THE VACCINES
The Vaccines are a tough band to second-guess. Having risen to swift success with their first album, What Did you Expect From The Vaccines?, they followed up with a second, chart-topping LP that solidified their names as indie big-timers; Come Of Age hit number one in the UK album charts, and The Vaccines were everyone’s favourite band. Yet somewhere along the way, they reached a plateau. A third album, released in 2015, seriously missed the mark, and with some of the old guard calling it quits on the band, the identity of The Vaccines was brought into question.
Fast forward to 2019. A fourth album release, international tours, and a rock band looking comfortable in their skin again. But there’s no doubting that The Vaccines have undergone wholesale changes in their eight-year tenure, as a sprightly Árni Árnason explains. “It’s kinda funny to think about how we ‘don’t want to be an indie band’ now, because initially we it was that we didn’t want to be a ‘rock’ band. I guess it seemed a bit Dad-like at the time. But now, what we’re better at than anything else is being a rock band.”
A change of sound isn’t the only thing that’s undergone a transformation, with three of the four original members of The Vaccines remaining in what is now a five-piece outfit. “When Pete [Robertson] quit it was a pretty low point for the band. Nobody felt good about that period and what was happening there,” reflects a sombre Árnason. That being said, the new members have been welcomed with open arms: “It felt kind of weird always having the five of us on stage and then just the three of us ‘in the band’. Their joining felt like the natural thing to do – they were helping with considerably more than playing live shows for us.”
The Vaccines are currently touring their latest album, Combat Sports, on which their main influence and collaborator was producer Ross Orton, who has worked with Arctic Monkeys, MIA and Roots Manuva. “Ross is a fantastic rock and roll drummer, that’s sort of his start point with everything. When you go in with him, it’s proper rock and roll.”
Indeed, once the poster boys for UK indie rock, this latest LP release makes use of big room guitar riffs and hefty drum licks as the foundation for much of the album’s backbone. And Árnason is intent on embracing where the band are right now, with a fan-base that spans their back catalogue. “Now, the people will have come to the show for different reasons, for the different eras. There are people that are nostalgic for the first album because they fell in love with someone at university, and then there’s an 18-year-old kid who just fucking loves Combat Sports. There’s something incredibly joyous and celebratory about that.”
The Vaccines released the nostalgic single All My Friends Are Falling In Love during their stint on tour in China late in 2018. Interestingly though, they had to wait until they arrived back on home soil to play it out. “In order to play China you have to submit a set list to their government quite a long time in advance, but obviously we couldn’t account for songs that hadn’t actually been written at that point. Censorship really reaches out there, it’s pretty crazy.” Whilst The Vaccines came of age some time ago, they’ve rid themselves of any teenage angst and are enjoying themselves again.
CHARLIE COTTRELL
Great Hall, Cardiff, Fri 2 February 2019.
Tickets: £25.50. Info: www.cardiffstudents.com
