Catch up with The Vamps!
The talented four-some — Tristan Evans, James McVey, Connor Ball and Brad Simpson — have been together since 2011, and they’re still going strong! To celebrate their latest and greatest album, “Night & Day: Day Edition,” which dropped last week, we caught up with the British cuties to get the inside scoop on everything from their inspiration behind the album to their all-time favorite tour stops and more.
Keep scrolling for the 411 on all things The Vamps, and be sure to head over to our Instagram (@TigerBeatNow) for their laugh-out-loud episode of #TigerBeatTenThings in our Highlights!
Why did you decide to release a two part album?
James: My favorite bands only do an album every 18 months or something and I crave for more music. So one thing we wanted to do is get fans like 20 songs each, two albums with short succession. We liked the concepts of night and day…a big shift between the Night and Day album, and hopefully the Day album indicates the direction that the band’s going. We’ve been a band for eight years now almost! The end of Night is a new start into the Day, taking it back into another direction.
Did you expect “Night & Day: Night Edition” to chart at number one?
Brad: You hope for it, but you can’t let that be what your set of gratifications are, to go number one. You need to just be happy releasing it and making something that you like. But it was definitely a goal. It’s our first number one!
How is the Day edition different from the Night edition?
Brad: On the Night edition, we had a few more DJ collaborations. We had “All Night” with Matoma and I think those songs shaped how the album sounded so it all became very dancy, which was fun for us and it was something that we’d never done before. We decided to go back to where we started as a band which was writing music around just a guitar and stripping it back to that.
Which artist are currently inspiring you?
James: On the Night edition, it was the Chainsmokers and a few other DJs. Now we’re listening to people with instruments and drum parts of the songs, people like Julia Michaels, Shawn Mendes. His new stuff is really interesting!
You’ve done five tours in five years. What are some of your favorite places to perform?
Brad: Our hometowns are always fun. It’s also nice to come over here because we get to play smaller venues. We’re very fortunate and in the UK we do get to play the arenas and doing all the bigger shows, but when we go to the US, we get to do smaller theaters which is so fun because that’s how we started touring. It’s a bit sweatier and a bit more rock n’ roll. It’s fun!
What’s your goal when you’re performing? How do you want fans to feel in the crowd?
Brad: We went to a lot of shows when we were younger, obviously, and grew up watching live bands. We always think it’s a time where you can escape for an hour, two hours, a night. People are there to just have a good time in a safe place, so that’s usually what we’re trying to create.
Tristan: We want fans to be smiling, feeling inspired.
How has your music changed over the years?
Brad: It’s funny because you’re in the band but you’re also growing up at the same time as a person. Between just 19 to 23, it’s a huge part in any person’s life, a change in anyone’s life. It’s cool for us because we’re going through that as people. And then the music goes through that as well. And then the fans are going through a similar thing. So it all kind of feels like we’re growing up together which is quite cool! And the music does that, and it’s all nice.
You’ve been together for so long! How did you originally choose your band name?
Connor: We were coming up with band names and you just get a little list, a list of different names. And then we landed on The Vamps. And then afterwards realized we should probably look up what vamp means. Apparently, it’s like a provocative French lady!
James: We were almost named The Strikers!
Do you have a favorite fan memory?
Tristan: This is weird because the first time we came to New York to record “Can We Dance”, “Wild Heart” and “Cecilia,” there were a couple of fans, this was before we actually released music, they were just fans from our covers. And they kept coming to the studio and stuff and we hung out with a couple. We went shopping with them in Times Square, and then yesterday they were at our meet and greet! They’d just finished University and gone on with life but are still fans.
James: We completely appreciate our fans..but it’s quite bizarre to think that we can have that much everlasting effect on people in a really cool way. This girl said yesterday that she met friends four years ago through one of our first shows, and that’s still why they’re best friends.
How well do you know The Vamps? Take this quiz and find out!
