Most Australian bands would tell you that the dream is to not only carve out a respectable niche for yourself on home soil, but to make impressive in-roads overseas. For Newcastle’s Vacations, that’s exactly what they’ve spent the past decade doing.
Initially formed out of solo recordings made by frontman Campbell Burns, Vacations soon began releasing a string of EPs and singles, with debut album Changes arriving in 2018. Since then, they’ve released three studio albums, and amassed a huge following.
2016 single ‘Young’ has gone Gold and Platinum around the world, bringing in close to 900 million streams on Spotify alone, while 2018’s ‘Telephones’ has performed similarly, surpassing 800 million streams.
Needless to say, they’re doing pretty well for themselves, and these global in-roads now extend to Burns himself living in New York, where he continues to craft stellar tunes.
Those stellar tunes will again be a focus of their forthcoming album, Pursuit Of Anything, which arrives in October. It’s on track to be a big one for the band, but before that, they’ll be returning home for a national tour next week in support of their recent single, ‘Holy Grail’.
Ahead of the big few months for the group, Burns was kind enough to join me for a chat where we discussed his musical growth, the growth of the band, and of course, his eclectic musical taste.
Anyway, have a listen to Vacations’ Pursuit Of Anything when it arrives in October, buy a ticket to their upcoming tour, have a listen to our chat, and I’ll see you at the end of the episode for some general housekeeping.
Campbell Burns’ Trusty Chords
Campbell’s One Influential Artist
- Dev Hynes (Blood Orange)
Campbell’s Three Impactful Albums
- Weezer – Weezer (1994)
- My Bloody Valentine – Loveless (1991)
- Slowdive – Souvlaki (1993)
Campbell’s Five Trusty Songs
- Delegation – ‘Oh Honey’ (1977)
- Glen Campbell – ‘Wichita Lineman’ (1968)
- Milton Nascimento & Lô Borges – ‘Clube Da Esquina Nº 2’ (1972)
- Bobby Brown – ‘Every Little Step’ (1988)
- SWV – ‘Rain’ (1997)