Interview: Pilot Crisis - Deep Procrastination and Creative Breakthroughs Behind 'No Vacancy'

‘No Vacancy’ was born out of a moment of deep procrastination. What was happening in your lives when this song first took shape?

Mitch: My wife and I had finalised our venue and vendors for our wedding. I was excited to start the next phase of my life but felt I was stuck in a rut staying at home now thinking I had to save for the honeymoon. It felt like I’d go to work, come home and sit in front of the TV and recycle that routine. I’d have my guitar out and noodle around if I was bored of TV but kept coming back to cartoons.

Evie: I had just moved to Townsville with my fiance, and we were set up in a hotel for the time being – I remember lying on the floor and spending hours going over the song. We weren’t the happiest about being posted to Tville even while we tried to make it feel like a fun adventure. I distinctly remember feeling the song was so fitting as I avoided signing my new work contract, sitting in a room that actually had a pretty good view…

Mitch, you mentioned zoning out to King of the Hill while noodling on guitar — what made that particular moment spark something worth turning into a track?

Mitch: It was a time where we were trying to work out what songs to record so I to have my guitar with me all the time to finish them. Sometimes I’d catch myself looping sections into the abyss while staring at the TV, trying to work out the melody. I’d make up lyrics using the show and if I didn’t get anywhere I’d just lose myself back to the TV eventually

Evie, you pushed your vocal approach on this song. What new techniques or ideas did ‘No Vacancy’ unlock for you as a performer?

Evie: For me it was about learning to hit each consonant with enough attitude that you could feel how bitter each word is. The other part is Chen always pushing me to try going an octave up on certain segments in each song – it always adds a fun challenge as I have to work out belting techniques for different vowel shapes, word deliveries, word lengths, and how to bring my voice out of a belt to tail off the end of the word.

The track has shades of early WAAX and Paramore — how do those influences naturally weave into the Pilot Crisis sound without overshadowing your own identity?

Mitch: I’m a sucker for fun guitar riffs and both of these bands are full of them. I wanted to write riffs that looked like you were enjoying yourself on stage and were fun to play that make you want to jump around when you hear that first strike. I felt this when I had the Wild and Weak EP on repeat and seeing them live made you wanna thrash around.

Evie: I very much model clarity and technique off Paramore songs, but for this song I also had myself listening to a lot of The Pretty Reckless, Halestorm, and lots of Marmosets to pick out the attitude they bring and learn why some word deliveries are chosen.

You worked with Matt Cochran and Brock Weston again on this single. What made this team the right fit for bringing ‘No Vacancy’ to life?

Mitch: Matt, Tim (drummer) and I played in a band together in highschool called “Minus Nine” and have remained close friends ever since. We know each other quite well which allows us to enter recording mode relaxed and focused. He gets the best performances from us while knowing what we are trying to achieve. It’s fun working together so it doesn’t feel tedious. Brock was Matt’s recommendation from when we recorded Misguided. We loved how it sounded so have always gone back to him.

Evie: Matt became a friend of mine through Chen, and we recorded our first two singles with him. He is genuinely one of the coolest people, but also he is so smart and knowledgeable that it makes every recording process a breeze. Plus he has good humour so every recording session is pure fun (even with hours upon hours of recording). These things are super important when you’re anxious, it helps you just focus on the art instead. Brock is an automatic option for us, he knows our sound well.

You’ve had a big run recently with tours alongside Vipersnatch and support slots for Beddy Rays. How have those shows shaped the new music you’re creating?

Mitch: Watching Vipersnach take the stage felt like an explosion. They were confident, passionate and loud in what they believed in. Off stage they were kind, funny and actually chatted with us. It set the bar for what bands we wanna play with. Beddy Rays welcomed us to the show with open arms and were the nicest guys. They showed us it’s all about having fun with your mates and not taking things too seriously cause they can be your family. When we think of Beddy Rays we think remember it’s for fun.

Evie: Playing alongside Vipersnatch was so much fun – now that’s a cool group. It was awesome to see how they work together. And playing with Beddy Rays was amazing – it showed us what it’s like to play in front of a bigger crowd, and also exactly why they’re at the top of their game. Both their groups being good friends within themselves made me aware of how important the PC group is, and how our friendship matters and that people love to see it. But it made me competitive in a way – I want to be as engaging on stage as both of these bands, and I want people to love what we bring to the table.

Pilot Crisis has evolved from the angst of ‘Misguided’ to electro-pop touches on ‘Sad Sunshine’ and strings on ‘Turning On The Tele.’ Where does ‘No Vacancy’ sit in that evolution?

Mitch: Instrumentally when I write I try to keep things different to feel like I’m always evolving creatively. We went from ‘We want a guitar heavy riff punk song’ to a ‘Get Tim to layer some drums and see what happens’ and then a ‘let’s see what Evie can come with on her cello.’ Whenever someone in the jam room has any idea, you gotta give it a try and in this case it was a ‘does any of our songs start on a verse yet?’

Evie: No Vacancy is different for listeners, but every song will be – that’s the Pilot Crisis way. We don’t want you bored, and I swear we get better with every song we write together.

The song captures the spiral of overthinking and boredom. What were the biggest real-life moments that fed into that feeling?

Mitch: I finished maybe 3 seasons of King of the Hill over a weekend while plonked on the couch. I’d get restless but not wanna leave what I was doing. I’d feel bored but not have the energy to really do anything. I’d make mental plans to go outside and be outdoors with nature but I seemed to make an imaginary anchor I couldn’t release.

Your lineup changes, marriages, and new babies all happened while building this next chapter. How has real life chaos influenced the band’s creative energy?

Mitch: It puts what matters most to us in perspective. I went from wasting hours every day to now knowing I may only get 30 minutes to myself to maybe even start writing something new. My daughter is just over one and I love sharing everything band related with her, even if it’s just playing The Wiggles for her. Playing music is the greatest drug on the planet for stress relief and I feel quite lucky to have it as an outlet when things can get overwhelming in dad life. I try to make the most of what time I get in keeping things simple and not overthinking too much riffs or song structure and challenge myself to just do what I can with what time is available to me in the moment. If I only get an hour in the week to show the guys a riff I’ve been working on, then it’s presented more raw, likely with a lot of mistakes but it feels more real when it hits your ears first. We channel that into some new songs coming up and we’ve been having a lot of fun writing this way.

With more singles on the way and momentum building, what does the next stage of Pilot Crisis look like heading into 2025?

Mitch: We have several singles ready to be released so it’s just now on us to stick to our plan and put the effort into releasing them over the first half of the year. While that’s going on we are putting a focus on finishing off writing songs and getting started playing gigs with more hometown heroes.