The Vaccines

The Vaccines (formed 2010)

The Vaccines are an indie guitar band from West London. They formed in 2010 and released their debut album What Did You Expect from the Vaccines the following year.

The Vaccines: Formation

In early 2010, The Vaccines formed, with the line-up consisting of Justin Young on guitar and vocals (Justin was formerly signed to Stiff Records and recorded under the name Jay Jay Pistolet), Arni Hjorvar on bass, Freddie Cowan on guitar (Freddie is the younger brother of Tom from The Horrors) and Pete Robertson on drums.

In August 2010, the band uploaded a demo of 'If You Wanna' to YouTube and almost immediately, DJs such as Radio One's Zane Lowe were praising the track.

The band played their first gig in Leicester and then started touring between September and November 2010. Their first London performance sold out, with members of White Lies and the Maccabees in the audience, as well as Marcus Mumford of Mumford and Sons and Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand. 200 people were reportedly turned away.

The Vaccines: Debut album onwards

The debut single from The Vaccines was 'Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra)' / 'Blow It Up'. The single was limited to 100 copies and was released in November 2010 on Marshall Teller Records. The videos for the tracks were directed by Douglas Hart of Jesus & The Mary Chain.

In December 2010, The Vaccines recorded a session for Marc Riley's 6Music show. They also became the first band to appear on Later with Jools Holland before releasing a single.

In January 2011, they were announced as being the their artist in the BBC's Sound of 2011 poll. Number One that year was the solo artist Jessie J. That same week, they appeared on the cover of NME magazine for the first time, before embarking on the NME Awards tour with Crystal Castles.

The band then travelled to America where they were watched by Debbie Harry, amongst others. By early 2011, they had signed to Columbia Records and released their second single 'Post Break-Up Sex' in January 2011. Shortly after, they were nominated for an MTV Award, for 'Best New Band of 2011' as well as the Critics' Choice Award at the BRITs.

After performing at SXSW, The Vaccines released their debut album What Did You Expect From The Vaccines? Having drawn many comparisons to The Strokes, the release of the band's debut album was brought forward by a week so that it did not coincide with the release of The Strokes' album Angles.

Following the release of the album, The Vaccines supported Arctic Monkeys at the Don Valley Bowl in Sheffield, in a 10,000 capacity tent. They ended the summer with performances at Reading & Leeds festivals, where they were joined onstage by members of The Horrors. NME magazine tipped them as the number one band of the weekend. Other musicians to have joined the band onstage, previously, include Ryan Jarman of The Cribs, Lyle Preslar of Minor Threat and Paul Thomson of Franz Ferdinand.

The Vaccines recorded a TV commercial for Rimmel, which saw the model Kate Moss join them on guitar and drums.

In September 2011, The Vaccines were due to tour Europe and the USA but were forced to postpone, when singer Justin Young, recurring throat problems stopped him from being able to perform.

A new song, 'Tiger Blood' was debuted in September 2011. It was produced by Albert Hammond Jr. of The Strokes. They ended 2011 with an appearance on Top of the Tops on Christmas Day as well as performing on Jools Holland's Annual Hootenanny.