‘Greater Longevity Than If We Had Relied On Triple J’: Local Acts Overseas [Part 2]

Newcastle’s Vacations have recently returned from their second American tour this year. Ahead of the band’s most recent 32-date run, which was rapturously received by both critics and fans alike, multiple shows were added, and there were also many venue upgrades due to overwhelming demand. Their unstoppable single Young – which featured in multiple viral TikTok trends and was taken from the group’s 2016 EP Vibes – has just gone Platinum as well (this song is also Gold-certified in Canada, Australia, Mexico and Poland). 

Calling from LA the day after the final Vacations show in this latest US touring stint, drummer Joey Van Lier admits, “It’s been very humbling for all of us, for sure; just sort of the explosion of it and how quickly it ended up happening, really… For what felt like the longest time, we were just completely independent, to the level at which we did a European tour in 2018 – if my brain’s working correctly,” he pauses, laughing. “And we were totally self-managed at the time – we didn’t have a label, we were just totally independent – and we toured Europe! 

"So, yeah, we existed for a very long time just DIY, really. The occasional person would give us advice or whatever, but we didn’t have a team or anything for years and years – the first four years or so of being a more professional band. And now we have our manager Leigh [Treweek], and then we have an Australian label and a US record label as well. So that’s all grown exponentially, I guess, in the last two-and-a-half years.”

READ MORE: ‘I Had To Leave Australia In Order To Succeed’- VASSY Talks Overseas Success [Part 1]

Throughout it all, the drummer says his band has “always tried to keep the same ethos”. “Vacations has always been a different project, from the outset,” he explains, pointing out it “was always a very internet-heavy project”. “So originally, Campbell was literally doing bedroom recordings, and he would just upload them online. And it didn’t really matter to him if they got traction or anything like that – he was never really worried about that stuff – and I guess we’ve just built on that tradition.”

Sons Of The East, an indie-folk trio composed of three mates from Sydney’s Northern Beaches, are another example of an Aussie band that is currently experiencing a greater level of success abroad than at home. They’ve built an impressive international following thanks to their energetic live shows and were also in the middle of a US/Canadian tour – 20 dates in total – when Nic Johnston, the band’s vocalist/keyboardist, responded to some questions via email. When asked to detail a couple of Sons Of The East’s proudest achievements to date, Johnston singled out their most recent European tour. “We had a lot of sold-out shows and played to more people than ever in a single tour,” he details. “For me, part of that pride is having fostered an environment where everyone on tour enjoyed themselves and felt valued in their role. Our whole team worked very hard to promote the tour off the back of the album release [2022’s Palomar Parade], so perseverance is a major factor.”

“A lot of people give up on their dreams, or their music careers, very prematurely,” Van Lier ponders, “like, there’s nothing wrong with not having immediate success, you know? People sometimes get caught up in thinking their first album has to be huge otherwise, the project’s not gonna work – or it doesn’t look good – but who cares? What does it matter? If you’re enjoying doing it, just keep doing it, and if it works one day, then that’s sick.”

So when did Vacations first start to notice their music resonating with American audiences in particular? “We started to get a lot more followers on our Instagram account in 2017,” Van Lier remembers. “All of a sudden, we had come close to 20,000 followers, and the posts were being interacted with a lot. And then the key indicator was always the Spotify numbers jumping. A few of the songs off that Vibes EP [2016] were getting up to a few million plays at that time, and so that was really what alerted us to it. You can see breakdowns of where people are listening, and the US and Mexico were always at the top, by far, so that’s when we started to say, ‘Well, we’ve gotta [tour the States], that’s where it’s working!’ 

“And at the time, we were obviously trying to make it all work, so we were touring Australia a fair bit. But it wasn’t really working in Australia too well; as in, it wasn’t translating to ticket sales.

“Another thing that I think is not really talked about very much is: touring is very expensive in Australia. When you’re in those early stages of a band, things like flights and all that kinda stuff is considerably expensive.

“It’s interesting just how many cities there are over here – and how populated it is – like, you really can play a lot of shows. We’ve joked that not that we would do it, but you could totally play 200 shows here [in the States] as a tour! I’m sure there are bands that do that but yeah! There’s just no end to the number of people over here and the amount of people that go to shows, so it’s definitely different, very, very different.”

“Touring has always been the thing that's afforded us the biggest spikes in interest, specifically our three headline tours in Europe,” Johnston points out. “We’ve worked hard to create a live show that is really fun, positive and energetic, so it's where we're really able to connect with fans and create a memorable experience that they'll go away and talk about – there’s no currency more valuable in music than word of mouth.”

“Word of mouth about your project is definitely a huge thing in the US,” Van Lier agrees. “I think one of the things that helped us as well is kids just talking to their friends and stuff, and they find this band on Spotify, or demos on SoundCloud, and tell their friends about it and it spreads naturally… We’re proud of the fact that we’ve been able to build a very natural fanbase.”

It was in 2016, Van Lier says, that Vacations noticed “a significant amount of streams happening” for their song Daydreaming (from 2015’s Days EP). “Then it never stopped, really, and just kept sort of growing and growing and growing, and we definitely noticed that there was a lot of interest in the US, in particular, and in South America, in Mexico. And then it really, really astronomically spiked around the time the pandemic started.”

