Blossoms in full bloom and ‘ready for madness’
Blossoms
Ilast spoke to Blossoms lead singer Tom Ogden a week before the release of their self-titled debut album in August 2016. The success of the singles that preceded its release – particularly the platinum-selling Charlemagne – signalled the likelihood that their first album would debut at No.1 in their native UK.
Demand for tickets for that year’s tour would have justified them playing arenas instead of the medium-sized clubs and theatres they chose to play. I sometimes ask artists on the cusp of playing the big stages and No.1s if they are ‘ready for the madness’ that comes with being public property. Tom’s reply, in a thick Lancashire accent, was, ‘Am just gunna try to enjoy it whaheva ’appens’.
Blossoms certainly happened. In those six years, they scored two No.1 albums, a BRIT award, Mercury Prize nomination and began headlining festivals. They will headline more outdoor shows this summer. Irish dates have still to be announced. It is clear that Tom has taken the ‘madness’ as par for the course and sounds as down to earth as he did six years ago. Now 29, happily married to Kate, the sister of Blossoms’ drummer Joe Donovan, he takes my call on the train to London where the band were to do some media work to promote their fine fourth album Ribbon Around The Bomb. It should be nestling at No.1 in the UK when you read this.
‘How ya doin? Ya alright? I couldn’t ’ear ya – we were going through a tunnel,’ he says. I had asked him did the new album reflect those experiences in the six years since we’d last spoken. ‘Definitely, yes. They’re the most reflective songs I’ve written about things but they are not all about me.’ That may be true, but songs such as The Writer, Born Wild and The Sulking
Poet form part of a loose concept about being in a band with a fanatical following. The last of those imagines what his life would have been like had Blossoms not become successful. ‘It’s imagining myself where I’m still playing in cover bands,’ he says. ‘I got the title from a Blossoms fan page. I tend to not smile in photographs.
They referred to me as a sulking poet. I thought, “What a great title!” I’m always looking for song titles.’
Another great title, Ribbon Around The Bomb, comes from a review of work by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. The album is accompanied by a film directed by Edwin Burdis, who has worked with Arctic Monkeys.
‘We wanted to have a short story around the music videos for the songs. It ended up being this surreal short film,’ Tom says. ‘People will either love it or hate it. I think it helped us get out of our comfort zone.’
That would surely extend to being Rick Astley’s backing band when the Never Gonna Give You Up singer held
a series of surprise shows last year playing songs by The Smiths, a band that’s been a strong influence on their music. Astley as Morrissey was a revelation while Tom played guitars and did backing vocals. ‘That was a lot of fun. Rick is a great guy,’ he says.
‘Morrissey said some nice things but Johnny [Marr] was a little bit unhappy because he didn’t know we were going to do it. What are the odds of that? You would think it would be the other round.
‘There was no big problem though. It was all just a bit of fun. We’ve met him since and it’s all cool.’
■ Ribbon Around The Bomb is out now.