Bradley Simpson has spoken to NME about his debut solo album ‘The Panic Years’, being inspired by the likes of Queens Of The Stone Age and Jack White, and hinted at what’s next for The Vamps. Check out our full interview below.
The frontman has already released five singles from the record. They mark his first work outside of his band, leaning into indie-rock and alt-pop instead of the anthemic pop which became synonymous with The Vamps.
Since kicking off his solo era with a residency at London’s 100 Club this March, Simpson has been previewing the new material in intimate venues across the UK and Europe, while also appearing at this summer’s Reading & Leeds festivals.
“In [The Vamps], we were quite fortunate that we jumped up to big rooms pretty quickly,” he told NME of transitioning back from arenas to smaller spaces. “There were a few venues that I’d seen on the back of tour merch – rite of passage venues – that I had never played. Starting the solo shows at the 100 Club… you step in and you feel it in the walls, the history of people who played there.
“I played in Leeds, at the working men’s club – Brudenell [Social Club] – and it was awesome,” he continued. “I was a big fan of The Cribs growing up, and The Cribs used to plot up there quite a lot. I just wanted to go and step into it.”
Simpson continued: “Intimacy puts you in a different headspace as a performer. It feels more like a collaborative experience, working together [with the crowd]. There was one fan who brought a kazoo to so many of the shows – it became quite a funny bit! You lose that intimacy in bigger rooms. You do hone your craft a lot more in smaller venues, in front of audiences that can see the whites of your eyes.”
Check out our full interview below, where Simpson also spoke about stumbling across The 1975 in their early days, touring with the “amazing” Sabrina Carpenter, and how he’s moved away from pop in favour of “feel-based stuff”.
NME: Hello Bradley. Was your recent tour an opportunity to give material from ‘The Panic Years’ a trial run?
Bradley Simpson: “There’s a song called ‘Daisies’ that I ended up pushing to the third single, when it wasn’t even going to be a single, purely off the back of the live reaction. It feels like we’ve gravitated so much towards trialling music online and on TikTok, but [touring] is the tangible in-person test. It puts a bit of the power in the fan’s hand. I remember going and seeing bands, you’d hear a song, and be excited for it to come out.”
Any particular bands or songs that spring to mind?
“I saw a Geordie band called Little Comets, I must have been 15, 16? There was a band supporting, and the lead singer had shaved sides and a big mohawk. I’d never heard them before, and they had some absolute bangers, they stayed in my mind… but it was one of those where I didn’t even check afterwards. It turns out that it was The 1975!
“I think they might have even been [performing] under a different name, but they stayed stuck in my head. Then the first time that I heard [2013 EP] ‘Music For Cars’, it just clicked, because they’d been playing those songs live for ages. It’s a cool way to put your music out into the world.”
Why did now feel like the right time for you to write music away from The Vamps?
“Before, I don’t think I was hugely ready to write songs which felt that vulnerable. It’s very easy to put certain feelings or conversations to one side during busy periods, because you’re distracted. There were a few factors – feeling a bit more settled and having time to reflect. I wrote a couple of songs which felt too personal to pitch out, and they didn’t work within the band. From there, it just snowballed.
“It wasn’t out of a feeling of unhappiness, I’ve been very happy in the band – and still am – for the past 12 years. It was more a chance to express a different side of me that I was excited about… trying to go back and make 15-year-old Brad proud. I used to listen to Queens Of The Stone Age, Nirvana, The Raconteurs, a lot of Jack White. I tried to reconnect with what made me love [those artists] at that point in my life.”
What still speaks to 29-year-old Brad about all of those artists?
“The angst, the distortion in everything, the saturation. It always felt quite unpredictable, especially the Queens stuff – the ‘Songs For The Deaf’ album was the one that I really loved. Even Dave Grohl’s drum parts felt different to anything that I’d heard before, you didn’t know what was around the corner after a certain section. I really loved that, and I wanted to unlearn a few things that I’d learned through pop songwriting and go back to feel-based stuff. That’s where diving back into those influences came from.”
