The Vaccines Fear Fans Will ‘Give Up’ On Them

British indie band The Vaccines have told The Drum Media this week that the hype that surrounds them is a heavy cross to bare and they've real concerns that fans are about to “give up” on them.

The band came onto the scene only two years ago, with bucket loads of expectations in tow, and guitarist Freddie Cowan seems bewildered that people have forgotten the fact.

“We've only just finished our first album campaign, but already people are talking about us as if we were something that happened. But that's how things are now: everything is so sped-up. Lana Del Rey is a retired singer, now. She's like Cher in the '90s. You know what I mean? She's thought of as a superstar, she has her own line of handbags, she spends more time going to premieres than performing gigs. People talk about her career as if it's all over, and her first album came out six months ago.”

Cowan not only had first-hand experience at being an “overnight success”. His brother, Tom Cowan, is the keyboardist for The Horrors, another band who were surrounded by the massive expectations in their early days.

“People in England are constantly talking about us, now, as the hardest-working band in the UK. That's our cross to bear. With The Horrors, it was the clothes. The clothes were bigger than the music for a stretch, and once the clothes were gone, lots of people just gave up on them. Now that we're no longer that new band, I'm wondering how many people are going to give up on us.”

The young guitarist - who will be in Australia with his band for the Falls, Southbound and Field Day festivals over New Year's - knows that he's not alone in the situation.

Defending the 'overnight success' tag, Cowan said, “Any band that gets successful these days, it happens extremely quickly. It gets out on the internet and then it just goes like wildfire; things spread instantly. People don't really get it, yet, that that's the norm. We constantly get asked, 'Why has it happened so quickly for you?' But I can't think of any band that's come up slowly in the last few years.”

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