Lunar Vacation is an indie rock band hailing from Atlanta, GA. With members Maggie Geeslin, Gep Repasky, Connor Dowd, and Matteo DeLurgio, the band has been jamming and constantly growing since 2016. While on tour for their most recent album, “Everything Matters, Everything’s Fire”, KCSU Music Directors Mia Templien and Ritika Janapati got the opportunity to sit down with the band outside of the Aggie Theater. They chat about the sound of their new album, songs they would love to cover, and the odd jobs everyone has to get by while still playing music. This interview was conducted on November 2nd, 2024.

MIA TEMPLIEN: So I noticed that you guys had a lot of room for experimentation on this most recent album. What are some ways that you’ve experienced with, like, a lot of instrumentation in your careers so far?
MAGGIE GEESLIN: I feel like this record, we really just wanted to make some more space, you know, and not be afraid to have space where it’s a little bit more bare. It’s really, we’ve talked about this a lot, where sometimes it’s easy to just layer, layer, layer, layer, and it make it sound really good. But especially for these songs, I feel like they were so emotional. And there’s a lot of moments on the record where it’s just Gep singing with the guitar-
GEP REPASKY: And just like one vocal, where usually before we would double it and add all this stuff. But it was-
MAGGIE: So I feel like that was kind of a, it was an intention going into the record, just being like, it’s okay if it’s sparse. And then when things come in, they feel more impactful and intentional. But yeah, it’s funny, because we did that and now, like, working on new music, we like one of that layer more stuff, and so it’s kind of just like getting it out of our system. Like, we didn’t do that the first time, so I wanna try it this time already, try something different.
MIA: Taking a page out of a lot of, like, earlier new rock, there’s a lot of space, but yeah, little guitar riffs come in and you’re like, whoo!
MAGGIE: Yes, yep, yeah. But at the same time, I guess we kind of did do some like, Wall of Sound stuff on this record, yeah? So I guess there’s a bit of everything, yeah. But I will say like playing-
GEP: We just wanted to play them get out of our comfort zone, yeah, yeah, yeah.
MIA: Have there been any other like instruments that you wanted to, like, experiment with, because you kind of found the classic, like-
GEP: Well, Matteo brought in a lot more auxiliary percussion on this record. He’s playing like roto toms, and he’s now, he’s, it’s enough where he brings it to the show. So he has bongos and güiro and wood block. So that’s really fun. Um, I feel like we kind of and we were also talking about just doing two drum sets at some point. And there’s, there’s points where there’s two drum sets on the record too, just like playing with the rhythm, I think that’s what’s really interesting to us. What else?
CONNOR DOWD: Baritone guitar.
MAGGIE: Baritone guitar, we have.
CONNOR: Yeah, we bring it. We caught a baritone on tour, and I don’t know. We’re just trying to make the drums sound a little different and try new things and take away stuff and add new stuff. But, yeah.
MIA: Speaking about how you had the two drum sets on the record, how do you feel it is like translating-How do you feel like, um, well, how do you feel it is translating stuff from what you recorded to live. What’s that process look like for you?
MAGGIE: Well, for the record, we played a lot of the songs together in live and, like, that’s what we wanted to do. We wanted to be able to easily play them and not have to, like, sit down and learn them, because we layered so much stuff on it. So that came pretty naturally. But there’s some songs that, like, you wouldn’t say, like, when you’re listening, you wouldn’t think it’s kind of hard to play, but then it’s really hard. Sorry, it’s like, really hard to play.
GEP: That’s a good point. Like the things that are actually the most straight up on the record, I feel like they struggle with live. Because they’re so bare bones-
MAGGIE: And they’re like relaxed, a lot of like, noise and stuff. And sometimes it’s easier to pull off when everything’s just kind of crazy sounding, and we have to really hone in. Those are the songs we had to work on a little bit more. But it’s been fun, a fun challenge. Yeah.
MIA: What songs for the record would you say, had that?
MAGGIE: The song “Just for Today”, which is like, kind of the most straight up song on the record. Like, you don’t have to hit pedals on and off. Like, it’s pretty straight up. And for some reason, that one’s been so hard for us.
GEP: “Erase All The B’s”.
MAGGIE: “Erase All The B’s”, which is also fully one live take. And it’s like, so magical. And then playing it live, it’s been, like, just, like, a weird adjustment, because we played that song, we recorded it, we probably tracked it like 17 times in a row, and we, like, just kind of got into daze, and then we picked a take that we liked out of that daze. And so doing it live, it’s like, kind of hard to get back into that mindset. I feel like, yeah.
MIA: Yeah. Definitely that one time, yeah, that one time, it’s hard to recreate. Yeah, totally. What’s the, what is your, what would you say, shifting gears a little, um, what’s your dream song that you’ve always wanted to cover? You can, you can do individually, like, because I know that everybody has a little niche.
MAGGIE: I think you just said something today.
GEP: I actually, yeah, I have a playlist because I really want to, I want us to cover.
