Interview: Blossoms

L-R: Myles Kellock, Joe Donovan, Tom Ogden, Charlie Salt, Josh Dewhurst

I had a quick chat with Blossoms before their show at Norwich Arts Centre about festivals, their upcoming album and ABBA. Here’s what they had to say.

How did you guys get together?

Tom Ogden: Me and Joe have been close mates for about ten years from school, Josh was four years below us at the same school and Myles and Charlie went to the same school, so there’s two schools between us. We were all born within a two mile radius of each other so it’s proper old school.
Charlie Salt: We were all born in the same hospital, except not at the same time obviously.
TO: We all like music so we thought we’d start a band. We were all in other bands which we weren’t satisfied with so we decided to utilise the free time we had. We rehearsed a lot and it went really well.

What kinds of music do you all listen to?

CS: A lot of the same stuff but a vast array.
Josh Dewhurst: It goes from ABBA to Oasis and everything in between.
TO: It’s nothing fancy really just like what all our parents are into, you know there’s lots of… Beatles, ABBA like Josh said, the Smiths, Oasis, Arctic Monkeys, just catchy tunes you know?

You supported the Courteeners at Heaton Park, how did that happen and what was it like?

CS: We share the same management so we went on tour with them last November which is how we know them. That went really, really well and they invited us up to Heaton Park which was phenomenal, a really good gig.

What’s the music scene like in Stockport, where you’re from?

Joe Donovan: There isn’t one!
TO: The thing is it’s that close to Manchester that you just go to Manchester.
CS: Really there’s a few bands knocking about in college and that but there’s no one that’s really big there… and it’s 8 minutes on the train to Manchester. Years and years ago there used to be a big scene - all the groups used to pass through Stockport, it was a touring town.
TO: It’s not really like a scene necessarily. Like Charlie said, it’s 8 minutes on a train so you just play Manchester cuz it’s that close.
CS: You have got a few other bands from Stockport like Dutch Uncles, Delphic, but you don’t really hear much of them anymore.
TO: There’s no venues in Stockport unless you want to play a pub and bring your own gear and move all the tables and chairs to do an acoustic set you know what I mean?

I saw you on the Lake Stage at Latitude Festival this year, what did you think of it?

CS: It’s a good festival – when the grass turns to hay you know it’s a good festival.

Currently you’re supporting the Charlemagne EP, what comes after that?

TO: We’ve started recording an album but we’ll probably do a couple more EPs and singles just to keep things going. You just have to take it as it comes because those things can start to happen really quickly. We’ll be recording and be like ‘right, we’re doing an EP’ and within two weeks it’s out.
CS: The reason why Charlemagne’s come out so soon after Blown Rose is just because we live in a world where everything just moves so fast and people get bored really easily, so that’s the secret.
TO: I think it’s a massive move doing that because it’s given the tour that little extra bit of buzz and the gigs have suddenly been selling out – last night [The Village Underground, London] sold out, the Ritz in Manchester’s sold out, and I think if we didn’t release Charlemagne it might not have.
CS: It’s all like a big game, you’ve got to move at the right point and I think we’re well on the ball with stuff like that.
TO: Up until now we’ve been quite sparse with our releases but when you’re in the band you don’t realise because you’re rehearsing maybe four nights a week and you’re playing the tunes so you’re that used to them, but then before Charlemagne we’d released 2 tunes, and if I was a fan of the band I’d be like ‘fuckin’ hell I want more’ do you know what I mean? It’s like… Blow, Cut Me and I’ll Bleed and the Blown Rose EP, that was all in the space of a year and that’s like six tunes, it’s really not a lot. The album’s about half and half new stuff and stuff from the EPs… or it’s like 60/40.
CS: We’re gonna be playing a track that no one’s heard that’s gonna be on the album tonight called At Most A Kiss which should be good.

Blossoms are touring the UK throughout February and March.

Their new EP ‘At Most A Kiss’ is out on Feb 19th.

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