The Vaccines

I had been planning to do a quickie post about 8-10 new bands that I have been checking out but then figured I have the time to do individual posts bout them, so why not take the time and do right be each of them.

I'll start with The Vaccines. yet another victim in the UK crush of immediate hype, the resulting backlash and the inevitable stateside launch. The funny thing is that for these guys, it's all happened in a matter of about 4 months. I won't go into the merits of the hype, or the reasons (or merits) of the backlash. Instead, I'll just give you my take as I caught them live last week here at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC.

The songs are pretty well-crafted, and they excel when they stick to the 2 and a half minute pop song. They are capable enough players, with the drummer really standing out oftentimes, which is always nice to hear. It's good to see basic simple rock songs being played quickly with a sense of urgency, and with little to no noodling and spells of introspection.

The problem comes in the other areas of rock that they (admittedly) are just not interested in. They have no look, there is no sense of danger in the band's persona, and are overall just nice boys. (Check out this quick interview with them from Live4Ever for more on this). Now I am not asking that they be Oasis or the Sex Pistols, but with the energy and songwriting chops, I just wish they'd spend a month or so locked in a studio with Graham Coxon to figure out how to be a proper nice boy, yet dangerous, rock and roller.

Check out the video for the single that won me over in the first place: