The Vaccines felt "very lost" as they started working on the follow-up to 'English Graffiti'.
The Vaccines
The 'If You Wanna' hitmakers - made up of Justin Hayward-Young, Freddie Cowan, Árni Árnason, Timothy Lanham and Yoann Intonti - will release their fourth album 'Combat Sport' on Friday (30.03.18), and they have revealed it took them on an interesting musical journey.
Speaking to GQ magazine, Justin explained: "[We began] to work out how to walk again. We went off on so many different tangents and explored so many different possibilities.
"We were very lost... I think the last record we made - 'English Graffiti' - was a bit of an anomaly.
"At the end of that, we were left wondering who we were and what made us unique. So we had to go back to the drawing board to try to figure that out."
Lead guitarist Freddie admitted that the resulting new LP has ended up "landing quite close" to the style the band are known for, and it's a sentiment the rest of the group agree with.
Singer and songwriter Justin added: "It's funny because I think a lot of people will hear this record and be like, 'Oh, it's The Vaccines. It's what The Vaccines sound like.'
"It is a very natural sounding-record for us... [But] we had to go the long way around to get back to the beginning."
Justin, 30, recently revealed how the kick they needed came when he received a call from Ross Orton - who produced Arctic Monkeys' 'AM' - as they credit his straight-talking with helping them get back on track and find a focus again.
He said "He just b****ed about our demos for an hour.
"He goes, 'I'm confused, because I really thought you had a curled upper lip and there was a bit of bite to what you guys did.' "
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