THE last time The Vaccines played Bournemouth was as part of the messy NME Awards Tour 2011 in February last year.

Like fellow band Crystal Castles who also played that night, The Vaccines are riding high at the moment.

The acclaimed four-piece indie band makes a triumphant return to the O2 Academy Bournemouth next Friday.

With a number one album, a huge tour and an even bigger one announced for next year, frontman Justin Young tells 24Seven how he’s adjusting to life in one of Britain’s biggest bands.

“It’s weird, I mean, I guess some things we do in the band are extraordinary, but other times I feel like it’s a job. Every day is different,” says the 25-year-old.

The Vaccines – the group Young founded after he decided a solo career as Jay Jay Pistolet wasn’t working out for him – have gone from strength to strength since getting together in 2010.

Their recent second album, Come Of Age, narrowly beat fellow Brit guitar band Two Door Cinema Club to the top spot on the album chart, while the gigs they have booked in for the next six months would embarrass many more established artists. The constant touring has honed the live skills of the band and Bournemouth fans may notice a difference.

“I used to be so uncomfortable on stage,” he says.

“To counter it I just took myself out of the situation. I felt insecure and uptight, but then I thought that if I had been watching someone play to that many people, I wouldn’t have enjoyed it if the frontman was uptight. Plus, I wouldn’t have been stood there judging it on what the frontman was doing. I’d just be trying to have a good time, and hoping the band was too. I felt uncomfortable pretending to be happy on stage, but ironically it was when I learned that I didn’t have to do that I started feeling comfortable.”

This tour will see the band playing songs from debut What Did You Expect From The Vaccines and their chart-topping second album Come Of Age. Now it’s been released, Young’s not that interested in it any more, saying that though he’s “proud of it”, he’s moved on.

“We spent so much time on it,” he explains, “it consumed us. We spent so much time writing and recording and arranging it, and now talking about it, it feels really nice that it’s out there for people to love and hate as they wish.”