Pancakes & Whiskey sat down with Blossoms, the English indie-pop band from Stockport, United Kingdom after their first performance at Coachella Music Festival. The five-some spoke about their set, upcoming tour and who not to trust when you are first starting out as an artist.
Blossoms
Blossoms just played its first Coachella set. How did it feel? Any initial reactions?
Really good. We loved it. We were a little worried that no one would come but they did and we really enjoyed it. Where we’re from it looks nothing like this and we were having the time of our lives. It reminds us a little bit of the setting where we played in South Korea, but it was kind of like a green screen on stage and didn’t appear real.
Blossoms
You’ll be touring with Two Door Cinema Club coming up. What else is on your schedule? Looking forward to anything in particular?
Governor’s Ball, Bonaroo and Lollapalooza. We’re also heading back into the studio to record the second album in May. We’ve been demoing songs off the new album. We also have a big gig of our own coming up in our hometown, well in Manchester, with 8,000 people and we’ve sold it out. That may be the biggest highlight.
You are starting to record another album and you release your last album in August of last year. Were there any surprises that came along after you released that album- maybe certain songs resonated with the audience differently than you anticipated?
No, not really. We may an album full of what we thought could be singles- you know three minute pop songs. But it is interesting to see how different songs go down well in different areas. For instance, in the states, “Honey Sweet” comes out really well and “Smashed Pianos,” which we didn’t play. Nothing has been a real curve ball or something we didn’t expect, but we didn’t put any curve balls on the album. We were so comfortable with the album. We never had that feeling of “oh this might be a bit risky.”
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I did like the song you played today that you dedicated to the fan in the crowd who recently broke up with her boyfriend Junior. It added a cool element of fan interaction.
Yeah that’s a good one and always one that we can have a little fun with. It’s a good song to add a little diversity to the set and we nearly didn’t play it. Tom and I (drummer, Joe Donovan) were having a shower next to each other this morning and we were discussing it. It sounds like we made the right choice to play it.
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Who are your musical influences? I know you categorize your music as “pop/indie” but I don’t think of you as a traditional pop group at all.
Influences are everything from The Beatles, to the Smiths, all the 80s new artists stuff, Oasis, Stone Roses, Arctic Monkeys and 70s disco. A lot of the 80s classic, melodic and catchy music. The pop thing is more of Tom’s song writing. He has songs that seem to grab people.
They do. A lot of the songs are catchy and the lyrics get stuck in your head. Is there anyone you’re listening to now who, maybe aren’t necessarily influencing you, but who are up-and-coming or inspiring in some way or you just like listening to?
I really like Father John Misty’s new album, but that’s not really up-and-coming. It’s not really one act but one act’s songs that are really interesting, like Childish Gambino’s “Redbone.” Also Tame Impala, The Lemon Twigs, and Mac DeMarco.
BLSMS
Those are all good. If you could teleport back three years, is there any advice you would give yourselves to prepare yourself for today?
When you’re first starting out, try and do some things on your own. Don’t sell tickets for some shit promoter who makes you buy 50 tickets when it only ends up being your parents and friends. You need to create your own thing and keep writing songs. You need to fully believe what you’re putting out. You need to have it nailed down and hold off until the music is ready. Another thing is don’t trust anyone who wears shoes that he found in a skip.
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What’s a skip?
It’s like a huge bin. If you were moving house and wanted to get rid of large items that’s what you would use – a dumpster. Someone we knew found some shoes and wore them and I’d say don’t trust him (laughter).
Blossoms
Article: Alx Bear
