With 2024 marking the 10-year anniversary of The Vamps’ debut album, the four-piece set out on a UK tour that saw the group making a temporary home for multiple nights in smaller venues for a more intimate fan experience. The band has become accustomed to putting on arena-level shows over the past decade and in 2019 they set the record of being the first act to play The O2 arena for five years consecutively. However, with lead singer Bradley Simpson working on his solo career, the band wanted to put on one last tour for their fans before taking a break from road.
Having worked with the band for several years, FOH Engineer Ben Hammond was once again out with The Vamps, although this time also held the title of Production Manager. If this dual role wasn’t enough, Hammond’s rental house, Reel Production Group was providing a turnkey solution as the audio, lighting and video supplier – no mean feat for a company that only established itself during the lockdown. TPi popped along to the Manchester Apollo to chat with Hammond and the crew for their second consecutive night in the city.
As the band prepared for VIP soundcheck, Hammond welcomed TPi backstage and before going into the logistics of the current tour, gave a quick catch up on all things Reel Production Group. “I had owned a few consoles for several years that I’d been hiring out,” began Hammond giving the origins of Reel. “I’m based in York, and I noticed there wasn’t any other local production companies and saw a bit of a gap in the market.”
While touring with the likes of The Vamps and Skunk Anansie, Hammond began to form what would become Reel Production Group. “The original goal was to be a small audio company providing for local events for the likes of York Minster and the University, but as soon as we began to purchase equipment, friends from the touring world began to send in requests and equipment would be sent out on the road.”
This led to a sizeable growth in a short time. Hammond and his co-founder Luke Bell due to the growth now have two warehouses that stock not only audio equipment but now a full lighting and video offering.
“To the best of our ability we always tried to buy equipment outright,” continued Hammond. “If we found ourselves sub-hiring a piece of equipment more than twice, we’d look to buy it ourselves.” It is this mindset that led Reel Production Group to expand outside the audio world and to invest in both lighting and video.
“It certainly was not the plan,” chuckled Hammond who proudly states that the only job he’s had since the age of 16 was as an audio engineer. “Neither Luke nor I are business guys, but we started to be contacted for more corporate work, which led us to invest in products such as projectors and TV screens. We then began to invest in LED screen and lighting fixtures.”
This latest tour with The Vamps was the first time the company has looked after all three departments of a tour. It raises the question that in an industry that has seen such a great deal of acquisitions and merging of some big names within the rental market over the past decade, has this created opportunities for smaller companies in the market? “I think so,” mused Hammond. “Especially for those B- and C-level festivals and smaller tours that some of the bigger players would not be interested in, there seems to be an emerging sector for companies like Reel Production Group.”
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Words: Stew Hume
Photos: Dean Sherwood
