Description
Earlier this year the new album Cherry Blossom was sent to their label. As far as everyone was concerned it was finished, with singles just left to be decided on. They knew they had a strong collection of bangers and ballads that told the story of a band reborn, but they werent entirely certain about which song should properly mark the start of The Vamps Part 2. Thats when Zoom really came into its own. ldquoOn the day we handed the album in I went on a Zoom call with Lostboyrdquo explains Brad. ldquoWe had a few beers and then four hours later Married in Vegas was birthed.rdquo James adds ldquoI was playing Playstation with my mates and it was about 11pm and I was pretty drunk too actually. Then Brad FaceTimed me and he was like Ive just written this song. I love moments like that because even when you think somethings done it can still change at the last minute.Suddenly the race to be Cherry Blossoms lead single was won by a brand new song, a clear sign that their creative juices were in full flow. The Vamps, aka Brad Simpson, Connor Ball, Tristan Evans and James McVey, had never really had the chance to be bored before 2020 struck. Since their platinumselling debut album, Meet The Vamps, crashed into the UK charts at number 2 in 2014, the band have been holding onto a dreamlike rush of albums four in total, including 2017s charttopping Night amp Day Night Edition, featuring the Matomaassisted global smash All Night, singles eight top 40 hits including five top 10s, and world tours theyre the first band to headline Londons O2 Arena five years in a row. Having been on the treadmill of album, tour, albumrecordedontour, another tour, they fell back into the old routine and wrote half an album quickly 18 months ago. Some proper time off was needed however, so they indulged in that rare thing of space away from the band. Then, last summer, unhappy with the results of those early sessions, they booked some AirBnbs and just hung out and started jamming as the band. ldquoWe ended scrapping all of the first batch of songs and starting again,rdquo McVey says. This time gave the band the space to meticulously plan exactly what they wanted the album to be and what they wanted to say. Cherry Blossom was born, a title that is a reflection of the theme of rebirth that runs throughout. In the space of just six years The Vamps have morphed from brighteyed and bushytailed boyband with instruments into a proper fullyfledged pop band crafting arenasized Hits. On Cherry Blossom, that musicality thats occasionally been lost in frantic release schedules and world tours and award shows has been given the time to properly, well, blossom. This isnt a vehicle for pops current crop of in demand songwriters and producers, this is a Vampslead project thats made all the more impressive by the fact it was honed and finessed during lockdown. ldquoWed be lying if we said we didnt want it to go out into the world and be received positively,rdquo says Simpson of their hopes for the album. ldquoBut ultimately we love it so much, and that feeling of selffulfilment is so exciting. These are songs that really touch on parts of our lives.rdquo He smiles. ldquoThe songs mean that little bit more.rdquo