The Vaccines are the latest in a long line of wall-of-sound garage rock bands epitomized by the Ramones. Reminiscent of late summer nights by the beach in the car with the AM radio blasting (there was no FM), maybe not quite as fast and rough, but close enough, and all the songs are under three minutes. Hey, somebody has to carry the banner.
So far there are two “single” releases (i.e. two songs each). All four songs are from an album due to be released March 21st entitled, “What Do You Expect from the Vaccines”.
The first single, released last November, contains “Wreckin’ Bar (Ra Ra Ra)”, which is the song most likely to get you to go “Hey Ho, Let’s Go”, churning full crunch until it stops dead at 1:25, making it the first new song (I assume) shorter than what I hear are the new preview times at iTunes. Despite, the harsh chords on the intro, “Blow it Up” is moderate-tempo, two-chord, teen-angst splendor. “Were you ever my age? No, I doubt it.” Where have I heard that before? Oh, yeah, I said it 40 years ago, and I’m pretty sure I heard someone say it before me.
The second single, released just a few days ago, continues the sound and style of the first release. The single includes “We’re Happening”. “I don’t want to bore you”, they sing. Not yet anyway. “Post Break-Up Sex”, with it’s line “What do you expect/ from post break-up sex”, may be the one they’ve picked as the big song from the album, given the album title.
All songs have the vocals down in the mix, and the overall reverb turned up to 11. It’s about the feel of the song, and having a few words to sing along to. The style is as old as I am, although it’s all about youth. It sounds OK to me. It remains to be seen whether The Vaccines can compete in the twenty teenies. Hopefully, they can.
What Am I Thinking? 