These are James' words! He posted this on his Tumblr account. If you would like to follow him on Tumblr then go to the 'LINKS' tab above.
Here it is!
We’ve been spending a lot of time recently in various different studios writing and recording our original songs. In case you wondered, I thought I’d just say a little bit about how The Vamps got together. It’s honestly crazy thinking back to how things once were, and how they are now. I will take you back to when I was 15 years old firstly.
For those who don’t know, I used to be a solo artist/ musician. I wrote songs acoustically and performed them at any gigs I could get. Don’t get me wrong, I loved playing to any body who would listen, and have to say I’ve met some of the greatest people ever along that journey, however, I never really seemed to get to ‘the next level’; sure, I was happy and was able to play some pretty cool gigs, but I always thought that something was ‘missing’ musically in my life. Consequently, when I was approached by my manager after appearing in an indie musician magazine, ‘OurZone’, I was adamant to grasp any chance I had. Please don’t think that I automatically abandoned genuine passion for music and replaced it with a desire for fame as that wasn’t, and still isn’t true; I never wanted to be something ‘fake’, or someone who didn’t write their own music and like to think that I’m still a person who upholds that.
When I first found Bradley on youtube I was blown away- after much discussion with my management company we realised that if we wanted to have a good shot at getting anywhere in the industry, we needed to find a singer with absolute star quality. I remember sitting in a close friend’s house in October of 2011 and being blown away by the soul and passion being propelled from such a young and seemingly ‘cute’ individual; I
knew at that moment that I HAD to make a band with Brad.
Bradley and I met up in late October/ early November for the first time and began writing our own material. I know it’s the biggest cliche ever but in all honesty me and Brad ‘clicked’ instantly- not only personally, but musically too.
Finding Tristan was a HUGE coincidence if we’re all honest. I remember sitting on my laptop one evening when I had a new friend request on Facebook. I had no idea who this chap was, however, after exchanging about 3 messages with him, I once again knew that this guy, ‘Trisi Evans’, was our third member.
Since finding Tristan in early 2012 (February/ March), we’ve all grown bonds that are indescribable- it’s like we’re brothers and I know that’s
yet again a massive cliche statement but it’s true!
So after meeting Tris things really started to turn into a whirl wind for us- I’m not trying to portray in any way that things have been straight forward for us, and that we haven’t had to work hard at all; FAR FROM IT! What I’m trying to say is that we have been privileged enough to have the greatest team around us…
I know that our management, Prestige Management, never like me thanking them however The Vamps wouldn’t be The Vamps without them! With our management we decided to put our first cover up at the start of August. ‘Vegas Girl’ by Conor Maynard was our first cover and I know I speak for all of us when I say that nobody could ever have expected the response that we actually received. I mean it’s kind of weird looking back to when Bradley and I put up our love of ‘As Long As You Love Me’; we both said to each other ‘I hope we get 1000 views over night’. Basically this is turning into a long winded thank you I guess- I know you must hear this from every other band member but seriously I can’t stress enough how much we are blown away by you guys… I mean seriously… we’re just normal teenagers who write songs about girls and things
(cringe) that have struck lucky with a major record deal.
With regards to next year, and I know so many of you have been asking us about the album and gigs etc, I just want to tell you our plans for 2013.
We’re the process of getting an album of original songs together- We have written about 25 songs however it’s all about picking the best ones and making them the best songs they can possibly be. We’ve been lucky enough to meet some of the best writers in the world and can’t wait to write more songs with them.
I know that gigs are the things that we get asked about the most- ‘when are you touring?’ etc! Okay… Whilst I can not announce any tour dates or places we intend to visit on a tour, I can say that there is a tour that is in the process of being organised for us. I wish I could say more but I really can’t! All I can say is we will definitely be playing a tour in 2013!
For those who don’t know, I used to be a solo artist/ musician. I wrote songs acoustically and performed them at any gigs I could get. Don’t get me wrong, I loved playing to any body who would listen, and have to say I’ve met some of the greatest people ever along that journey, however, I never really seemed to get to ‘the next level’; sure, I was happy and was able to play some pretty cool gigs, but I always thought that something was ‘missing’ musically in my life. Consequently, when I was approached by my manager after appearing in an indie musician magazine, ‘OurZone’, I was adamant to grasp any chance I had. Please don’t think that I automatically abandoned genuine passion for music and replaced it with a desire for fame as that wasn’t, and still isn’t true; I never wanted to be something ‘fake’, or someone who didn’t write their own music and like to think that I’m still a person who upholds that.
When I first found Bradley on youtube I was blown away- after much discussion with my management company we realised that if we wanted to have a good shot at getting anywhere in the industry, we needed to find a singer with absolute star quality. I remember sitting in a close friend’s house in October of 2011 and being blown away by the soul and passion being propelled from such a young and seemingly ‘cute’ individual; I
knew at that moment that I HAD to make a band with Brad.
Bradley and I met up in late October/ early November for the first time and began writing our own material. I know it’s the biggest cliche ever but in all honesty me and Brad ‘clicked’ instantly- not only personally, but musically too.
Finding Tristan was a HUGE coincidence if we’re all honest. I remember sitting on my laptop one evening when I had a new friend request on Facebook. I had no idea who this chap was, however, after exchanging about 3 messages with him, I once again knew that this guy, ‘Trisi Evans’, was our third member.
Since finding Tristan in early 2012 (February/ March), we’ve all grown bonds that are indescribable- it’s like we’re brothers and I know that’s
yet again a massive cliche statement but it’s true!
So after meeting Tris things really started to turn into a whirl wind for us- I’m not trying to portray in any way that things have been straight forward for us, and that we haven’t had to work hard at all; FAR FROM IT! What I’m trying to say is that we have been privileged enough to have the greatest team around us…
I know that our management, Prestige Management, never like me thanking them however The Vamps wouldn’t be The Vamps without them! With our management we decided to put our first cover up at the start of August. ‘Vegas Girl’ by Conor Maynard was our first cover and I know I speak for all of us when I say that nobody could ever have expected the response that we actually received. I mean it’s kind of weird looking back to when Bradley and I put up our love of ‘As Long As You Love Me’; we both said to each other ‘I hope we get 1000 views over night’. Basically this is turning into a long winded thank you I guess- I know you must hear this from every other band member but seriously I can’t stress enough how much we are blown away by you guys… I mean seriously… we’re just normal teenagers who write songs about girls and things
(cringe) that have struck lucky with a major record deal.
With regards to next year, and I know so many of you have been asking us about the album and gigs etc, I just want to tell you our plans for 2013.
We’re the process of getting an album of original songs together- We have written about 25 songs however it’s all about picking the best ones and making them the best songs they can possibly be. We’ve been lucky enough to meet some of the best writers in the world and can’t wait to write more songs with them.
I know that gigs are the things that we get asked about the most- ‘when are you touring?’ etc! Okay… Whilst I can not announce any tour dates or places we intend to visit on a tour, I can say that there is a tour that is in the process of being organised for us. I wish I could say more but I really can’t! All I can say is we will definitely be playing a tour in 2013!