Radiation Vacation: Treading Lightly

I saw Radiation Vacation - made up of Mikey Silva, Chris Arnold, Beau Barker and Ben Raines - roughly a year ago at the Springville Battle of Bands. My now defunct band (that really doesn’t need to be named or mentioned) had entered, among a slew of other groups— including Radiation Vacation’s close friends, Cudney. We went on earlier than most bands, and by the end of our set, we thought we had an honest chance in placing. Maybe even taking first. But then Radiation Vacation took stage. After just one song into their set, we realized they had brought something that we at the time just couldn’t muster: they were tight, well composed and had an energy that was just plainly infectious. And even as a loud hardcore, thrash-punk outfit - a couplet of genres not usually compatible to most ears (especially in Utah County) - there was a cunning and universality to them that piqued the ear of just about everyone in attendance. I particularly remember an old woman saying something along the lines of, “it’s so scary! but it’s so good!” Radiation Vacation would go on to take first that night.

A year later, I was able to (virtually) sit down with the band and talk about the Springville Battle of the Bands, what they’ve been up to over the past year and, critically, how the global pandemic has affected the trajectory of the group.

Tell me, how did it all begin?

Mikey: Radiation Vacation started… kind of a while ago. [It] started with Chris and another buddy of ours, in like 2016.

Chris: Yeah, like 2016.

Mikey: October or something like that. Yeah, and wrote our EP - the Wasteland EP - which we put out a while after that. Started playing shows. [And then we] went on like a year and half hiatus and, uh, yeah— ‘cause our bassist and drummer kinda quit. Starting moving around, moving on with their lives, I guess. But we went on a year hiatus and then asked Ben and Beau to join in November of 2018..?

Beau: Yeah, that sounds right.

Mikey: Yeah, we’ve been kinda going strong until quarantine happened.

And where are you guys based out of?

Chris: Eh, like Provo, Springville area.

Mikey: Utah County.

Makes sense. The first time that I saw you guys was at the Springville Battle of the Bands. I think you guys won that actually.

Chris: Hell yeah.

Was that a year ago or two years ago? I can’t remember.

Chris: Uh, I think it was a year ago, yeah?

Everything from pre-pandemic just feels weird and distant now.

Mikey: It does, man.

On that note, how is Radiation Vacation holding up now that the world is ending? How has the band dynamic changed?

Mikey: Uh, we haven’t been up to a whole lot, honestly. We were in the middle of recording our album that [we’ve] sort of been saying we've been working on for longer than we should have been [saying we have]. But we have barely anything left to do on the album. [But then] quarantine hit and … schedules changed— people have been sick and whatnot. So it’s been a little hard to practice. But we’ve been coming up with different merch ideas and things like that that we sort of can do on our own [apart from one another].

Beau: I think a good part of it is just trying to be mindful of, you know, the current situation that all the bands are going through. Yeah, we’ve been taking it easy just kind of… we decided we’re just going to be safe until something like [Salt Lily Presents] came up, as far as like a show or an event... [that’s] when we could start really buckling down with this again. I don’t know. I guess our focus has been more on finishing or wrapping up an album— just kind of taking it easy for now.

So at this point, what else is there to do on the record? What is stopping you from wrapping it up?

Mikey: So, mostly with the pandemic it was just, um… like trying to get together and finding time, and then our practice space got a little, uh… overrun… All we had left really was the vocal tracks on like two or three [songs].

Beau: I also want to mention, too: we are self producing as far as recording it and mixing it. We’re not gonna necessarily master it ourselves ‘cause we found somebody that’s very good at doing that. So, you know. I think the big part to self-producing is [to] just make sure you get it right the first time. Me and Mikey had a conversation about this not too long ago. We just wanna make sure that when we put this out we have no regrets about it, you know? It’s real easy to get wrapped up in the excitement of releasing your first album, and with that comes a feeling or a sense of— rushing it out into the public. Then you realize that it wasn’t your best. So we’re really trying to make sure we cover all the steps and all the framework to make sure that when we do put it out, it is what we can be proud of and say that it is our best work that we could possibly do. So it’s just kind of been taking it… in a light stride, treading a little lightly.

So what’s this album going to sound like? 

Mikey: I guess, if I was to put it in a nutshell, it sounds like... [laughs] I don’t know. Like old school punk mixed with some of the newer hardcore, maybe. And, uh, a lot of post-hardcore in there.

Ben: I think that it will be a really diverse album, that’s for sure. I mean, it’s pretty much like… hardcore metal, like a little bit of Slipknot vibes… And then we have some [songs] that are straight up old school punk … Mikey said there is some post-hardcore in there. Lost Boys are in there, too, so definitely some kind of slower jams, too.

Mikey: Yeah, the slower jingle.

Ben: It’s an interesting album. It will be fun.

To catch a preview of their soon-to-be-up-and-coming-record, tune into Salt Lily’s free weekly live stream tonight, featuring Radiation Vacation. And for those seeking apt apparel for the end of the world, the band has also just opened up an online merch shop.