West End Centre

Queens Road, Aldershot, Hants, GU11 3JD

Tickets £20 Adv from westendcentre.co.uk or See Tickets. Venue Bar Opens, Start time 8pm

 

Best known for their massive 1980 worldwide hit “Turning Japanese”, The Vapors continue to bring their individually styled brand of New Wave inspired music to fans, old and new.

 

The band, formed in 1979, had already gained a substantial live following around their hometown of Guildford, Surrey, and in London, when they were brought to large UK audiences with their support slot on The Jam’s iconic 1979 ”Setting Sons” tour, by then managed by The Jam’s Bruce Foxton and Paul Weller’s father John.

 

The release of debut single “Prisoners” in 1979 was followed by 1980’s “Turning Japanese“ alongside the classic first album “New Clear Days”. The single reached Number 3 in the UK singles charts, Number 1 in Australia, and hit the top 10 in both New Zealand and Canada whilst becoming a mainstream Billboard Top 40 hit in the US.

 

The debut album spawned further hits “News At Ten” and “”Waiting for the Weekend” before the very different, but equally well received second album “Magnets”, arriving in 1981, provided the singles “Spiders” and further hit “Jimmie Jones”.

 

The band parted company later in 1981, before, in 2016, after a decade of Internet clamour for a revival, announced their reformation for a short series of gigs, including a sell-out show at London’s Dingwalls.

 

The success of this reunion prompted the band to continue in earnest, and since then they have played 140 gigs in the UK and the US, including three sell-out shows at New York’s Mercury Lounge.

 

In 2020, the band released their third album “Together” some 39 years after their second, featuring a dozen original songs that again gained hugely positive reactions from fans and critics alike.

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Support from local post punk, new wave four piece The Landings