MIA: That’s awesome.
GEP: I really want to cover. Let’s see, what did I say, actually? Wait, what was that song?
MAGGIE: Was it “Fate”?
GEP: That’s one. There’s a song called “Fate” by Club Casualties, also known as Lucy Cooper B Handy. That’s a song we all really like, oh! “Waiting on a Friend” by The Rolling Stones. We were all listening to that today. I like the song “Onie” by The Electric Prunes. That one’s good. Just another… “Just Another Honky”, I think it is, by Faces is really good. “That’s Not Me” by The Beach Boys, love that song.
MIA: Beautiful.
GEP: And that’s probably it. Or, like, “You’ve Changed”, Billie Holiday. Anyway, that was like five answers. That’s just what’s on my playlist right now. Yeah.
MAGGIE: That takes it from, yeah, you covered all the ground. Yeah.
MIA: That’s beautiful. Connor, did you have any that you were-
CONNOR: Well, yeah, I was- brought up the Rolling Stones today. I just really had that in my mind, and we talked about it. But other than that, I’m not too sure. I kind of, like, I thought, I think it’d sound cool if we tried some sort of, like, carpenters, kind of like oldies sounding stuff would be cool. But, yeah.
MIA: Yeah, yeah, awesome. Those Carpenter songs are really, like, vocally strong-
CONNOR: Very fun.
MAGGIE: I’m up for the challenge.
MIA: Yeah, always. So you’ve been through a couple phases in the past. How do you see your group evolving into the future. Like, what do you, what do you see for Lunar Vacation coming up?
MAGGIE: Dude, I actually don’t know. I just want to keep making songs. Yeah, I think one, I guess a goal that we have is to record more frequently and put out albums more frequently and but I don’t know what they’re gonna sound like, which is kind of exciting.
GEP: Yeah, I think that also coincides with, like, somehow having it be our main job, that would be awesome for all five of us, you know, yeah, just having, like, the time and resources to go record as much as we can and tour too, because we all really like touring, but definitely like having that, like, luxury of making more records. Yeah, so-
MIA: You said, you said your main job?
GEP: Yeah.
MIA: Do you do anything else other than-?
MAGGIE: Oh, yeah, we all have a little odd job. Most recently, I’ve been working farmer and market stand selling-
MIA: Aw. That’s awesome! That’s so sweet.
MAGGIE: That’s like one of the cuter jobs at I’ve had recently.
MIA: That’s beautiful.
MAGGIE: There’s been other ones that are not as glam, but-
GEP: Got the dog sit.
MAGGIE: I dog set pretty frequently.
GEP: Connor works for coding startup thing.
MIA: You have over 300,000, 300,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and you’re working a farmer’s market.
MAGGIE: Yeah, it’s how it goes.
MIA: That’s indie, that’s indie.
MAGGIE: Yeah, well, and just like, it’s, it’s hard, because everything we make has to be divided by five, or actually six, because we also have, like, a band chair, you know. And then, like, you know, just having, just paying people here and there, like, it all adds up, you know, but I think we can make it work one day. And Matteo does pottery. He’s a potter, so he works with this local artist called Rose Grown in Atlanta. And then Ben has his own recording studio in the city, so he’ll be, he does that too.
MIA: Yeah, it’s been awesome sitting here with you guys.
GEP: Yeah!
MIA: Did you have anything else that you wanted to chat about? Anything else you wanted to say to the good people of KCSU and our listeners?
MAGGIE: Thank you for listening to us.
GEP: Thank you for supporting college radio. Yes, we love the radio. Hope you have a wonderful day and yeah, find some kindness in yourself and in others.
RITIKA JANAPATI: I actually have one more question. We asked this, we ask this to everyone, but what would be your record that you play in an outer space spaceship that you want the aliens to hear, to be like, this is what good music is like.
MIA: To put on the Golden Record, like, if you had to pick like an album or a track.
RITIKA: You can do an album or track.
MIA: Something you want-
CONNOR: For the aliens? I’m probably, for me, it’d be “Dance Yrself Clean” [by LCD Soundsystem]. Probably it’s like super, like, high energy.
MAGGIE: I’d probably play them “Harvest” by Neil Young.
MIA: Oh, beautiful.
GEP: You know, I’m trying to think.
MAGGIE: What’s the first album that comes to your mind? When you think-
GEP: Well, “Charm” by Clairo. But I think it’s just because I’ve been listening to it. Honestly, maybe, no. “Haha Sound” by Broadcast.
MIA: Awesome.
GEP: Yes, that’s my answer.
MIA: Awesome. Yeah, that’s beautiful. All right. Well, Lunar Vacation, thank you so much for sitting down with us.
BAND: Thank you!
MIA: We had a great time. Have an awesome show, you’re here at the Aggie Theater. It’s November 2nd. Have an awesome, have an awesome show.
BAND: Thank you guys.

“Everything Matters, Everything’s Fire” is out now anywhere you get music!