On February 8th I sat down with half the members of The Vaccines. Freddie Cowan (guitar) and Pete Robertson (drums) took time out of their busy tour schedule, and potential to catch some more snooze to discuss my favorite topic: Music. I am honestly still in disbelief about meeting Freddie and Pete. I had my own little fan girl moment when the pair walked into the room for the interview, but I maintained my cool. I sat down with them both on February 8th at Turner Hall a few hours before their show, and discussed their new album, their growth in success, and for some reason we talked about me at one point ( i didn’t include that part though, so don’t worry.)
The Vaccines were formed in early 2010 and got discovered by members of White Lies and The Maccabees in a London club. This crazy little incident lead to them being signed under the same label as White Lies, The Maccabees, Keiser Chiefs, Crystal Castles, and Franz Ferdinand. The group had barely been around for a little over a year when they got to play at Lollapalooza in 2012 (which is where I initially saw them.) Since then they’ve released their sophomore album, which has lead to an even larger growth/success for the band. They’re headlining their first U.S tour, and playing at their largest venue to date in May at the 02 Arena. Lucky for me, I got to talk with them before they’ve climbed too high up the popularity ladder.
A link to a video of the interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7A6K8FIQOr8
Noelle: You guys have grown a lot since your last album, how are you dealing with the growth in fan base and headlining your own tour?
Pete:It’s kind of nerve racking, our biggest show is coming up in May in London at the 02 Arena, which is kind of terrifying and kind of exciting. It’s been, yeah, it’s been a crazy year, crazy nearly three years now actually. We’ve been on the road for nearly three years now, and it feels like nearly yesterday we just started.
Freddie:It feels like a hundred years ago actually.
Pete:It’s yeah, been a weird mix, but it’s been quite a journey. We’ve seen some amazing places,it feels like we’re getting somewhere which is good.
N: Do you have a specific place you see yourselves as a band in five years?
P:Not really, you’re definitely always looking ahead. I don’t know about five years ahead, you always look forward to the next shows you get to play. You’re always trying to get better.We’ve never had a commercial aim set out in stone. We aren’t afraid of it, we like the idea of being a successful band commercially, but being good as a band comes first and foremost. We’re happy with what has happened so far though.
N: How’d this whole group start?
P: I was actually the last to join, Freddie and Justin were actually hanging out…
F: We’re the originals.
P: They’re the originals. Yeah that’s where this whole thing kind of started was with those two.
N: Did this all just kind of come to place for all of you then?
F: I think a bit of luck was a long time coming for all of us, it was very natural. A friend of ours had rehearsal space, someone who’s not in the band anymore, but it was Justin, myself, and this other guy. We just started messing around, we were all in between different things, and we just kind of clicked together and it was effortless it kind of felt like. We just had a lot of fun.
P: Yeah, we’ve all played in bands for over 10 years, with varying degrees of failure. You know in London it’s particularly it’s quite easy to meet other musicians, you get to know them through the night life – music scene. Yeah we just kind of came across each other at various points. Of course I knew Arnie, before I knew any of these guys. And of course Justin knew Freddie and Justin knew Arnie and it all just came (puts fingers into a lock) together. Yeah it was quite a natural process.
N: Do you miss the close to home bar hopping or do you like to travel?
P: We’re still bar hopping
F: When you start it doesn’t feel like you’re covering small distances. Even if you’re just driving up the commercial way for an hour, it feels like a long distance away. Driving to paris the first time seems like a really long way. When you go from England it seems like a long ways away, but it’s only two hours, but it seems like a very long ways away when you’re doing it for the first time, like it’s all relative isn’t it?
N: How do you feel about the beginnings of becoming a band?
F: Yeah there’s something really nice and naïve about the gentle, really early stages
N: Is there any song that stands out to you as a favorite of your own?
P: They’re kind of all the same really, with everything you do you want to put your heart and soul into it. Yeah we’ve been lucky in that we haven’t been put under or felt any external pressure, by people to you know to write a certain way be a certain band. We’ve always been able to concentrate on the things we love. I’d say our entire catalogue is our baby.
N: The new album is titled “Come of Age” is that what this album is? Is it a come of age album?
P: The album is definitely more about finding it difficult to come age, coming to terms with it.
F: But that’s not the message we are putting out.
P: Yeah no, it was never a concept album or anything.
N: How do you guys write your songs?
F: Justin is kind of the creative leader. For the first album most of the songs were written before we were even a band together. With the second album, everyone was kind of getting together and brainstorming. We’re just looking for the best possible sound we can get.
N: Where’s your favorite place you guys have toured?
F: Where do I like to tour?
P: I liked Brazil
N: Was it a good time?
P: Brazil was amazing.
F: Yeah, they were quite friendly to us.
P: It’s very much culturally exciting, and it’s very different.
N: What’s are some of your favorite venues?
P: Alexandra Palace in London.
F: I like, Barrowland in Glasgow
