Bradley Simpson Tickets

Having performed in front of millions of fans around the world and selling out headline shows, Bradley Simpson is now channelling that star power into his debut solo album, ‘The Panic Years’, which is destined to establish him as one of the UK’s most exciting new global artists. 

Take his first single, the angst-ridden ‘Cry At The Moon’ that recalls Jeff Buckley on ‘Grace’. It opens with sparse, Americana-influenced acoustic guitar strums, before Simpson begins to sing the first verse in dark, husky tones. Then the song explodes on the chorus with a shout, the squall of electric guitars and an intense flurry of percussion. “Now I cry at the moon/ She don’t shine quite like you,” he calls out. “I’m all wrapped up in chains/ No matter what I do/ There’s no coming back from you.” 

It’s a striking opening salvo. “This is the song that really started the whole process of making the album,” Simpson explains. Lyrically, the song delves into the experience of longing for someone who is no longer around. He joined forces with Andrew Wells (RAYE), Anthony Rossomano (The Libertines), Norwegian singer-songwriter Ina Wroldsen (Calvin Harris) and the two-time Grammy nominee Jordan Asher Cruz, aka BOOTS (Beyoncé, Run the Jewells) who chose to work with Bradley and exec produced the whole album. “We were talking about the music I grew up on, which was Queens of the Stone Age and a lot of British indie bands, and then we just started playing around with different guitar tones,” he recalls. 

“It was a real team effort,” Simpson says about making the album (which was mixed by Rich Costey who has previously worked with Vampire Weekend and Sam Fender). “I had all of my loved ones being super supportive which I’m so grateful for. And then people like BOOTS, who became like my running partner through this whole process – not just from a production standpoint, but also having those conversations where I worked out what it was I wanted to say.” They recorded out in New York (at Flux Studios where The Strokes recorded their seminal debut album ‘Is This It’), hidden away from prying eyes and where Simpson could just relax, and focus on the music. “It felt a bit like a blank slate – there was no one I could get distracted by,” he explains.

It’s no surprise to hear such a high calibre of songwriting on the record. Simpson was responsible for co-writing many of chart-topping group The Vamps’ most successful and best-known songs. Combined with their renowned, high-calibre live performances – including a record-breaking five sold-out nights at London’s O2 Arena – Bradley Simpson proved from the off that he was a force to be reckoned with.

“I’ve always written the majority of the band’s songs with James (McVey) as well as the other boys in the band and other collaborators,” Simpson says. Over the course of The Vamps’ decade-long career, he became interested in production, too, and had a hand in producing their most recent No 1 album, 2020’s ‘Cherry Blossom’. He’s constantly seeking to improve his songwriting, too: “It’s such a huge part of my identity, and I really admire artists where you can immediately tell they’re involved, like Mark Ronson or Max Martin.”

He continues: “I saw this as an opportunity to really dive into what my identity would be – the biggest thing being that I can talk about experiences that are very personal.” He toyed around with different sounds, from the dizzying pop highs of ‘Picasso’ to the trippier, psychedelic groove of ‘Getting Clear’. It was a hugely rewarding experience, one that tapped into a childhood spent learning the riffs from Nirvana and Guns N’ Roses songs. 

“Being in a band, you’re always considerate of each other’s tastes, which is an amazing process because you’re exposed to a huge variety of music,” he says. “I love doing that so much, but I’d never explored what my own singular vision might sound like. I wanted to do something that felt authentic and new to me.’ 

Fans will get to know Simpson better than ever on ‘The Panic Years’, as he deploys conversational lyrics to dive into themes of love, friendship, loss and heartbreak. “The last 10 years have been such a whirlwind, and I don’t know if I’ve had the opportunity to dive into the past,” he says. “It’s quite hard to unpack everything that went on until I had some time to’.