The Vamps - The Vamps: Official Book

New York London

2016 by Bradley Simpson, James McVey, Connor Ball, Tristan Evans

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JAMES: It all started back in 2011 when one of our managers, Richard Rashman, contacted me via MySpace after seeing some of the music Id posted. He told me hed put together Busted and McFly and that he was interested in putting a band together around me.

At that point I was doing quite a lot of solo acoustic gigs and really enjoying it, so I wasnt sure I wanted to be in a band. Plus, all the other people I knew who were in bands were out drinking and partying a lot, and I didnt want to be a part of that scene. Ive never been the type to go out and get wasted.

After thinking it over for a while I decided I had nothing to lose so I swallowed my pride and called Richard back to hear more about what he wanted to do.

Richard explained that he was looking in the UK and America for more band members and he wanted me to see if I could find any talented guys off my own bat. The idea of putting a band together was quite daunting, but I always love a challenge!

I looked through a lot of videos of singers on YouTube some amazing, some slightly scary and I found a couple of guys who looked like theyd be a good fit. Id never written with anyone but we met up and worked on some ideas, which was great because it helped to build up my confidence.

I ended up meeting loads of different people in the following six months after school and at weekends. And while everyone was really nice, there was no one I really clicked with musically.

Then, one night, I saw a video of Brad on YouTube singing an Ed Sheeran cover and I thought he had such an incredible voice. I also thought he looked about thirteen.

BRAD: Im still not sure whether Im flattered or insulted by that?

JAMES: Its a compliment! Anyway, I sent a link to the video to Richard and he came back and said he thought I should contact him. I tracked Brad down on Facebook and sent him a message explaining the project, and it must have seemed like the most random thing ever. Hi, you dont know me, but would you like to be in a band with me? Brad didnt reply and I didnt think he was interested. But then, three weeks later, Brad got in touch to say he was interested.

BRAD: I did think it was well weird, to be fair.

JAMES: I contacted Brad in late 2011 and we met up after chatting and messaging a lot. I went up to Birmingham to stay with him for the weekend, and it was the first time Id travelled all that way on my own. I remember coming out of the train station and Brad came up to me. My first thought was, Hes so small and he looks so young!

It was quite a scary thing to do but luckily his family were really friendly towards me and made me feel so welcome. Brad even brought me pancakes in bed on the first morning. Hed never do that now. I cant think of anything hes less likely to do.

BRAD: I honestly cant believe I did that. Its like my body was taken over by aliens for the weekend. Every time we talk about that weekend it totally sounds like I was trying to woo James. Its very weird. Although he did also get caught up in the middle of a family argument.

My family and I had just been away to Barbados for a holiday and taken a load of photos. I think Id been in trouble with my mum for something so I thought Id make it up to her by skating into Sutton with the memory card and getting some of the pictures printed off. Only when I took the memory card out it had snapped in half and there was nothing they could do to recover it.

My sister was so angry with me, and then when I told my mum what had happened she got really upset and a bit of a row broke out (my family never argue so it was pretty bad). Poor James had to stand by while we had a family argument about me ruining all our holiday photos. That was one of his first impressions of the Simpson household, poor lad.

JAMES: I felt so awkward and really bad for them all. I was sat there wondering if I should go home, but Brad wouldnt hear of it.

Pancakes and arguments aside, we genuinely worked hard and came up with a couple of good songs, including a track called Rough Night. We ended up putting the demo out later down the line because we really wanted people to hear what the first song we ever wrote was like, and its since become a fan favourite.

Brad sang a song Id written a couple of years before called Move My Way, which totally came to life when he performed it. I sent the songs to Richard and he came back straight away and said he really liked them. Whenever Id sent him songs in the past hed said they were OK, but this time he was really enthusiastic about what wed done.

There was definitely songwriting chemistry and a real shared work ethic between me and Brad. We were both at school and had the same kind of commitments, and that made things easier too. Wed both go to school during the week and then meet up at the weekends to song write.

We were also both into skateboarding and playing FIFA and Call of Duty , and even though there were two school years between us which is quite a lot when youre that age we got on from the word go.

TRISTAN: And then I came along, which was obviously incredible.

JAMES: Yes, and then there was Tristan! He randomly added me on Facebook because we had a mutual friend who Id written with before, and Tristan had been working with him too.

I had a look at Tristans profile and saw that he was my age, good-looking and a drummer. I YouTubed him and watched him taking part in the Young Drummer of the Year competition and he was so good.

It all felt a bit awkward because of our friend, but I asked Tristan if he wanted to come and write with Brad and me to see if we gelled.

TRISTAN: I wasnt sure what to do, but I knew that I wasnt very well suited musically to the friend I was playing with at the time, and it was such an amazing opportunity. It would have been crazy not to at least meet the guys.