“Manchester will always be a healthy music scene”: An Interview with Blossoms

 

Before performing an acoustic gig at HMV in Manchester Arndale on the 27th of April, VIVA caught up with Blossoms and spoke about their new album, music video, and record label!

Blossoms consists of Tom Ogden (lead vocals and guitarist), Charlie Salt (bass, synthesizer, backing vocals), Josh Dewhurst (lead guitar, percussion), Joe Donovan (drums) and Myles Kellock (keyboards, synthesizer, backing vocals).

 

VIVA: So, you’re about to perform an exclusive small acoustic session and signing event , but I was wondering what is the weirdest fan encounter you have ever had?

Tom: There’s some we just can’t tell you.

Joe: I once got a note, and everyone got notes complimenting them, and my note *from a Russian fan* said, “I think you look like a cute puppy, but my mum think you look more like serial killer” And I was like, cheers?

Tom: In Japan, we’ve played there a few times, the fans print off Myles’ face on masks and follow us around. And in our recent video, we copied that and did masks of each of us.

VIVA: So, you’re used to performing on stage, but is it intimidating meeting fans one on one?

Tom: Yeah because in a way they kind of know you from seeing you perform, but you don’t know them which is a bit strange but it’s good!

Joe: I quite like it because when I’m on stage I’m quite sheltered, and I don’t get that close with people on stage so with this I’m a bit more like ‘Hiya!’

Charlie: Just got to get into the flow of it

VIVA: Speaking of the flow, do you have any inspirations as a band or are they more individual taste in music?

Tom: We all have inspirations, a lot of it comes from my mum and dads record collection, and then the things we have grown up listening to, like Josh loves Abba.

Josh: Very excited about the reunion!

Tom: Joe loves Dr Dre so that can inspire his drumming sounds. I love Oasis and a lot of classic pop song writing, and The Beatles. Charlie loves his disco, for the bass line, which is why we call him Disco Charlie. Myles is into weirder kind of keyboard sounds and the production side of things.

VIVA: At midnight you released your second album Cool Like You and it’s a bit synth poppy was this inspired or?

Tom: I think it was, it’s kind of a natural evolving of the band. Like the first album, we’d already delved into like that world with Charlemagne and Honey Sweet, so I think it was just a continuation. We invested in a few synthesisers which had them 80’s sounds and I wrote a few of the songs and demo’d them and they sounded great.

VIVA: So is the second album a continuation, or is it its own world?

Tom: It’s its own different world but you’d be daft to say you weren’t influenced by the first album because some songs of the latest album were written before the first had even come out.

VIVA: Do all of you have a favourite song, either for the lyrics or the melody?

Joe: Yes, and they come whilst you’re playing it. I change when we start doing new tunes live, like at the moment I love playing Cool Like You but Love Talks is one of my favourites.

VIVA: Is it a little bit different playing it on stage and then playing it acoustically, does that change how you see it?

Charlie: A little bit, it shows the songs for what they really are, being stripped back.

Tom: They’re a bit more raw emotionally, you can hear the words more clearly.

VIVA: As a band do you write songs together?

Tom: I write the songs, usually at home in my back room. Either on a keyboard or a guitar, and I have always got them next to me. I dive between the two of them, usually have a cup of tea and usually collated a lot of song titles which I think make good titles. Say I’ve been on tour for a few weeks, take down lyrics and once I got home, I sit down and start trying stuff. Usually inspired by what I’m listening to at the time.

VIVA: Is there any songs that you wish that you wrote?

Tom: God Only Knows by the Beach Boys, it’s a great tune.

Joe: Charlemagne by Blossoms.

VIVA: But not only are you performing an acoustic set at HMV, not only have you released the album, but you’ve also released a music video for ‘There’s a Reason Why’, so you’re spoiling all your fans today!

Tom: All at once!

Joe: They’ve wanted it for so much for so long.

VIVA: So, what was the story behind the video?

Joe: We wanted a massive video and wanted to do it somewhere cool, so we were like “We need to go to japan!” Our original inspiration was the Beatles Hard Day’s Night, where all the fans are chasing them, and we had had that experience in Japan when people were at the airport and waiting outside our hotel. It just all fell together like that. It was weird like even though there wasn’t too much thought into it, because Japan’s so amazing we knew whatever we did would look class.

Tom: It would give it a great back drop, which is half the battle sometimes.

VIVA: At the end of it you did a little bit of a dance scene, is this something you’re going to be doing on tour as well?

