The Vaccines admit they had individually “lost their way” before they formed the band.

The ‘If You Wanna’ group may have been together for less than a year, but singer Justin Young admits by the time they formed he had become disillusioned with the London music scene.

Justin – who used to perform as Jay Jay Pistolet – said: “I’ve been on this path for a very long time. When I was solo I knew, deep down, that my songs weren’t that good. It got to the point where I was giving up hope that making music was something viable.

“So by the time The Vaccines came together I was pent up and fed up and I think everyone else was too. We had all lost our way.

“Then the band started and there was a passion at rediscovering that energy.”

The group – which also includes Arni Hjorvar, Freddie Cowan and Pete Robertson – have become one of the UK’s most hotly tipped acts for 2011, but admit they never dreamed of getting further than playing small scale shows when they started.

Justin added: “None of us expected any of this. When we started, I got excited and thought, ‘I can definitely see us playing The Barfly’ [a small London venue]. So now, all I can say is that we must be doing something right.”