same, and I’ve produced my own music and felt exactly the same. I’ve just done it so many times at this point, especially being a musician for over 10 years now, where it’s like, I just don’t, not that I don’t want to say I don’t care. I do care, but I don’t get as stubborn about it, and I can let things go.

I’m more present and grounded than I used to be. Whereas when writing Vibes or Changes, I would become so obsessive to the point where I was making the most redundant changes, or there would just be diminishing returns. Now we just have a very good sense of self, and I know when to cool things, like, when something is done and you need to move on. That comes in part from producing other artists or working with other songwriters, because you’re kind of in a different perspective. I know what the process is, and I know what it would look like for myself because I’ve seen other artists go through it.

T: You just did an Australian tour in July. How does it feel to play shows in other places compared to playing shows in Australia?

CB: Good question. And it’s different every time, and it depends on the shows themselves. Some of my favourite shows have been in cities where I never could have anticipated it to be so good. Like, Mexico City or Paris. In Mexico City, people are so passionate, almost to a point of being fanatical, but it’s great because getting that feedback, that kind of energy, really helps your performance and really makes you feel fulfilled as an artist. And then you get to give that back.

But Australia is a funny one, because I feel like we’ve only cracked it in the last couple of years. I mean, we’ve been touring Australia forever and a day now. We’ve played a lot of DIY house parties, shows, and warehouse gigs. We’ve played in, like, any possible venue you can think of in Australia. Those shows are held really close to my heart, and the communities that we found ourselves in all across Australia.

But as things have scaled up, I feel like I can now really connect with our Australian audience because I know who they are now. As we come back to some cities, it’s like, “Oh, you are coming back again for this?” It felt really good. Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, everywhere was just fantastic. It makes me excited to come back because I’m like, “Oh, people have…” I don’t want to say “caught on,” but I think just people in Australia are finally aware that we are an Australian band. I think sometimes people assume that we’re just an American band because we’ve always toured America.

T: What was your favourite part of being back in Australia that was non-tour related?

CB: Seeing my family, seeing my friends, seeing my greyhound. Being able to have good coffee so consistently. The nature, the beach, driving on the correct side of the road, having a digital driver’s licence. Honestly, everything.

T: You’ve gone from playing smaller Australian venues to appearing on big festival stages and late-night television. Was there any particular milestone that still feels surreal when you think about how far Vacations has come?

CB: I think Jimmy Kimmel, only because it felt like I blacked out. We waited all day, well, we didn’t actually wait all day. We waited for, like, a long time, and then we did one rehearsal, and then we went back to the green room and waited some more. Then we finally got to do our performance. We got a chance for two takes, but we did it in one, and it was just over immediately. And having the cameras on you and the teleprompters and everything. Getting introduced, that felt very surreal because it felt like it almost didn’t happen. It felt like a very out-of-body experience. I was watching myself from third-person because it felt so intense.

T: When looking forward, what do you see in the future for Vacations?

CB: Truly, I have no idea.

I’m just looking forward to seeing my best friends and going back on the road. The whiplash you feel from seeing your friends of over 10 years, and you’ve been through so much together, and you’re together on tour for months on end, and then you’re just apart again, is so bizarre. I need to continue talking to my therapist about it, which is an ongoing thing, but just, like, I’m like, “I miss them. I want to see them.”

I probably wouldn’t see them until the next tour, so I’m just looking forward to touring again because then we all get to hang out. It’s like a big sleepover. It’s just fun.