The Vamps have enjoyed another incredible year, which they'll top off with a performance at Capital FM's Jingle Bell Ball this weekend, and we caught up with bass player Connor Ball yesterday to see what he has been up to. 

Hey, Connor! How's everything going? It's been very busy and we're trying to get as much stuff done as possible I guess!

How's the new album coming along? Good, thank you. I think we're kind of almost there with it... we're still in the studio and finishing off parts, but we're getting there! I think there's a bit of everything. I guess... we're trying to capture the energy of the first and second album, we've brought some electronic elements in as well - like with Matoma. We might look at working with some other people and getting some more features! We're excited! 

Will this new record be more band-driven or are you going to really branch out with the influences and genres? I think a bit of both, to be honest. I don't think we want to set ourselves up into a certain thing... so we're just seeing how it goes! We might change it towards the end or, you know, keep a bit of both!

Favourite album of this year? I think the new Bruno Mars stuff is cool... he's just done that Live Lounge and that was really awesome. I love Panic! at the Disco so that was a great album they released this year. 

You recently covered a Panic! at the Disco song on YouTube, didn't you. Is that something you like to do a bit - the YouTube covers? Yeah, I think so. It's a bit of fun on the side! It's always fun when you go home and you're chilling. I think it's cool - it's great to be in the band and it's cool to be able to sit and play guitar by yourself!

Is there anything you still want to achieve outside of music? James is currently writing a book, which is awesome. Yeah, it's cool. I'm excited to read it! We're waiting for him to finish it... it should be great. We love playing football outside of the band so we play that occasionally with some people, but we're just focusing on the band at the moment (laughs).

Have you seen any stand-out gigs this year? For us, when we go see a band or artist and see the way they perform and we see them do things we've not done before... we like taking things from shows, like I was saying about the stage shows! Me and Tris recently saw Bring Me The Horizon - that really inspired us with the stage set. It was really good... their shows are amazing and their stuff is really catered to a live show.

Have you got any exciting shows coming up? We're playing the Jingle Bell Ball this weekend and that's always a really good show. Shawn Mendes, Calvin Harris, DNCE - that'll be great, we saw them at Wembley before... Shawn is doing amazing. It's so cool to see him blowing up. We went on our first American tour with Shawn, Fifth Harmony and Austin Mahone. I think it was one of his first tours, too! 

Part two of our interview with Connor Ball will be available tomorrow afternoon, so check back then!

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Watch Connor's Panic! at the Disco cover here: