The Vaccines "rediscovered" their identity as a band through new single ‘I Can’t Quit’.
The ‘Teenage Icon’ group will release their upcoming album ‘Combat Sports’ in March – their first since 2015’s effort ‘English Graffiti’ – and frontman Justin Hayward-Young has revealed the latest song helped shape the direction of the LP.
Speaking to Radio X after the first play of the track, he said: "It ended up steering the sound of the record.
Despite writing it first, we put it to one side and didn’t listen to it for a year and then went off on this big tangent and tried to be a million different bands and got a few different sounds out of our system, and then sort of rediscovered ourselves as a band. So it’s quite poetic this is the first song people hear."
Whilst the indie band worked on writing in a lot of different styles during this time, they realised they needed to stay true to their influences and sound.
Discussing the period of experimenting, Justin added: "I guess we didn’t really know what kind of music we wanted to make."
Meanwhile, as well as the full track listing for ‘Combat Sports’, The Vaccines have also announced dates for live shows later this year as they head out on the road in support of the upcoming album.
Kicking off on April 3 at Bristol Academy, the nine-date run will see them stop off in Bournemouth, Cambridge, Birmingham, Manchester, Nottingham, Glasgow and Sheffield, before ending the tour on April 14 at London’s Alexandra Palace.
‘Combat Sports’ tracklist:
1. Put It On a T-Shirt
2. I Can’t Quit
3. Your Love Is My Favourite Band
4. Surfing in the Sky
5. Maybe (Luck of the Draw)
6. Young American
7. Nightclub
8. Out On The Street
9. Take It Easy
10. Someone To Lose
11. Rolling Stones
The Vaccines April 2018 UK Tour dates:
3 April – Bristol Academy
5 April – Bournemouth Academy
6 April – Cambridge Corn Exchange
7 April – Birmingham Academy
9 April – Manchester Academy
10 April – Nottingham Rock City
12 April – Glasgow Academy
13 April – Sheffield Academy
14 April – London Alexandra Palace