Heart of a Punk Soul of a Rasta

The Vaccines - Cajole Cajole - PEACE

In times of great abundance only the fool is hungry.
In times of great famine we must cling to the merest crumb of comfort.

In a desert of nothingness we can be easily fooled by the trickery of the mirage.
But in a sea of mediocrity, with our extremities as frozen as a penguin's chuff and our faculties failing swifter than Tories economic policy, it is implicit that we must cling, doggedly, to the nearest available life raft.

That life raft is: THE VACCINES!

OK, so the foreplay is over, we've read the reviews, downloaded the free downloads and watched the LATER performance; it's now time for the unspeakable act itself, time to see the Vaccines in the FLESH. Upstairs we go then to THE TEMPLE @ the all new HMV Institute (aka DIGBETH CIVIC HALL) to see who'll be venerated and who'll be sacrificed. For as our LORD once said "The last shall be the first and the first shall be the last; many shall be called but few chosen".

That's it with the Judeo Christian religious analogies; up first were "Peace" a band from Worcester. "Peace" or "Der Frieden" or "Sholim" or "Salam"….. A band that looked like they were going to be a bunch of shoe gazers straight out of the late eighties but actually weren't jingly jangly, simpering or introspective at all. Instead they conjured up a cacophony of Cure-esque collages; the lead singer wailed plaintively into a heavy echo and the bass player filled out the sound by belligerently thrapping out a load of heavy bass chords. It was alright; but "Peace" weren't for me, as I keep saying in this FANZINE - I don't do soundscapes! And the CURE I loved were The Cure who I saw at Wolverhampton Poly in '79 when they were writing songs - remember them? But what do I know - there was a goodly crowd already stuffed into the Temple and "PEACE" went down pretty damn well.

Next up were "Cajole Cajole" from the land of my fathers - Wolverhampton. So are "The Lines" the numero uno outfit in Wolverhampton? Yes? No? And other than "Roy Wood" & "Slade" & "Capital Letters" & "Neon Hearts" & "Kevin Rowland" & "The Mighty Lemon Drops" (spit); has there been a band that has remotely looked like bursting forth from Wolves to mek the rest of the country ave it? Well the answer is NO to both. Will Cajole Cajole be any different? Maybe not. But anyhow allow me to proclaim here at the altar of the Temple that as far as I'm concerned "Cajole Cajole" are Wolverhampton's numero uno band. I don't know whether that's a blessing or a curse but what the hell this isn't a real Temple either.

The incongruous looking Wolves threesome bashed out a batch of jerky stilted dislocated stop & go pop tinted songs each with a Fall/Gang of Four/Wire type feel. It all seemed effortless; the singer sang, spoke, and conveyed; the drums stayed solid amid a sudden change of tack, and the pauses were neatly sewed together with some deft bass lines and accelerating FF-esque guitar riffs. PERFECT. Oh, and one more thing - and this is something that cannot be underestimated believe me, the towering and bespectacled lead singer of "Cajole Cajole" RYAN can move his eyebrows independently. You might think that this is of little importance but you'd be oh so wrong. Deft, subtle, direct and incongruous - and with independent eye brow movement, how can they lose? - Well they're from Wolverhampton, and they're unassuming - that's how! And as Moz once said "Unassuming is nice and unassuming can stop you from doing all the things in life you'd like to" or was that shyness. Anyway as with all things Wolverhampton these boys will go there own way and that's all there is to say.

A few extra bodies stuffed themselves into the Temple and with the application of a little more dry ice for atmos THE VACCINES began their 30 minutes. Head honcho Justin Young, looking like the young Brian Wilson bedecked in a Beach Boys stripped shirt untangled the mic lead from stand and burst forth with ROCK, ROCK, ROCK N ROLL HIGH SCHOOL or "Ra Ra Ra Wreckin Bar". Mobiles were raised and cameras were clicked; it was a toss up who were the more intensely intent The Vaccines or the crowd. Guitar man Freddie Cowan, in blue Yank shirt circa 1950, flicked and twitched his head in an intimidating fashion, like Mr Mick Jones did all those years ago; whilst Young's beady eyes surveyed the scene from beneath a cascading mop of hair. There were moments that were Stroke like and moments of REM, but mainly it was fifties rock n roll extruded through the filter of PUNK and NEW WAVE in the way The Ramones, Iggy Pop and Blondie once did it back in the day. "If you Wanna" (which I guess they'd better get used to playing, coz they could be playing it for a long time to come) was mid set and executed in such a way that you can be in no doubt that THE VACCINES do MEAN IT!

Unfortunately during "If You Wanna" there was a moment of great unpleasantness. A pair of ladies frilly knickers were thrown onto the stage - and duly thrown back again. Personally I've always thought (rather naively) that for particular occasions like this women bring a spare pair of knickers to throw. But tonight I found out that this is not always the case; coz I saw the bloke who threw those ladies knickers; and worse than that I saw him strip them off his own hairy nether regions before chucking them - back into therapy for me cum Monday.

The 30 minutes of all things VACCINE was concluded by "Blow it Up" being thrust hard into our faces; and then they were gone; and bizarrely the punters were stunned. Everyone stood stock still, the lights came up and everyone stood stock still, the DJ put on some music and everyone stood stock still, the exit doors swung open and everyone stood stock still. Enough said!

So are THE VACCINES the next big thing? With an NME Tour to come I guess they probably are. But are they going to be the cornerstone of THE Next Big Thing? Well back in 1975, when we were all awaiting the NEXT BIG THING, a very wise bloke called Peter Jenner # said this:

"The Big Show will vanish…….I think the political thing is a possibility. I'm thinking of someone who's 16, who's going to start saying. "Look all this stuff these bands do with these hugh PA's and lights, that's not where its at. It's down to the people. I'm going to get my acoustic guitar and sing revolutionary songs in pubs and clubs"

Personally I hope we're on the brink again and the end of 2010 will see the end of the overblown soundscape ambient merchants, and the death of the indie pop dance nondescripts. Its time to get back to direct, vital, edgy immediacy - political or otherwise. Hopefully the old boys like WIRE and GANG of FOUR; and the established wallah's like GLASVEGAS and THE STROKES and BABYSHAMBLES will all return in 2011 and give things a boot in the right direction. And then if THE VACCINES can give the scene a decent SHOT IN THE ARM (sorry), and hail forth a new batch of THREE, TWO or ONE CHORD WONDERS, 2011 might just be worth staying alive for. Onward!


#Peter Jenner went on to manage (amongst others) The Clash and Billy Bragg.