Top 10 Lists, And More Of The Vacationist Story
This was a really exciting message to get today, a link to The Houston Chronicle that had The Vacationist album featured as one of the top 10 albums of 2014! I paused for a second when I saw how it was listed and thought I should make sure mine and my band's story is told... The album, "The Vacationist" (self-titled debut) is one and the same as what I had intended to be "the last Cary Judd" album. At first I was a little sad because it was listed as "The Vacationist" by Cary Judd. To be fair, it was an album I began on my own after running a successful Kickstarter campaign. I had made my way through about half the songs before I started enlisting friends to join in. I knew there would be another music project of some sort after I put the "Cary Judd" brand name to rest, I just didn't think it would evolve so quickly. Long story short, the album that has been distributed to my Kickstarter supporters went out with the title "The Vacationist" by Cary Judd and a really great supporter and friend, Mike Damante was one of those supporters who also happens to have a voice at The Houston Chronicle.
The Houston Chronicle - Top 10 Albums of 2014
My bandmates are all good people. There is a surprisingly small amount of ego for a rock band, mine being by far the most overinflated. I guess I want to set the story straight, for me, for them and for the confusion that comes with finding a project like this in that second of evolution when it's in mid-mutation.
This album would have been made and distributed if I had never met them. It would have however been a very different album. It would have been unfocused, you know, one of those albums a writer might describe as "eclectic" if they were writing diplomatically and "all over the place" if they weren't in a punch pulling mood.
I want people to understand that The Vacationist is now a band. I was one-man-wolf-pack when this started, but that just isn't so anymore. So this is me straightening out some confusion that may have come with the multiple titles/versions of the same album and, in a sense, this is me writing to them to tell them how much they mean to me and how much I appreciate what they've contributed to "my" music, which has become "our" musical baby.
Conor Souhrada. Conor is 21 years old. He is by any measurable test a genius. Meaning, his ability to deductively reason and digest and understand technical knowledge is by my best estimation in the 99th percentile. In a room with 100 people in it, Conor is likely the most logical, skeptical, pragmatic, astute observer. What sets him apart from being a robotic engineer type is that he possesses curiosity. Curiosity lends to creativity the way hydrogen lends to water. Einstein said it as well as many other great thinkers and creative icons. He's young and he does not need a "Cary Judd" in his life to be a successful artist. As a credit where credit is due, he co-wrote the music on 3 of the 10 songs on the album and was a HUGE part of the production on most of the rest. Oh yeah, and he mixed the mess of garbled audio I sent his way into something that made sense. From a technical standpoint, he's better than I'll ever be, so thank Conor that this album was listenable at all.
Sunnie Lynne. Sunny goes by different names for her different roles in her different lives. One minute she's a polished professional photographer, the next she's leading a small cult of new age spiritualist, the next she's learning something new, always learning something new. She remains a mystery in many ways and I think that's what I love about having her in the band. She's the wildcard. While she's new to the music world, over the course of the album she had more than one "come to Jesus" talk with me about purpose. I had forgotten, or at least buried that, whether I like it or not, I am here to make music and to write songs. Her title as "executive producer" is so broad I don't know where to begin. She helped the album keep moving when it was stagnating, both by cheering Conor and I on, injecting finances into the studio, and to our surprise singing and throwing thematic ideas our way that ended up in the lyrics (see: "The Theory of Everything"). Sunnie would never subject herself to an IQ test (just a guess), if you were to give her one, she'd probably draw a picture on it, hand it back, and be dead serious that that would be a better way to understand her high level of intelligence rather than a series of multiple choice questions. By all accounts, she'd be right as she usually is. She also possesses that rare artistic curiosity that cause sparks to fly with anyone she collaborates with. She decided one day, as she often does, to learn to be a light designer. So of course the first few TVAC shows have had her on stage singing while literally playing lights from a keyboard, if you can fathom.
Kaleb Aaron: Kaleb is no doubt the Keith Moon of the band. He is the embodiment of rock and roll combined with this oddly pragmatic business mind. Science may someday look back at this era for answers to where humanity went through an evolutionary mutation and they will end up on Kaleb. He can hold more liquor than anyone in the band while he's explaining to you the interworking of google analytics, metadata, and other words I still don't understand. He was a musician we found a friend in when his band came to our studio to record. When they were done, he kept showing up so he ended up getting talked into playing drums. While Conor and I do enjoy chiding him on a legendary drum take we referred to as "flam-tastic", he is exactly the drummer you want providing the backbone of your band. He can hit as hard (probably harder) as the best of them and do it with swing and swagger, all while listening to the tick tock of the click and singing in perfect harmony.
Sam Carrier: Sam came pretty late to the game, but just in time to push one of the last songs from an idea to one of the quintessential Vacationist tracks (We Are The Glitch) as well as pitching in on the huge undertaking that is "The Pale Blue Dot" soundscape. I think I love Sam so much because we have some weird unspoken commonality in that we both see a guitar as it's own little orchestra. It's not just a tool to deliver melody and rhythm chords, it can be, if you're willing to explore it, a tool for soundscaping and orchestrating a piece of music. Sam also plays the role as the Zen master of the band. He has a very "let it be" attitude and is one of the most accepting people I've had the pleasure of knowing. I also very much admire his Christian philosophy. I know there's a lot of strife in the world over religion and beliefs in our time, but Sam is one of those gems that embodies the teachings of Christ in his everyday actions.