Founded in 2012, The Vamps are a British pop rock band consisting of members Brad Simpson, James McVey, Connor Ball, and Tristan Evans. Their names may be unfamiliar to you and we don’t blame you, as The Vamps are still fairly new in the music industry.
2 things that make them stand out though:
- They’re a boy band that play their own instruments.
- Their highly addictive single, “Wake Up”.
Thanks to our friends from Universal Music Singapore and Universal Music Malaysia, we got to sit down with the talented boys for a quick chat before their ridiculously good show at Hard Rock Coliseum last week in Singapore.
Check it:
Hi guys, welcome to Asia. How’s Singapore treating you?
Brad: Yeah, it’s awesome! We’re ready to go. We love it here – the food, the heat, the people..wait, where are you from? Malaysia?
Yeah, we’re right next to Singapore. You guys aren’t coming to Malaysia.
Brad: No. No, we’re not. We’re not playing there on this tour but we do want to go there. Eventually 🙂
I read that Brad and James met Tristan via Facebook. Do you remember the first thing you said to each other?
Tristan: Yeah.
Brad: James found me on YouTube and together we met Tristan on Facebook. He told me that he had a Nando’s blackcard which is like free Nando’s and I was like, “What, you’ve got a Nando’s blackcard?!” and he’s like, “Yeah, yeah..” but I thought it was a joke.
Seriously, was that the first thing?
Brad: Well, one of. Do you have Nando’s in Malaysia? Does Singapore have Nando’s? 
Yes, we have ’em in both Malaysia and Singapore.
All: Aaahhhh..
You’ve opened for artistes like Selena Gomez, The Wanted, Taylor Swift. What were those experiences like?
Brad: Very good! Taylor’s was cray cray. She’s a big influence on us as a band and like, after the tour was over we really looked up to her.
You mean the country side of Taylor Swift or the pop side of Taylor Swift?
James: I love country but no, like I think..like just the whole show, the band and the lights and the stage was amazing. Everything was just great about Taylor.
Tristan: Selena Gomez was lovely. She’s very wicked on stage as well. She has a different persona on stage – she’s like 2 different people.
Brad: The Wanted were good, we did the whole tour with them around the UK. We even went on a night out with them and it was good fun. But that was like, their last ever tour.
You released your second album, “Wake Up”, just a couple of months ago. And it’s quite a back-to-back release with “Meet the Vamps” in 2014. What makes “Wake Up” different from “Meet the Vamps”?
Brad: Yeah it was like about a year in between. I think the overall sound is quite different because we wanted to go for a bit of an 80s-influenced sound. So we kinda listened to a lot of like Taylor Swift’s new album “1989”. And MGMT because the band makes like electronic sounds really well. We wanted to kinda do that on our album.
If you could use one song off “Wake Up” to pick up a girl, which one would you pick?
Brad: Rest Your Love.
Tristan: Coming Home.
Connor: A Million Words.
James: Stolen Moments.
What are the best and worst parts about being in a band with each other, would you say?
Tristan: I guess coming to Singapore. That’s a cool thing. Travelling is really cool, one of the best things.
Brad: There aren’t that many bad bits, really. But I do miss my family and friends, and get a bit homesick at times. Travelling gets a bit tiring but other than that, we get to play shows and be with our best mates while doing it. And coming out to Singapore and meeting the amount of fans out here.
Do you guys still get nervous before you go on stage and if you do, what do you do to kind of “zen” out?
Tristan: I don’t think we really..we don’t get nervous anymore unless if it’s something big on TV or something. Most of the time we’re just having fun.
Brad: Um, we’ve got like a “lucky” things we do before going on stage – we rub our chins together
Connor: Like a four-way rubbing of chins.
What are the The Vamps members like on a good day – no work, no schedule, no tour?
Tristan: Bed. If we’re on tour, explore.
Brad: Explore, yeah. Eat! But if we’re at home, just chill out. And just sleep. Family.
So what else is in the pipeline for The Vamps this year? Do you have any projects that you can talk about?
Brad: We set up a record label about 6 months ago and we signed The Tide, and this year’s an exciting time for us and them because they’re going to be releasing an album. It’s exciting for us to see how they’ll come together as a band and how they’re gonna sound like..a year for now. And for The Vamps, aside from more touring this year, we’re already working on a 3rd album.
Thanks for taking time to do this for us, boys! We certainly hope to see The Vamps in Malaysia sometime soon 😉
We’ll leave you now with the very song that made us fall head-over-heels in love with The Vamps, “Wake Up”. Enjoy:
For more information, visit the boy’s website, Facebook page, or stalk them on Instagram 😉
Featured image from News Shopper.
