The Vamps are a fine example of how social media has brought like-minded individuals together and propelled acts to national and international stardom. Formed of Bradley William Simpson on lead vocals and guitar, James McVey on lead guitar and vocals, Connor Ball on bass guitar and vocals and Tristan Evan on drums and vocals.
Lead guitarist James McVey in 2011 was being managed by Prestige Management, however soon decided he’d like to form a band and soon found Brad Simpson through YouTube and began writing songs. The year after in 2012 the pair met Tristan Evans via Facebook and subsequently Connor Ball through a mutual friend. The band started uploading covers to their YouTube channel and amassed a young and enthusiastic fan base, and signed to Mercury Records at the tail end of 2012.
The Vamps secured support slots for on McFly’s Memory Lane Tour in April and May 2013 and for Selena Gomez at London, UK’s Hammersmith Apollo, which introduced the band to a much wider audience. The Vamps also supported Taylor Swift on the London leg of her 2014 tour for her album “Red”.
The band’s first original song entitled “Wildheart”, uploaded onto their Youtube account on the 22 July 2013 received well over 46,000 views within the first two days, and their follow-up “Can We Dance”, on the 6 August 2013, received over a million within two weeks. “Can We Dance” was later released on 29 September 2013, debuting at No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart.
In April 2014 The Vamps released their long-awaited debut album “Meet The Vamps” to an understandable mass of fan-girl appreciation. The album charted at No. 2 in the UK Albums Chart, pipped to the top spot by Paolo Nutini’s “Caustic Love”.
I found out about The Vamps a few months ago, in fact I believe last December (as of July 27th currently), and ever since then I have been in love with their music and the boys themselves.
I used to be a total One Direction fan until I found The Vamps and let me just tell you: these guys are natural performers. They opened up for Austin Mahone and played "Last Night," "Wild Heart," "Trumpets" (a cover), "Can We Dance," "Somebody To You" (EP being released in a few weeks in the US), and "Oh Cecelia." They also showed the "Somebody To You" music video featuring Demi Lovato and Laura Marano.
Overall they were incredible, getting the crowd really excited and joking around with their bandmates (Brad Simpson as lead singer and guitarist, Tristan Evans on drums and backup vocals, James McVey as guitar and backup vocals, and Connor Ball as bassist and backup vocals), announcing to their crowd how amazing they are and loud compared to previous shows. They also told us lyrics to some songs they were going to sing so we could sing along to their music.
Speaking of their music, they had their first album released a month ago, including easily danceable songs like "Can We Dance" and "Wild Heart." I was pumping my fists and dancing throughout their whole performance because they were great at getting everyone excited. I was a little disappointed though because not many people actually knew who these guys were.
During the concert, Brad was running around the stage and dancing while changing up some notes on songs like in "Oh Cecelia" at the end he sang, "Oh CECELIAAAAA!" (screaming the note) and went insane, nodding his head and moving his fists around it was absolutely hilarious and fantastic at the same time to see him get so excited. He also seemed really happy whenever he told us to point to the band and say "Hey, YOU!" at certain parts in the song "Somebody To You." When we did, he said, "Whoa, that's awesome." He also got pretty sweaty while dancing and singing (who wouldn't? He was in Texas!), and he had a towel available to wipe down his face and arms. After doing so, he said, "Sorry guys, I'm pretty sweaty right now...who wants this towel?!" The crowd cheered him on and Brad continued, "Wow, that's pretty gross, alright!" Then proceeded to throw it into the air, being caught by a fan.
Towards the end of The Vamps' concert, Brad told the crowed to put their hands in the air, saying it like, "Now we want you all to put your hands in the air! There you go! Phew, we can smell all the BO from up here! Haha, it doesn't matter, keep them up there!" That should show you how energetic and optimistic the band was for the entire concert, not to mention them messing with Connor and Brad going up to the drum sets where Tristan was and dancing all over them!
I couldn't believe how little fans The Vamps had, some girls I talked to said "We have no idea who they are" when I told them I was here to see The Vamps. The band was ecstatic before and after the show when fans would come up to them for pictures, and they took the time to talk to each of them. They truly deserve more fans than they have (none of the boys have at least 1 million followers/subs!). Their music has a wide variety from total pop to acoustic-indie to Indie Rock. I would recommend anyone goes to see The Vamps whenever they come to their town, even if it's just an opening act because their performance was certainly not a forgettable one.