The Vamps

The Vamps are a British pop band consisting of Bradley Simpson, James Brittain-McVey, Connor Ball and Tristan Evans. They formed in 2012 and signed to Mercury Records (now Virgin EMI Records) in the November of the same year.

In 2017, they had their first number 1 on the UK Albums Chart with Night & Day (Night Edition). Their first two albums, Meet The Vamps and Wake Up are both certified Gold in the UK. The Vamps have also launched their own record label, Steady Records, and they are working in partnership with EMI/Universal. The first act signed was American band The Tide.

In 2018, guitarist McVey participated in the eighteenth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! and finished in fifth place. They have continuously toured worldwide since their debut in 2012, and they are the first band to headline London's O2 Arena five years in a row.

History

2011–2012: Formation

James McVey was already managed by Richard Rashman and Joe O'Neill of Prestige Management. Deciding he wanted to form a band, McVey subsequently discovered Bradley Simpson in 2011 through YouTube. Together, the pair wrote songs towards the later months of 2011, with Simpson later becoming the lead singer. In 2012, Simpson and McVey met Tristan Evans through Facebook. The trio then met Connor Ball via a mutual friend. In mid-2012, the band started uploading cover songs to their YouTube channel. By October, they were being described as a new boy band, with special attention given to their YouTube performance of One Direction's song "Live While We're Young".

2013–2014: Meet the Vamps

On 22 July 2013, the band uploaded their first original song, "Wildheart" (later re-titled "Wild Heart"), onto their YouTube account; the video received over 46,000 views within the first two days. On 6 August 2013, they released the music video for their debut single "Can We Dance", which received over 1 million views within two weeks. "Can We Dance" was released on 29 September 2013 and debuted at number two on the UK Singles Chart on 6 October 2013; beaten to number one by OneRepublic's "Counting Stars", which sold 1,250 copies more. On 19 November 2013, the band announced that they would release their debut album around Easter. On 22 November 2013, the Vamps announced that their second single would be "Wild Heart". The song received its first airplay three days later and was released on 19 January 2014, peaking at number three on the UK Singles Chart the following week.

On 13 March 2014, the Vamps announced that their debut album would be released on 14 April 2014. On 22 March, it was revealed that the album would be titled Meet the Vamps. On 6 April, they released "Last Night" as the third single from the album, debuting at number two in the UK. On 17 April, Meet the Vamps debuted at number two on the Irish Albums Chart and the UK Albums Chart, kept off the top spot by Paolo Nutini's Caustic Love.

In May 2014, it was announced that the Vamps would be making a cameo appearance in the soap opera Hollyoaks on 14 May 2014. Hollyoaks released a teaser clip about the Vamps' appearance on YouTube. They were seen getting a picture with Peri Lomax (Ruby O'Donnell) as she goes to their concert with Sienna Blake (Anna Passey).