STYLE Birmingham

***STYLE Birmingham*** is a biannual print and digital publication founded by creative content agency RileyRaven based in Birmingham, England. Connor Ball was featured in their 50th issue for the second edition of their Autumn 2016 *Man* magazine. The interview was conducted on July 26, 2016, and discussed his musical inspirations and the band's upcoming third album, with photography done by Mike Raven.

## Interview

A fresh-faced Connor Ball casually strolls into our studio on a Tuesday morning, greeting us all with hugs and handshakes. Lucky us. We're spending the whole day with the bass player from The Vamps to talk about everything from new music to life in the city; yet his laid-back attitude would lead us to believe that he's simply here to hang out.

He's without his wingmen, fellow bandmates Bradley Simpson, Tristan Evans and James McVey, who complete the band that are rapidly building a name for themselves. And rightly so, the guys have worked incredibly hard to get where they are today; no free passes, just constant practice and using social media to get themselves heard.

"I picked up a guitar when I was 10, my Grandma gave me one, and it sat in the corner of my room for about a year and didn't bother with it. Then I started to listen to bands like McFly, Blink-182 and Sum 41, who started to really influence me to carry on playing. I used to play for five hours a day, it was never a moment of 'Oh, I've got to go and play guitar' it was just that I wanted to go play, and practice it and get better at it. I wasn't doing it because I wanted to be in a band or be successful, I was play it just because I liked it so much."

Connor met the rest of the band through social media, where they posted videos of cover songs on YouTube, rapidly gaining themselves a following. "It was organic, it wasn't like we were forced to be friends, we made friends the same way as we made each other into a band," says Connor, speaking of the band's friendship.

Before they knew it they were signed to Virgin EMI Records at the end of 2012. "I'd just come out of school, I was 16. I joined the band and quit college and we all thought, 'this is either it or it's going to be awful.' We never thought that we would be as big as we are now. When we first started out we were practicing in a garage. Luckily we got on to the McFly tour, it was mad, and I think that's when we all realised that this was what we wanted to do."

Since then it's been quite a ride for the band, and it's fair to say they're doing pretty well for themselves. Their debut album, *Meet the Vamps*, peaked at number two in the UK charts and since then they've had five UK top 10s and released their second album, *Wake Up*.

All hailing from different musical backgrounds gives the band an advantage to produce diverse songs that make The Vamps what they are today. Connor admits that growing up he "used to only like one genre of music," but says that being a part of the band has made his musical taste more diverse.

"I was really into pop and alternative stuff but now I can listen to everything. I think once you start writing you appreciate other music so much more because you notice they way it's written, or the melody, even if it's not the kind of genre that you like. Right now I love the new Panic! at the Disco album; I'm really into You Me at Six; I quite like a lot of The Chainsmokers stuff, their track *Don't Let Me Down* is great."

So what's next for Connor and the rest of The Vamps? Well, they're already working on their third album. "We've taken it in a bit of a new direction. It's taking hints from the first album but making it a bit more modern; we've added some trap drums and things like that. It's still very much The Vamps but making it a little more contemporary."

The band are heavily involved in creating their music, from the penning of songs right to the production. "We go in with producers and say 'this is how we want it to sound.' They'll have ideas and we'll have ideas that we just bounce off each other.

"Two of the guys have just been to LA, I went a couple of months ago with Brad and we wrote maybe five or six songs. We go away on all these different writing trips and we'll end up with around 40 different songs, and we'll have to pick the final ones from that list. Writing them all is pretty easy, but selecting our favourite ones is always really hard."

The band are no strangers to collaborations. In the past they've worked with 18-year-old, singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes and Demi Lovato; and it looks like there could be more collaborations in works for album three. "We have got a few people in mind, so hopefully it may be on one of the first tunes that we release. I'd really love to do something with Will Smith, if he was rapping on one of our tunes I would absolutely love that!"

It's been a busy year for Connor and the rest of the band, from January through to May they were on the road for the Wake Up Tour. "It was really laid-back this tour," he said. "There was no stress in it at all, we have a big crew around us and they're great at doing their thing, we're great at doing ours. No one was stressing each other out so it was great fun."

