April might just have started but The Vamps have already treated fans to a double whammy of announcements. On April 19th, the week before their Four Corners tour kicks off, they are set to release their Missing You EP. To help fans get even more excited about the release, Right Now; a collaboration with Krept & Konan has just been released which was produced by drummer Tristan Evans. We spoke to Tristan to find out more about the EP, Right Now and the Four Corners tour which looks set to be their biggest tour to date!
Hi Tristan, firstly we have to say a massive congratulations on becoming the first band to do five consecutive years at the O2 Arena!
I know, it’s crazy isn’t it, it’s mental!
The Four Corners tour starts later this month which includes the O2 date, how are you feeling about it?
That makes it even more special and the London show is going to be crazy. But things like that I feel are nice, it’s nice to have awards like that as we do work hard and do love what we do. It’s nice to have those things and for it to be five times in a row is pretty sick.
You’re playing both big venues and small venues on this tour?
I don’t know, what we wanted to do was because we missed small venues but also love the fact that we can play and we love playing big venues as well. We like to have both. So we were like why don’t we do the arena tour we did last year but go to all of the different places that don’t have an arena like Plymouth, you know places we haven’t really been before and call it the Four Corners tour as we’re going to all four corners. Then eventually that’ll be the world tour branding as we’ll be going to the four corners of the world as we’re going to Russia and places we’ve never been to. So kind of like it naturally fits in to the ‘let’s go everywhere’.
So, what can fans expect from both the big and the smaller shows?
We’re planning the show for the smallest venue and then as we get bigger we just expand the stage, the lights and the screens. You just expand like that naturally as it’s easier to build than take down. So the O2 will be twice as big as the Plymouth show in terms of production. But the Plymouth show will feel like the same production as the O2 because it’s smaller.
Have you got anything special planned for this tour?
We’ve got new music, we’re going to bring out some cool people on stage. Just a new vibe and another year of just having fun and getting everyone together and everyone having a good time. That’s what we love to see.
You mentioned new music and today you announced the Missing You EP, can you tell us a little more about the recording process for it?
The EP actually started with kinda two songs; Missing You and Right Now. Right Now is with Krept & Konan which are an artist we really like, we really think that they’ve got a strong message and they’re giving a strong message to the world. I love grime and wanted to do something different, we had a lot of options with collaborations but it was just so predictable. It was literally artists speaking to artists, I spoke to Krept and said ‘you should come over’ so he came over, then Konan came over, Brad came over then everyone just kind of kept on coming over and we finished writing Right Now that way. So organic, no one involved apart from us and the artists. That’s kind of how Right Now came about, a similar thing to Missing You, just a song we wrote and we took and then recorded. It’s literally our home studios, sending things to each other and just kind of doing it.
Has it been harder or easier being even more in control this time around?
The funny thing is we’ve been writing with each other like this since our first album but we had less time to do the stuff we do now because we hadn’t had time off touring for five years constantly. We had no time to kind of focus on everything so we had four months off and kind of had time to try out everything.
Do you have a favourite track off the new EP?
Mine would be Right Now.
Well isn’t that a surprise!
(laughing) I feel like it’s different and I produced it so it’s like my baby. I’m excited to see the reaction!
You mentioned touring and the Night & Day album cycles took you across the world. But what was your favourite overall highlight of those album cycles?
I think like it got to number one so that was a highlight, that was awesome. Then it took us everywhere in the world and we did a world tour, we literally went everywhere and it’s cool. Introducing us to these beautiful new places in the world, places like India and South America where we thought we’d never go to but we’re there quite a lot now because they’re very, very supportive of the new music.
We’ve seen this be talked about a lot, so we have to ask; are there any tracks you feel like you’ve outgrown or can’t relate to as much anymore?
Yeah I do, you know what not that I can’t relate but it’s funny that you said that because when we did some of these tracks we were sixteen and you have so much more energy back in those days. So I feel like it’s not that we can’t relate to them because everyone likes to have a good time as all of our first album songs are about partying and just having a good time. But I can relate to Can We Dance and Wild Heart where you just want to dance with someone and it’s just like it’s sometimes hard on stage to show the energy but I think now we have this new energy added to the old stuff and that’s what’s new about the tour. The old songs in a new style.
When you were younger what was the most common lie you told?
Lie? I mean I stole a lot when I was a kid like Pokémon cards and like I shoplifted and lied about that so that was pretty bad.
You’ve grown up in the spotlight but how has it felt with your friends growing up alongside you?
It’s felt awesome. I feel like no one’s changed, we all look the same except we kind of don’t still look the same. Brad has a moustache now. It’s really cool, we are literally best friends, you know we’ve lived together, we can just chill and just like spend time with together on tour and working and for pleasure. So you know it’s the best of both worlds.
As the time goes on, does it get easier when releasing new music?
I feel like I’m, we’re really excited for this EP as it’s been a while since we’ve released anything and we’ve really worked hard on this body of work so we’re excited to release that. It’s really exciting, it’s pretty much the same but I feel more excited. This is the most excited I’ve ever been for releasing music.
Will some of these new tracks get played on the Four Corners tour?
Yep, yep, all. The majority of them definitely will.
What would you love to tell your fans who are reading this right now?
Just a massive, it sounds so cliché but a massive thank you. It’s awesome like they’re so loyal. It’s so nice to know that we have them and they have us. When they’re down, when they’re feeling down just listen to our music if it helps like it helps with me and any of the other boys like when you’re down you go to music. Everyone goes to music. I feel if we can be there for them then we’re always going to be there for them. Just a massive thank you, we’ll see you on tour as we’re going pretty much everywhere and we’ll see you in your city!
Finally, what’s on the cards for the rest of 2019?
I feel like we’ll have to plan a massive stag do for James, that’s on the cards.
Have you got any plans so far?
I don’t know, well kind of. I’ve got ideas that are probably illegal but we’ll make them happen anyway… no, we won’t. We’ve got ideas for stag do’s, potentially the start of the album, just touring as we’ve got a lot of summer festivals and shows already confirmed. That leads us into the end of this year, there is just lots going on.
The Vamps’ new EP Missing You is released on April 19th and is available for pre-order now. For further details about the Four Corners tour including where to get tickets head here.