// This week we have mostly been listening to... The Vaccines

12th May 2011 16:33:02

In Pilot towers at the moment were pretty heavily into The Vaccines, but then it would seem everyone is. Seen as the great white hope for guitar music The Vaccines are tipped to have the same sort of influence as The Strokes or Oasis, now you see the size of expectation surrounding the band even maybe if it is a little unfair it is just how these things tend to work is it not? Let me punctuate this, their debut gig in London had over two hundred people turned away, amazing considering the band is little over a year old from conception and the venue, TheFlower Pot was only a 250 capacity. That in itself is noteworthy enough but the people lucky enough to attend included Alex Kapranos (Franz Ferdinand), Marcus Mumford and members of White Lies and The Maccabees. Funny enough though their first gig before the debut tour was in our Leicester at Braustone Gate's Sumo, this was naturally with a touch less hurrah It has been said that the Flower pot gig had some similarities to the famous Sex Pistols performance at Manchester’s Free Trade Hall in June 1976. But let’s not get too far in front of ourselves, it is only hype right for now, but hype that is deserving nonetheless.

Their debut album, ‘What Did Expect from the Vaccines’ is a fantastic listen and once it starts spinning you would be hard pressed to start flicking through or not want hit it straight back on after for that matter. It’s set up for anthems, ‘Wrecking Bar’ having been made both Q’s track of the day and Zane Lowe’s ‘Hottest Record in the World today’ is massive already and ‘Post Break Up Sex’ has a long been a darling to indie Cindy discos.

The Vaccines as with most bands have their own distinct image which is adopted by a stronghold of fans and scenesters alike. They say imitation is the biggest form of flattery, and a mark of a great band is being culturally impacting as well as writing great tunes. People still wear Skinny jeans and biker jackets again in reference to The Strokes and Beady Eye front man Liam Gallagher has gone as far as creating his own clothing range Pretty Green. The latter I can personally vouch for it's success, having seen Beady eye in Woverhampton recently the town centre was awash with the brands polo shirts and tootal scarfs. The Vaccines however are all about Cambridge chic, simple but bold shirts, thick stripes or alternatively plain pastel or deep colours are the call of the day, either way they are to be tucked in; take a look at the Vivienne Westwood Collection here at Pilot and Net clothing for ideas? The Grenson tassel loafer or Sperry deck shoe are staples and very much in keeping with the current trends, but it is with the press releases and photo shoots that accompany this generation's influences that I imagine it will be remembered as ‘that Vaccines look’

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