The Vaccines are an English indie rock band who formed in West London in 2010. The band's debut album, What Did You Expect from the Vaccines?, was released through Columbia Records on 14 March 2011 and reached number 4 in the UK Album Chart.They are currently the biggest selling new band of 2011.
They have drawn comparisons to The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Strokes and Ramones. The band, however, describe their influences as "'50s rock 'n' roll, '60s garage and girl groups, '70s punk, '80s American hardcore, C86 and good pop music". They have toured extensively and opened up for the likes of The Walkmen, Arcade Fire and Arctic Monkeys.
Formed in early 2010, the band consists of Justin Young (guitar/vocals; formerly known as acoustic folk artist Jay Jay Pistolet), Árni Hjörvar (bass), Freddie Cowan (guitar, younger brother of Tom from The Horrors) and Pete Robertson (drums).
The band was initially formed by Young and Cowan in the Summer of 2009 with a third member who soon left. After months of attempting to perfect their sound, the band uploaded the demo "If You Wanna" to youtube in August 2010 and the song immediately received praise from people such as Zane Lowe, who named it as his 'Hottest Record In The World' on 18 August 2010.
After playing their first gig in Leicester, they embarked on their debut UK tour between September and November 2010, and interest in the band led their first London performance (at The Flowerpot in October 2010) to sell out, with the audience including Alex Kapranos, Marcus Mumford, and members of White Lies and The Maccabees, and 200 people having to be turned away. The performance was awarded 4/5 by The Guardian and described by Clash as "fantastic, exhilarating and exciting". It was in this same article that the magazine predicted the band could help usher in a new era for guitar music.
On 29 November 2010, the band released their debut single "Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra)" / "Blow It Up", in the UK, which was limited to 1000 copies and released on Marshall Teller Records. Both videos for the double a-side were directed by Doug Hart of The Jesus & Mary Chain fame and Wreckin' Bar reached number 157 in the UK Singles Chart.
Only one minute and 24 seconds long, it was named "Track of the Day" by Q magazine and was well received critically. The band continued to tour the UK for the remainder of the year (whilst concurrently recording their debut album), followed by documentary makers from Vice Magazine. They recorded their first ever radio session for Marc Riley's BBC 6 Music show in December 2010. The band also performed live on Later with Jools Holland, the first band ever to do so before releasing a single.
On 5 January 2011, they were placed third in the BBC's Sound of 2011 poll and, in the same week, appeared on the cover of NME Magazine for the first time. The band then spent the beginning of the year touring on the 2011 NME Awards Tour, supporting Crystal Castles. They also travelled to America for the first time where, in New York, they were watched by Debbie Harry. Having been signed to Columbia Records, the band released their second single "Post Break-Up Sex" on 24 January 2011, where it debuted at number 32 in the UK.
It was at this time the band were nominated for an MTV Award for "Best New Band of 2011" and a Critics' Choice Brit Award. Following a trip to SXSW, the band then released their debut album What Did You Expect from the Vaccines? on 14 March 2011 through Columbia Records, to generally positive reviews. The album was going to be released on the 21 March 2011, coinciding with the release of The Strokes' fourth album Angles, but was brought forward a week, leading to speculation that the band's label were keen to avoid this.
On 10 June 2011, The Vaccines performed as a supporting act for the Arctic Monkeys in a 10,000 capacity tent set up at Don Valley Bowl, Sheffield, playing alongside Dead Sons and Miles Kane. It followed a trip the two bands had made to America together, where The Vaccines made their network television debut performing "If You Wanna" on the Late Show with David Letterman. The Don Valley gig ushered in a summer of festivals around the world, of which the band claim to have played in the region of 45.
The Vaccines ended their summer at the Reading & Leeds Festivals where they were joined on stage by members of The Horrors, returning the favour later in the day. The band were named by NME Magazine as the number 1 band of the weekend. It was not the first time The Vaccines had collaborated on stage. They have previously been joined by Lyle Preslar of Minor Threat and Paul Thomson of Franz Ferdinand. Under slightly different circumstances, the band have also been joined by Kate Moss, who plays drums and guitar with them in a television commercial for Rimmel.
In September 2011, the band were forced to postpone tours of Japan and the USA, as well as shows across Europe, after singer Justin Young encountered a reoccurring vocal issue which has seen him operated on 3 times in the space of 9 months.
The band have discussed plans for album two, although no details have yet emerged. In August they debuted new song, "Tiger Blood", produced by Albert Hammond Jr of The Strokes at his New York studio.
In September 2011, during a performance at the 9.30 Club in Washington D.C, The Zombies dedicated the song "This Will Be Our Year", often cited as Justin Young's favourite song, to The Vaccines.