‘The Panic Years’ feels unpredictable at times, but still sounds like a cohesive body of work…
“Again, going back to ‘Songs For The Deaf’, it’s such a cohesive body of work, even down to the radio station in between each song – it’s got a real flow to it. I wanted the songs to have their own identity, but all be siblings, part of the same family tree. You might have your scrappy younger brother and your wise older sister…
“It’s very easy in songwriting to get bored quite quickly. I think that’s good for opening up a different style of songwriting, but then you’ve got to make sure that they don’t feel like polar opposites on an album. Going into the concept of ‘The Panic Years’, there’s a lyrical tie throughout all of it, as much as the production and the sounds.”
Did you naturally arrive at that concept, reaching the end of your 20s?
“There was one guy I played the album to. I was talking to him about ‘The Panic Years’ and how it’s typically depicted in your 20s. He said, ‘Well, I’m 40, and I still feel like I’m in my panic years’. It never ends! I think you can go through massive periods of change, and that’s exciting at any point in your life. You are in charge of that yourself. If you want to put yourself in positions of discomfort, to grow or change off the back, then you can do that.
“Hopefully for anyone who is going through those moments – be it your 20s, your 30s, teens – they are the best moments in your life, the periods of time where you learn the most and you come out the other end knowing where you’re going, or how to get there. You feel less scared to do it, because you’ve gone through those periods already. The thought of approaching 30 is terrifying in some ways, but I’m excited.”
There’s a song on the album called ‘The Band’s Not Breaking Up’ – was it intentional to drop the tracklist early to reassure Vamps fans?
“The song’s not about that at all, really – it’s about the breakdown of a relationship. Me and the boys know where our heads are at, so I didn’t feel a huge need to put a statement out. But I like the concept… the band has been a constant in my life for 12 years, and other things have fluctuated. There’s a real stability and safety in it that I wanted to touch on in the album.”
Have your Vamps bandmates heard the album? What do they think of it?
“They’ve heard the majority of it – ‘Cry At The Moon’ a while before it came out, and ‘Carpet Burn’. They’re so supportive. Connor [Ball, bassist] and James [Brittain-McVey, guitarist] have got their own projects as well. We tend to play each other stuff before it comes out, just as a sounding board or because we want to.”
Back in 2017, Sabrina Carpenter opened for The Vamps on tour. What have you made of the incredible success she’s achieved this year?
“She’s always been such an amazing, hard-working artist from such a young age. It’s so well deserved. Even when we toured together and had the song [‘Hands’, also co-written by Mike Perry], you could see how she [imagines] the whole world of what she wants to do. ‘Slim Pickins’ is really good. There’s that Nashville country twang throughout the whole album, which really suits her voice. A good album has those ups and downs, light and dark, and it feels like a bit of a journey.”
Finally, have you been writing anything that could fit on a new album from The Vamps?
“I’ll be honest, I haven’t. I’ve been writing [solo material] for two years, so when I tour for a period of time, my writing brain just switches off. So, not at the moment, but we will come back to writing at some point. I’ve got a few more things that I want to do for the solo stuff. I’m trying to follow that at the moment, but we definitely will [write another album]. I’m sure it will appear out of nowhere at some point!”
Bradley Simpson’s album ‘The Panic Years’ is due out February 28. Pre-order/pre-save it here, and see the full tracklist below.
The full tracklist for Bradley Simpson’s ‘The Panic Years’ is:
‘Cry At The Moon’
‘Picasso’
‘Carpet Burn’
‘Daisies’
‘Holy Grail’
‘Getting Clear’
‘Not Us Anymore’
‘Almost’
‘Favourite Band’
‘Always Like This’
‘The Band’s Not Breaking Up’
‘The Panic Years’
Check out Simpson’s 2025 UK and Ireland tour dates below, and visit here for tickets and information.
Bradley Simpson’s 2025 UK and Ireland tour dates are:
MAY
07 – Dublin, The Academy
10 – Newcastle, University
11 – Glasgow, SWG3 Galvanizers
13 – Sheffield, Leadmill
14 – Leeds, Beckett Student Union
16 – Manchester, O2 Ritz
17 – Birmingham, O2 Institute
19 – Cardiff, Tramshed
20 – Bristol, SWX
22 – Southampton, Engine Rooms
23 – London, O2 Forum Kentish Town