NOISEY 035: THE VACCINES

It’s always thrilling to see a band trying to keep it together during a truly meteoric rise. The Vaccines formed in 2010 and were immediately blogged into the stratosphere by hyperactive British critics looking for an indie-rock redeemer. The group suddenly found their faces plastered across the covers of Britain’s biggest music magazines.

By the end of the year they were signed to a deal with Columbia Records, hailed as the four boys that were going to make holding a guitar fashionable again. When Noisey found indie-rock’s new saviors they were crammed into a tiny bus eating awful fast food, lugging their gear around shabby venues in England.

It’s rare to see a buzzed-out band undertaking such a debased tour, but maybe it shouldn’t be. It was in tiny venues like the Captain’s Rest that the Vaccines’ idols built their reputations on old-fashioned hard work. It’s that legendary level that Justin, Árni, Freddie, and Pete aspire to, but it’s going to be difficult to realize when they’ve already been lauded by the press as the band that will inaugurate a new indie epoch. That’s not to say that they’re too arrogant to have friends, though. Alongside London upstarts like Yuck and Fanzine, they’re out to prove themselves in the face of the hype.