The tour kicked off in Australia, and the guys took full advantage of seeing as much of the countries they were playing as they could. "In Australia we did this massive all day hike. When we were in South America we went out to see what was going on. It was a bit dangerous but we had security with us."

But Connor's part in the world tour was cut short after he injured his knee and had to return to the UK for surgery. "I had to fly back from Hong Kong when I ruined my knee, that sucked, I was sat on my mum and dad's sofa for about four weeks." Yet his injury didn't stop him rejoining the band for their UK leg of the tour in March. "We do two gigs and then get a day off so your buzzing for quite a while afterwards. Usually you'll want to go out or do something after a gig because you're so full of adrenalin. It's a great feeling."

The tour was the band's biggest to date. The UK leg saw them play arenas across the country, including two nights at the Genting Arena, but they have their eyes set on bigger stages in the future. "I think Madison Square Garden in New York would be amazing," added Connor. "We've played the O2 in London quite a few times, which was always one of our goals, so that's been ticked off. Wembley Stadium is massive, so that would be amazing. To be honest even just travelling around the rest of the world would be amazing. We went to loads of places on the last tour but we didn't manage to get to Mexico. It'd love to go and play there."

After being on the road for five months, Connor returned to his home in Birmingham. "When you get back you feel like you should be doing something instead of just chilling, it's quite hard to get back into that chilled mode," he says. "I don't do anything, I just chill and sit on the sofa. I like going out; Prymz on Broad Street is great for a night out. Aluna in the Mailbox is really cool too."

Connor is a normal 20-year-old lad. Granted he's living the dream, but he's determined not to let the fame get to his head. "I don't change anything that I'd normally do when I'm at home, it's completely the same as what my mates are doing. I love seeing all my mates, I like to see them as much as I can when I'm home and just try to get back into a home environment as much as I can, you stay grounded that way I think."

As well as spending time with his friends and in his recording studio at home, Connor recently launched his own YouTube channel, where he went back to his roots, posting videos of cover songs. "Being able to do something separate from the band is cool because it helps to keep everything fresh. I don't think I'd be able to go away from the band but it's nice to go back to what I used to do as well as keeping up what I'm doing now."

It's clear that the future's looking pretty bright for Connor and The Vamps and we can't wait to hear album three!

## Personnel

* Mike Raven Template:Ndash photography
* Simon Konaszczuk Template:Ndash assistant
* Luisa Hackney Template:Ndash styling
* Diana Stoencheva Template:Ndash makeup

## Gallery

* Interview

**@Stylebham**: "@TheVampsCon from @TheVampsband backstage prepping for the shoot today with the amazing @Dianka86\_Makeup #stylebham"
* July 26, 2016
* Twitter
**@Stylebham**: "Prepping for the shoot today with @TheVampsCon @TheVampsband #stylebham #issue50 #connorball #thevamps"
* July 26, 2016
* Twitter
**@Stylebham**: "Shooting @TheVampsCon @TheVampsband #thevamps #connorball #issue50 #stylebirmingham #stylebham"
* July 26, 2016
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**@Stylebham**: "Casual Autumn look with @TheVampsCon @TheVampsband #thevamps #connorball #issue50 #stylebirmingham #stylebham"
* July 26, 2016
* Twitter
**@Stylebham**: "Backstage at the interview with the lovely @TheVampsCon @TheVampsband #stylebham #issue50 #connorball #thevamps"
* July 26, 2016
* Twitter
**@Stylebham**: "Quick-fire interview questions with @TheVampsCon @TheVampsband #thevamps #connorball #issue50 #stylebirmingham"
* July 26, 2016
* Twitter
**@Stylebham**: "You can watch our exclusive interview with @TheVampsCon at http://stylebham.com #TheVamps"
* September 9, 2016
* Twitter
**@Stylebham**: "#TBT to our interview with the lovely @TheVampsCon for last year's celebration issue!"
* July 27, 2017
* Twitter
**@Stylebham**: "#TBT to our interview with the lovely @TheVampsCon for last year's celebration issue!"
* July 27, 2017
* Twitter
**@Stylebham**: "#TBT to our interview with the lovely @TheVampsCon for last year's celebration issue!"
* July 27, 2017
* Twitter

## References

1. ↑ "Connor Ball (@connorball)". *Instagram*. July 26, 2016.

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