I recently checked out the song Lover’s Daze by The Vacant Shapes, an up-and-coming indie rock band based in California. If you’re into rock or indie music of any kind, you really need to check their music out!

By Jane Howkins

You recently released a single titled Lover’s Daze, which we reviewed. What can you tell us about the track?

Lover’s Daze is a rally call disguised as a love song. We’ve had a version of this song in our pocket for years, but it wasn’t until I sat down and rewrote the lyrics to reflect my frustration with all the anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric taking hold of politics here in the states that the song clicked. Lover’s Daze also saved this EP. We were in the studio the week the pandemic hit. We had tracked everything besides vocals when everything shut down. A year into shutdowns we had pretty much abandoned the idea of finishing the EP but listening to an early version of Lover’s Daze reignited that spark to get the EP How Much Time Does It Take to Heal? across the finish line.  

How has the reception been so far, and where can Lover’s Daze be purchased?

The reception since releasing Lover’s Daze has been good. We really didn’t know what to expect since we decided to just drop the single with little pre-hype or promo after coming straight off of two years of being publicly inactive due to the pandemic. I think for us it was more about just getting the EP out into the world, putting that time in lockdown behind us and time to start moving forward as a band again. You can support us directly by purchasing our music on Bandcamp: https://thevacantshapes.bandcamp.com

Do you plan to release any more singles in the near future?

Absolutely. We just finished mixing a new song called Ghosts of Sunflowers, which will be out in November. From there we are switching our approach to releasing music. We’ve always self-produced our music, but now we are going to start tracking ourselves as well. Hopefully this allows us to drop songs more frequently, ideally monthly.

You’ve also just released an EP titled How Much Time Does It Take To Heal? What can you tell us about the EP?

How Much Time Does It Take to Heal? is the follow up to our EP Furniture Rearranged and the singles Cutting Up My Knees and What I’m Not. It was originally tracked in 2020, right before the pandemic hit. We nearly shelved the record a year into the pandemic, having gone through and changed so much individually and as a group. Instead, we worked remotely to reconnect to it and wrap it up. I rewrote all the lyrics to reflect what we’d been through during this period. At the time, there was no other objective or expectation besides getting it done and out to the world, so it’s been nice hearing the positive feedback we’ve been getting. 

Have you any plans to release a full-length album?

An album is always on our minds. We write so much and so often that we are sitting on a large catalog of demos that we’re continually rearranging into mock albums, not to mention adding more and more to it each time we get together. I think for the next while we will be focusing on experimenting with ways to record, figuring out what we can do on our own, and dropping a lot of singles. The reality is albums are expensive to make, especially as a fully independent band, but I think once we lock in a solid process a debut album will be inevitable and it’s something we are looking forward to.

Did the pandemic hinder your work much?

Very much so. Right before the pandemic hit, we were riding a good wave of momentum from our previous EP and singles. We were looking to build on that momentum by dropping what is now How Much Time Does It Take to Heal?, but mid-way through tracking the lockdowns happened. It really brought everything to a halt and felt as if our momentum was completely lost. We lost our practice space, had to close the DIY venue we ran, got laid off from jobs, went through a whole lot of personal things and struggled with mental health challenges. Just learning to adapt to all the uncertainty in itself was a challenge. Having lost all the momentum and having to restart from a stand still felt like a very daunting task, but in a way that long pause and reflection helped us regroup and really figure out what sort of band we were and wanted to be moving forward. I think we’ve become stronger for it and think that shows itself in this EP and the releases that’ll follow.

Your music has a garage rock sound. What/who influences you most as artists? What have you been listening to recently?

Song 2 by Blur is the reason I picked up a guitar and all I listened to when learning how to play were bands like Pixies, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Nirvana, Interpol, Cage The Elephant, The White Stripes, The Vines, The Strokes, Metric and so many more, so there will always be a natural layer of that garage rock in our writing. As a group we pull inspiration from everywhere though. We all listen to such a wide range of music. I think it’s important to listen to music outside of your genre and see what you can apply in your own way to your songs. I’ve learned more about songwriting in the last couple years listening to Harry Styles, Arlo Parks, Courtney Barnett, Joy Crookes and Tobe Nwigwe then I have listening to anything that sounds like us. Right now, I’m listening to a lot of spill tab and Yeek. Debt Collector by Mothé is a banger of a song that’s been on repeat.

You’re based in the California. What is the music scene like in your part of the world?

We’re three and half hours north of LA, and about the same distance south of San Francisco. There was a bit of a vacuum when it came to all age venues in Central Cali, especially for any loud bands. Pre-pandemic we’d host all age shows for ourselves, local friends, and touring bands at our friend’s warehouse space. We had a proper stage, lights and sound equipment there, salvaged from one of the last venues to get shut down in our area. Our buddy that has the space repairs old arcades and is an equipment wizard, so the walls were lined up with working arcades. It was a pretty special and rad place to cut our teeth and test out new songs. It was also nice to bring the talents from LA and the Bay Area to our town and connect the two cities’ music scenes. The pandemic killed all of that, but in the future it may come back to life in some form.

Do you have any tour dates lined up for the UK?

Not as of now. In all honesty, we haven’t gotten to the discussion of touring post pandemic yet. It’ll come when momentum picks back up. The UK is top of our list though, as I spent half a year living and gigging in London right before forming The Vacant Shapes and would love to go back and also play other cities. 

Any last words for the fans?

We just want to give a huge thanks to everyone that’s been with us since the start, for all the kind DMs on IG checking in on us during the pandemic. Those messages meant the world to us and are a huge reason why we pushed through to get How Much Time Does It Take to Heal? done. To all our new fans and people just hearing about us, we look forward to growing with you. Send us a hello on Instagram, we love hearing from you. Expect a lot more music, and more often this year too.