MEET THE VAMPS
David Massey’s Island is seeing signs of a U.S. breakout for British pop-rock heartthrobs The Vamps, whose freshly released Somebody to You EP hit #5 at iTunes this week.
The band has seen real heat in the U.K., where they’re signed to Ted Cockle’s Virgin EMI; their full-length Meet the Vamps bowed at #2 on Her Majesty’s Album Chart with 47k in British sales—it’s now #14 after 16 weeks, with an adjusted album-sales total of 270k RTD.
Three singles, "Can We Dance" (which debuted at #2 with 67k sales) "Wild Heart" (#3 debut, 83k) and "Somebody to You" (#4 bow, 50k) have also fared superbly at U.K. radio, moving swiftly from Playlist to A List at BBC Radio 1 since December. The Vamps performed at Radio 1’s Big Weekend.
The three tracks also won considerable support at Capital Radio, which added them weeks ahead of release and booked the band on all of its priority events, notably the Summertime Ball.
The band’s manager, Richard Rashman—an adept at hysteria-inducing pop, having served as manager of Busted and McFly—is credited by label execs with providing the initial vision of the band, assembling the players and contributing songs.
It was Massey, however, who united the band with guest Demi Lovato for a new version of "Somebody to You," which doesn’t appear on the U.K. album but is clearly helping drive sales of the U.S. EP. The video of their collaboration, seen below, has earned almost 18m views.