Tom: Of course.

Joe: You will actually pull it out one time won’t you?

Tom: No because it’s the opening track, so the crowd won’t be a drunk as it needs to be. Maybe though, never say never.

Josh: In the words of Justin Bieber

Joe: We should move it to the end of the set just so you do it. I’d fuckin love to see you do that on stage to be fair.

Viva: It’d get the entire crowd going as well!

Joe: I’d love that!

VIVA: So, you guys are touring in May, are you going to any new places?

Tom: In our head, in our early days we did every place in the country, like Inverness and all those mad places. You can condense it by playing in bigger shows and all the people from littler places come out to watch you in say Norwich, instead of playing everywhere near Norwich, you know what I mean? But then we’re going to do more UK tours at the end of the year so we’ll go to places we haven’t been on this run.

VIVA: Are you guys also involved in some festivals?

Tom: More in the summer yeah. Isle of Wight, TRNSMT, Siezget in Hungary and theres a few more.

Charlie: Tramlines, Sheffield, and that’s our first headline.

Joe: Bearded Theory as well, I’m looking forward to that.

VIVA: You have your own record label now don’t you? And your first signed band was Fuzzy Sun, why did you choose them?

Tom: That was what kind of started us making the record label in a way because I used to be in a band with the lead singer Kyle and we stayed in touch in the last few years and he’s come on tour with us just as a mate and then this time last year he showed me some new songs he had, and I really liked them, it was something different and up my street. So I offered to help him a little bit with structures because they were raw ideas so then it went from there. Then he one he got a band around him, we were like we’ll record it for you because we had some time off at the end of the year, so we recorded him in our new rehearsal studio with all our synths and drums and all that jazz. From there, the natural thing was well we should release it for you because we might as well.

Tom: From that, we said we should start a label that gives people upcoming bands an opportunity to have a little leg up and maybe get them on the radio. If these bands want to be signed by a major record label then we’ll let them do that, we’re like a stepping stone from that and we want to help them get to where ever they want to be.

VIVA: Do you have your eyes on anyone?

Tom: Not at the moment because we’ve been so busy with our own record, we kind of dip in and out of it.

Joe: We’ve had loads of submissions, and we will go through them. You’ve been through a few already haven’t you Myles?

Myles: When I had a few hours spare, and some of them were good. It’s great that someone can send stuff to us and we can potentially help people and release stuff that sounds good.

VIVA: Are there any upcoming bands you think people should look out for?

Joe: FRONTEERS, they’re good!

Charlie: You should definitely check out Fuzzy Sun!

VIVA: Viva is a Manchester magazine, I was wondering what do you think of the state of Manchester Music compared to the rest of the country?

Tom: There’s always good bands from a lot of different places and Manchester’s always been really healthy, you can always go and watch a band on say a Tuesday night. Manchester will always be a healthy music scene. We’ve never lived in London, so we don’t know what its like, but I imagine these little vibes in London as well.

Myles: The north produces a lot of good bands still.

Tom: Us, Fuzzy Sun, Thrill Society. But Manchester itself, theres always bands coming up definitely

VIVA: I have to ask, who do you think is a better audience, the North or…

Tom, Joe, Charlie *at once*: North.

Tom: They’re just a bit more wild

Joe: Ask anyone in any band and they’ll always say the north.

Myles: It’s so different coming from the north, like if you’re in the south, you stay in the south because that’s how your head works, and the music down there will appeal to you more.

Tom: Some bands from down south will say the north though, like I bet The Magic Gang say Glasgow and Manchester are the best.

Myles: The further north you go, the more mad people go at gigs, like if you go to Glasgow everyone is absolutely buzzed.

VIVA: Do you have any last words for the people reading the Magazine?

Joe: Buy the album, its out now. Please.

Charlie: Enjoy it, enjoy the album

VIVA: Thanks for being here today, and hope the gig goes great!

 

The acoustic session has the Stockport synth-poppers playing new tunes of Cool Like You live for 250 fans who pre-ordered the album. The inspirations the band told me in the interview showed in their performance, with Charlie’s disco bass line bringing the acoustic session to life and Tom’s vocals bringing meaning into his home grown lyrics. Blossoms proved to be blossoming and the fans were left to adore the new tracks. New songs like Unfaithful and Love Talk stood out and just proved the bands absolute talent, and I can’t wait for future hits already!

For more information on Blossoms, and their album, check them out here!