Music
Hear an exclusive mix of The Vaccines’ obsessions
With new album English Graffiti ready to drop, Justin Young shares his thoughts and influences.
The Vaccines
© Jesse Jenkins
When The Vaccines called their chart-topping 2012 album Come Of Age they jumped the gun. Both that and their debut album – the smart-alecky titled What Did You Expect From The Vaccines? – fizzed with teenage-daydream indie-rock befitting those Ramones comparisons and power-pop descriptions. It’s their latest (third) album that’s better suited to the coming-of-age narrative.
English Graffiti – recorded with psych-pop magician Dave Fridmann and Beck’s recent producer Cole M Greif-Neill – sees the London-based boys return with poise and swing in place of youthful bluster, plus some hard-won melancholy. With sky-scraping anthems Dream Lover and Give Me A Sign and the contemplative Denial and Want U So Bad, the band aren’t resting on their laurels.
Ahead of English Graffiti’s release on May 25, we caught up with main man Justin Young. He’s also made us an exclusive mix of the music The Vaccines obsessed over during recording.
For a band whose music fizzes with youthful verve, do you hate the idea of maturity? It’s pretty crass. Every band and artist has the capacity to keep growing if they want to – from an artistic standpoint, I mean. But no one can remain the most fresh or youthful or dangerous or exciting band. You have to evolve and adapt and grow with dignity. Someone like Nick Lowe is a good reference point for me. He still taps into his soul because he understands his soul isn't 21. But his music is still just as beautiful and complicated. If I’m still playing three-chord rock when I’m in my fifties, I’ll be worried.
The Vaccines
© Jesse Jenkins
Did you make a conscious effort to move away from the cartoonish indie-rock of the previous albums? For the first time we had the benefit of time and reflection and it gave us an opportunity to make mistakes and work out what the band means to us and what we want it to mean to others. There was the temptation to create something more esoteric in a vain attempt to prove we’re a band of depth and culture, but along the way we realised that we're an amazing pop band and we don’t care what anyone else thinks. There’s purity to that mentality that couldn’t be matched by doing something for the sake of it.
Your cover versions, your mix, your own songs – you’re still in love with using music to woo, aren’t you? Yeah. Writing music is such a cathartic experience, but it’s also a voice – one I’m often afraid to use in conversation, as a lot of people will tell you. I’m pretty shy and music allows me to say all the things I wanted to when I was biting my tongue.
The Vaccines
© Jesse Jenkins
You said you want this album to be so era-defining it sounds terrible in ten years. What album do you think the same about? Nevermind is one of my favourite records of all time, but it sounds terrible. Really. I think that adds to its importance – it’s instantly recognisable as a body of work from that time. But what I meant, aside from my tongue being firmly in cheek, was that you often need to be of a time rather than trying to sound timeless. Every record I hear from that time sounds awful to me. I heard Smashing Pumpkins on the radio this morning. A great band, but those sounds…
What is English Graffiti? It’s a world in which English graffiti is on the wall of every city, English-speaking or not. Every bar serves the same beer and plays the same songs to people wearing the same shirts and shoes. But it’s also a world in which there’s a constructed and unattainable reality that makes it harder than ever to find love, friendship and, ironically, a connection.
The Vaccinesare on Facebook.
Want to discover a world of new music? Like our Facebook page.