The Vaccines: Recording This New Album Was A Marathon

With a brand new album under their belt, and a massive world tour ahead, we caught up with Justin Young, frontman for The Vaccines.

Supporting Mumford and Sons, coupled with their own headline tour, the British indie rockers have had a packed few months, Young explained, “We took last summer off to record, so it’s just really nice to be out there playing new songs and seeing the world again.”

Chatting about the process of recording their latest album, English Graffiti, Young was candid about the whole experience, “It was long, and amazing, it was frustrating and rewarding… All in all, it was a long period of trial and error, exploration, and making mistakes and working out who we are and what we want to be, so it was really rewarding.”

“It was like a marathon.” He laughed, summing up the process.

Young was also keen to emphasise a nod to the group’s previous work. With bands across all genres variably taking criticism for either being too similar to older work, or else not sticking to their true sound, The Vaccines have cut the line well, with Young explaining, “You certainly have to show your previous work in some respects, I certainly feel like there has to be some lineage, but I think you don’t want to go off on a complete tangent.”

He is confident English Graffiti is enough of an homage to their earlier work, whilst still breaking some new ground in sound. “I think that whilst the onus may be to do something completely different, not be defined by your past, for us, your past will always be a part of your future.”

Young chatted through the process of writing new material, saying “It’s difficult to know when you’re going to pick up a guitar and write a song,” but highlighted his love for writing, and chatted about, in spite of how draining any album can be, the fact that he is never long between songs, and writes often.

[include_post id=”448246″]Young also talked the shift in music and artists of the fifties, sixties, and seventies, to today. “Rock music was so new, and there was a much smaller plane of people doing it, so it had this kind of other worldly and aspirational quality to it, and there was this real divide between people that were making music and people that weren’t.” When asked whether he felt music of previous eras was less introspective than that of today, he went on, “I think that music’s always been introspective, I think that’s one of the things that drives it, but I think that there’s definitely a more relatable, personal side to it now… It’s not as bombastic as it once was.”

On that tangent, he discussed the growing divide between streaming and physically owning media, the latter as well all know is slowly getting rarer and rarer. “I guess that’s driven by what the masses want, but I think technology’s great, and we all need to adapt… Ultimately, I don’t think it’s a scary thing.”

Back on the subject of touring, Young was passionate about his love for travel, shows, and seeing the world. “I love touring, I think one of the best things about being in a band is the variety, intrinsically, there’s something different every day, and I love touring, I love travelling around, going to new places, meeting new people, doing new things, eating new food, all of us, we love touring.”

The Vaccines start their Aussie tour in Byron for Splendour on July 24, then go on to play Sydney and Melbourne, returning later in the year to support Mumford and Sons in Brisbane. Their newest album English Graffiti is available now.