It’s funny how word spreads, but very recently ‘THE VACCINES’ seem to have everyone talking about them even tho’ they have only just started out and no-one is quite sure what they’re all about… Perhaps the glorified assumptions of being put on to the rock god pedestal has gone to their heads , along with a new found army of punked up / funked up fans who await them mostly looking like their younger siblings in this rather cosy, and equally fine and hot little Glasgow venue on Monday evening… But, more importantly is it really because I hear they create dreamy and solid rock n roll riffs…..

Maybe it is their ‘musical associations’ which have boosted their credentials not to mention a pr machine – 4 tv cameras in a venue the size of a hut i ask you?… maybe slightly overkill…. well if you want me to add to the swelling tribulations they are already receiving and say that these are the next best thing since Duracell batteries?… mmm … let’s see….. they’re alright!…

I mean it’s hard to tell, they’re tight, they get audiences jumping or chanting in drunken anthemic unison, maybe even doing somersaults… but are they original ?… Do they herald the next big thing from London ?… are they credible ?…. Deep delving questions I hear you shriek.

If you like your music hinting of well known choruses and rich with cool self glamorizing chic … going over the same old ground … safely reissuing what other familiar bands of the moment have invented or are you looking for killer ditties to chant out loudly to anyone within a 5m radius of you …then great! But where’s the depth or is this a finely packaged and aspiring version of the real thing? So, as the ever polite Glasgow crowd welcome them to the stage with cries jokingly addressing the bass guitar player as a member of Hanson lookalike (He looks more like Kurt Cobain), the band proudly announce they are not the Kings of Leon!

Beneath it all lies more subtle comparisons, at their best an echo and reverb to the vocals at times hints at the dreamy melodies heard in the likes of Animal Collective: A band fitting of this adulation must rely on a well formulated presence; some songs bursting to the seams with electric punch and a fine warmth, crispness, and echo to the big sounding guitars …Obligatory mid song argy-bargy between band members nods to the electric friction between genuinely volatile acts …. If only I didn’t detect a wee craving to be The Strokes, Franz Ferdinand or is it The Ramones?….Anyway they are definitely on the right track and looking beyond the easily available tracks which will be coming to a radio near you soon, songs like ‘A Lack of Understanding’ suit this band well with the lazy drawl ‘I’ve got too much time on my hands, but you don’t understand’ effortlessly managing to match The Strokes . I do look forward to hearing more from this lot but mind that hype machine… Can they deliver?.

Ps… the jeans are seriously tight and … Just don’t be fooled you could have written most of these lyrics in your sleep and if you hear pissed students singing these songs on the way home from the curry shop then it could definitely turn you against them… Give these guys a listen and here at the Northern line we like to tell you how it is and for that reason, you will be able to read a further review of last night’s show in Middlesbrough very soon!

For more info on The Vaccines and tour dates, check out their website and their myspace.

You can read about The Captain’s Rest here, and see more pics from Tom at his Flickr page.

By Tom Manley on November 11, 2010