Some bands have songs longer than the running time of Vaccine’s entire body of work.
The Western Mass quartet—bassist Will Killingsworth, vocalist Matt McKeown, drummer Joe Shumsky and guitarist Matt Swift—has composed 20 songs that clock in at a grand total of eight and a half minutes. It will perform one of its infamously short but powerful sets Thursday, Dec. 30 at Flywheel in Easthampton.
The group was conceptualized by Killingsworth and McKeown in Greenfield during the summer of 2008.
“We were bored and hanging out at Will’s old apartment,” recalls McKeown. “I wanted to sing for a power violence band and brought it up to him. He suggested the idea of it being a straight-edge band as well, and wanted to play bass in it. He knew Joe from recording his old bands, and Will, Matt and myself all used to live together, so it all made sense.”
The first full band practice occurred in Leverett in January of 2009. Vaccine says it pulls ideas from all sorts of bands, but claim hardcore outfit Infest as one it collectively likes and keeps at the forefront as inspiration when writing songs. Lyrically, McKeown cites groups like Dystopia, Dropdead, and his pal’s old band Coldsweat as touchstones.
The group’s approach to songwriting is simple.
“We make an attempt to punctuate and accent the noise that we come up with in order to have it sound at least marginally decipherable,” explains Killingsworth.
In addition to a love of noise, the band shares some philosophical underpinnings, including an allegiance to the straight-edge lifestyle, which demands strict avoidance of any drugs or alcohol. Three of the four members are also vegan.
“I think we all agree that the current state of the world is a fairly sickening one to say the least—addiction, war, racism, government corruption, animal cruelty, amidst a state of total apathy,” says McKeown. “More people seem to be up in arms about Bristol Palin on Dancing with the Stars than the fact BP just dumped millions of gallons [of oil] into the ocean, that we are in two wars, and countless violations of our own civil rights are happening every day.”
The group hopes to serve as a wakeup call for these misplaced societal priorities through its punishing sonic blasts and live sets of “intense brevity.” In the interest of spreading the message, the four have gone so far as to drive for 24 hours down to Florida to play one four-minute set.
This past summer, Vaccine released its second record, Human Hatred, on Painkiller Records, and recently finished up work on a new one, Crimes In Blood, set for release in January, in time for a West Coast tour. Its next goal is a tour through Europe.
You can check out the band live at Flywheel at 7 p.m. on Dec. 30. The show also features Salvation, Coughing Fit, Curmudgeon, and Colossus.
For shows and more information, visit http://vaccinexxx.blogspot.com.
