The Vaccines – Justin Young (lead vocals, guitars), Ãrni Ãrnason (bass, vocals), Timothy Lanham (guitars, keys, vocals) and Yoann Intonti (drums) – are back with their sixth studio album ‘Pick-Up Full Of Pink Carnations’, set for release on 12th January 2024. The LP is preceded by the single, ‘Heartbreak Kid’ (listen HERE), and will be accompanied by an extensive EU/UK tour, which will see them play at Brighton Dome.
The new album’s title comes from a misremembered lyric in Don McLean’s ‘American Pie’ (“I was a lonely teenage broncin’ buck / With a pink carnation in a pick-up truck”), which sparked a train of thought. Says Young, “I was living in LA while writing this record, and ‘American Pie’ is a song about disillusionment with America and the American dream, and his feeling that something had died. I guess I was coming to terms with similar things – my understanding of what the real West Coast of America was, after growing up on a diet of American pop culture. That was all coming to a head as various relationships were ending. That was the seed of it. It’s about the loss of dreams.”
Produced by Andrew Wells (Halsey, Phoebe Bridgers) with mixing from Dave Fridmann (Tame Impala, The Flaming Lips), ‘Pick-Up Full Of Pink Carnations’ scoops up complicated feelings – ambivalence, doubt, fear, maybe some shame, and wraps them up in pop songs that fizz like a sherbet fountain.
The LP’s first single, ‘Heartbreak Kid’, is an instant Vaccines classic that barrels along sunnily like a convertible sports car, and which the band unveiled at a secret show at London’s Sebright Arms earlier this year. As at that show, one of the most startling things you’ll note about The Vaccines in 2023 is how young their audience remains. Many guitar bands find their audience ages with them, but The Vaccines’ keeps replenishing. There’s something in that euphoria and melancholy that speaks to younger crowds, and this record’s themes will resonate strongly.
Say’s Justin Young of the song, “There are two types of people in the world – people that have had their heart broken and people that haven’t had their heart broken yet. ‘Heartbreak Kid’ is a call to arms. A reminder that in a world where too many of us feel too detached too often, facing your feelings head on can make you feel more alive, even if it feels like the world is ending. It’s a song to keep you company on the busy freeway that connects loss to discovery.”
With a mammoth five UK Top 5 albums, including a Number 1 with 2012’s ‘Come Of Age’, a fierce live reputation forged through arena-filling headline shows and unforgettable slots at Glastonbury and Reading/Leeds and, now, with ‘Pick-Up Full Of Pink Carnations’, The Vaccines continue to be a vital band in the British rock canon.
The Vaccines will kick off 2024 with a massive, EU/UK headline tour starting in Amsterdam on 17th January, taking in a whistle-stop run around Belgium, Germany, Poland, The Czech Republic, Switzerland, Italy and France before reaching the UK.
UK dates then run as follows:
Mon 5th Feb BIRMINGHAM, O2 Institute
Tue 6th Feb MANCHESTER, Academy
Wed 7th Feb NOTTINGHAM, Rock City
Sat 10th Feb LONDON, Troxy
Sun 11th Feb MARGATE, Dreamland Margate
Tues 13th Feb FOLKESTONE, Leas Cliff Hall
Weds 14th Feb SOUTHAMPTON, O2 Guildhall
Thurs 15th Feb BRISTOL, O2 Academy
Sat 17th Feb OXFORD, O2 Academy
Sun 18th Feb BRIGHTON, Dome
Mon 19th Feb SHEFFIELD, O2 Academy
Weds 21st Feb LEEDS, O2 Academy
Thurs 22nd Feb GLASGOW, Barrowland Ballroom
Fri 23rd Feb NEWCASTLE, NX
Tour tickets are on sale now from www.thevaccines.com/shows.
