Another month, another Artist feature! May’s artist has their debut album out next week. Get to know Vistas ahead of time:
For Fans Of: Bad Suns, Sam Fender, Coin, Walk The Moon
Why You Should Care: It’d be easy for music fans to understand and accept when an artist has to recalibrate their plans to release music in the middle of a pandemic, as it’s been a decision that we see artists continue to fall back on during this chaotic time of uncertainty.
For Vistas, this was not an option. Ahead of their debut album dropping, Vistas was planning to debut at SXSW, tour in the UK, and continue to ride the high of dropping an album that’s been three years in the making. Fortunately,Vistas have been able to successfully promote Everything Changes In The End, out May 29. Thanks to their experience touring with a handful of artists like The Kooks, The Wombats, and Circa Waves, Vistas have formed a dedicated fanbase throughout the years who have been eager to participate in the band’s current promotion process. Despite this general feeling of unease that affects all of us, Vistas has managed to make it a time for even more connection and collaboration. After brainstorming how to get their fans involved in the process, they were able to create a music video for their single, “15 Years,” which features a handful of fans sharing how they are using their time in quarantine.
Vistas’ music and a nice reminder of what life can sound like outside of our homes in the real world without a pandemic on our hands. A press release mentions that Everything Changes In The End is “packed full of teenage nostalgia encapsulating lost loves, new loves, long summers and unbreakable friendships.” Basically, it’s everything we are hoping to experience any day now once the world is able to go back to normal. What else could you want out of an album right now?
Check out Chicago Haze’s Q&A with the band’s bassist, Jamie.
Chicago Haze: Can you briefly explain the creation of the band and how you initially began collaborating?
Jamie: In high school, Prentice (our lead singer) was in a band with me and a couple other friends. He was also in a band with Dylan (lead guitarist). After high school, both bands split up—but we wanted to keep making music. We decided to merge the two bands and make a new band called Vistas.
Chicago Haze: The band has had a ton of success by touring in the UK. What was that experience like?
Jamie: We’ve been lucky enough to tour with some of our favorite bands. It’s brilliant playing big shows in front of people who may have never heard of us before. It’s also great being able to see how the production side of it works when shows get bigger.
Chicago Haze: Obviously, we are living in an unprecedented time right now. How has the current pandemic affected the album rollout? Having your fans in a video is certainly a great idea, can you explain how that came to fruition?
Jamie: Our biggest headline tour to date was scheduled for the week our album came out. We also had in store shows planned. But as the world changed, so did our plans. We’ve decided not to reschedule the album release because the world needs music now more than ever. We had plans to go to London to record a music video for “15 Years,” but this wasn’t possible for obvious reasons. After discussing what’s best amongst us, we decided our fans are stuck inside and thought they might want to get involved. We had over 300 emails saying they were interested – we were blown away!
Chicago Haze: What are some artists and bands that Vistas are inspired by?
Jamie: Collectively our favorite records are Is This It by The Strokes and Hats Off To The Buskers by The View. In our teenage years, we listened to those two records nonstop. We’re also big fans of Chicago band Twin Peaks. We saw them in Glasgow earlier in the year.
Chicago Haze: What’s the process been like to create your debut album? What was surprising about the process, your favorite parts about it, etc?
Jamie: We recorded the majority of the album in Ramsgate, England in a residential studio called Big Jelly. We whittled down all the demos we had and decided what was going on the record. All in all, we were living in the studio for 3 weeks. Looking back it’s crazy how we managed to get all the stuff recorded in such a short amount of time. The artwork for the album and singles are collage styled, and very summer based. Ramsgate is on the coast of England, so the artwork is sort of a homage to our time there. We recorded a few tracks in Liverpool at Parr St. Studios. It was great recording in two completely different places. Liverpool has the hustle and bustle of a busy city whereas Ramsgate is next to the sea and more chilled out.
Chicago Haze: What’s next for Vistas?
Jamie: Our debut album ‘Everything Changes In The End’ comes out on May 29th. Our biggest headline shows to date are now rescheduled for November. We can’t wait to get back to gigging and showing everyone what we’ve been working on!
Chicago Haze: Anything else you’d like to add?
Jamie: Stay safe!
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