Isaac Tate, Sean Henderson and Jesse Lawrence are known as Urban Vacation, a funky indie rock group from Winnipeg.

Urban Vacation’s first full-length album Success With Houseplants came out on Aug. 10, 2018, but the band started recording just over two years prior.

“It was originally going to be much longer, but as we got further into (making) it, we cut it down quite a bit,” Tate says. “There were a few things that we cut off, and there was one song that was cut at the last minute that will be on whatever we release next.”

The band doesn’t have any specific plans yet for their next music release but will put out music videos for songs on the album in the near future.

“Hopefully, once spring comes around. That seems to be when the creativity starts to happen,” Henderson says.

The name for the album came from an odd find in one member’s basement.

“We do most of our recording and playing in Isaac’s basement ... One day, I saw this ring-binder book, and on the side it said ‘success with houseplants,’” Henderson explains. “Each page gives a very descriptive way of taking care of and making sure that specific houseplants stay alive in your house.”

The band says the name reflects the way they recorded their album. The DIY nature of the recordings gives them a homey feel that brought Urban Vacation success with their house-recordings.

“We tried to record it very true to what we sound like,” Henderson says. “We didn’t want it to sound super polished. It just sounds how it sounds, and that’s how we want people to hear it. Sometimes you lose what the music originally was when you get too polished.”

“Whenever people say that the album is messy, I really like that,” Tate says. “I think it’s naturally messy, but to an extent in certain parts we’re trying to make coherent sense of a mess. It was wild to make, and it turned into something very cool that we’re very happy with.”

Published in Volume 73, Number 12 of The Uniter (November 29, 2018)