The Vaccines made their South By Southwest festival debut yesterday (March 16), playing three shows on the first day of the Texas bash.
The London band took the opportunity to chat about the midweek chart placing of their debut album, ‘What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?’.
“None of us really expected it,” singer Justin Young told NME of the midweek results, which sees their album at Number Two behind Adele‘s ’21’. “I know we’re a good band but we didn’t expect to be so high on the charts.”
The band started off their day with a ‘surprise’ show at an AOL pop-up stage in front of The First Baptist Church of Austin. Bassist Arni Hjorvar said that they intended to celebrate the midweek placing in a traditional Texan manner, by “loads of barbeque ribs.”
Young, who recently underwent throat surgery, said he had been drinking “throat coat” tea to preserve his voice for the seven shows they have slated during the festival.
Elsewhere at the festival Queens Of The Stone Age returned to the live scene after three years away, while Jack White played a surprise solo show.
The Vaccines are on the cover of the new issue of NME. It’s on UK newsstands now and available digitally.