After much deliberation, Vacations decided to go ahead and release an album, 2020’s Forever In Bloom, at the start of the pandemic. 

“We just sorta thought – you know, continuing that tradition of not worrying too much [about the outcome] – it was relevant then, to us, so it felt natural to put it out regardless,” Van Lier recounts. “Then shortly after that, this TikTok trend started to happen with the song Young, but then that transitioned to other songs as well, and then more different TikTok trends started happening. And then we had this astronomical explosion in listenership and the amount of eyes on the project. There was already enough attention for the project that we had intentions of [touring over to the States], but it really, really spiked at that point with the TikTok trends, and it’s just been growing at an astronomical rate ever since.”

In case you’ve been living under a rock and missed the first TikTok trend to feature Young, we ask Van Lier for a brief summary: “It slowly grew for a while, and then, the way TikTok goes, a little trend will start, but that one just exploded.

“I dunno if you’ve seen many of them, but it’s like a mash-up between that old scene from Skins, which I remember watching when I was young – well, I was too young to really watch it, but my brother used to watch it, so I’d kind of watch it from across the room kind of thing,” he remembers, laughing. “But, yeah, it was really interesting. 

“The other thing we’re happy about is, a lotta the TikTok trends that happen with songs, like, the song, or the trend itself, can get really annoying – you see thousands of those clips and people kind of hate the song in the end. But I think we’ve been lucky that there hasn’t really been any sizeable amount of backlash, I guess, which we were kind of worried about – or we expected – just because of how tumultuous TikTok can be. 

"But I think we kind of dodged a bullet there. I dunno if it’s because of the style of music the song is, it’s hard to really put your finger on, but we never really ended up getting backlash for it being everywhere, which is nice. And to also see it transition to other songs in the catalogue developing their own trends – or being used after the initial Young and Skins trend – still to this day is really nice, it’s really cool.”

Just last year, Young was at the centre of yet another TikTok trend – 'Knock', which saw users tap their camera along to the start of the track before stepping back to reveal something – and this even caught the attention of pop superstar Lizzo!

Artists are increasingly able to make a name for themselves through less conventional routes these days, and there’s no longer just one set pathway to success. Even without ticking off more traditional success indicators – like being added to rotation on specific radio stations or award nominations/wins – it’s definitely possible to carve out a sustainable career in music. 

When asked to rate the level of support Sons Of The East have received from more traditional channels in Australia, Johnston responds, “Despite being largely ignored by triple j, we've had great support from ABC local radio, and some spins at Double J, which has been nice. It's been a blessing and a curse. Triple j still has a massive influence over the Australian music industry, especially when it comes to festivals, but we've slowly built ourselves a really solid fanbase here in Australia that isn't reliant on traditional channels. This means we have greater longevity than we might have if we had just relied on triple j.”

Van Lier shares: “I think I remember hearing a stat that, I don’t know how exactly accurate this is – and I really like triple j, and I listen to [the station] – but apparently the listenership of triple j, for an example, is the same as some of the bigger college radio stations here [in the US], you know? And they have, like, 5,000 of them – it’s wild! There are so many radio stations, so it’s a totally different ballgame.

“Don’t worry about that radio stuff too much, don’t overthink it, then generally I think it’s just bound to work for you; you’ve just gotta keep working at it. And if you don’t get the triple j play and stuff like that, just don’t worry about it too much; we never did. 

“But we also don’t really care. It’s like, if they don’t want to play us, fair enough, that means someone else is getting played that, I dunno, maybe deserves it more or needs it more or something – it’s all good. 

“It’s a drop in the ocean, I think, for the greater worldwide music scene. There are thousands of other avenues to get your music out there. But we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing, and if people like it, they like it and if they find it, they find it. If they don’t, maybe one day they will.”

When it comes to Vacations, Van Lier also reckons authenticity has been key to growing their fanbase organically: “The authenticity that you bring to something really translates. And I think that maybe more than any other time, these kids really see that at the moment – that’s, like, hot on their agenda – and they like an artist that’s transparent and not fake. You do not have to put on some masquerade or create a false identity, you can just totally be yourself. And the more that you do that, the more it will work for you.

“If you just write the music or create the art that you wanna create, then people will find it. If it’s good music or it’s good art, there are people out there that are gonna like it if you make sure it’s accessible.”

When it comes to mapping out your band strategies and touring priorities, it’s important to try not to become attached to specific outcomes and instead remain open to exploring less conventional opportunities. Wherever possible, be more like Vacations and Sons Of The East: just focus on the territories that are picking up what you’re putting down and then wait for the others to catch up. 

“Don’t try and force it,” Van Lier agrees. “Whatever hand you’re dealt, then just work with that.” Johnston seconds this notion: “We try to put out heads down and work at whatever is in front of us at the time… We've built a solid following outside of Australia which is something that many Australian bands never get the chance to do, and we're very proud of the fact that we've done it under our own steam. For us, it's a testament to the idea that you can create a career out of music as an independent band.”