Today I’m going to turn y’all on to one of my new favorite Shoegaze bands, they go by the name of BLOSSOM. Their new album Florecer comes out on March 18th via Really Rad Records. All of the songs on this EP are solid AF! BLOSSOM music bleeds with the kind of blissed-out passion I want in a Shoegaze band! I want to say thank you to Mateo for answering our questions. Mark my words, this band will be in full bloom this year, and on that note, also peep the full stream of Florecer that is taking place below.
Take us back to your childhood—what music did you hear around your home, booming out of the cars in your hood, or your headphones? What four albums have had a major impact on y’all’s creative spirit?
My parents always played Spanish rock in the house or at family get-togethers. I was more into 80s pop, and later started getting into more alternative rock like Weezer, Smashing Pumpkins, and Nirvana when I started learning how to play guitar. Some records that heavily impacted me so far are:
Dangerous by Michael Jackson
Bleach by Nirvana
Souvlaki by Slowdive
Sway by Whirr
Give us the science behind the title and artwork of your new album, ‘Florecer‘?
Titles have always been something I struggled with and it was extremely hard figuring out what this EP was gonna be called. I never wanted to just half ass titles or put little to no thought into them, I figured since this ep summed up a big part of where I’ve been wanting blossom to be for a bit it would be somewhat of a self titled which Florecer can mean Flourishing/Blossom in Spanish. We got the album art from the first photographer contacted to shoot a show of ours was Eden Cvengros, Big shout out. I really appreciate Eden’s photography and the way they capture moments at local SD shows. We kept having them shoot almost all of our shows. They did the cover for our first EP, Reflections(2022) and did Three of our band photoshoots so it was very important to me to keep Eden as involved in this project visually with their work which Eden also shot the music video for “Warm Stay”. I’m very grateful to have someone that I can work with visually for Blossom’s image as well as art for our songs.
Photo by Eden Cvengros
If you could put three of your songs from your discography in a time capsule to be opened in 2062, what songs would you put in there, and why?
Soothe, because it was the final conclusion in the writing process of Florecer and I felt accomplished being able to finish this EP as well as the song as a whole I was really proud of with the lyrics and getting the instrumental together.
Drown, it was one of the first fully written songs I had wrote for Blossom and one where I had Warm Stay, I feel like I was able to achieve a better skill of writing more organized and had an immediate idea of what I wanted for the song to be and feel like when it came to the instrumentals and I took a really long time figuring out the lyrics so writing that song felt more like a bigger project than most of these songs.
Describe Blossom’s album ‘Florecer’ as a weapon of mass change or a superpower—what impact do you want to see it have on culture or our society?
I’ve always looked up to people who have wanted to make a dent into the music scene or who have, I want to show people that us (the youth) are the next big thing and we’re gonna happen to take over no matter what but there’s a need for a fresh look and sound. There are obviously the greats when it comes to people in music and won’t ever be another like them but there should be people trying to be the best they possibly can be. I think we gotta reach the highest we can possibly get.
What two historic or cultural events have made an impact on your band?
One has to be playing with Glare in a sold out venue in San Diego, it was definitely such a boost for all of us in the band and it felt like we could do anything and we should do everything we possibly can to keep the momentum going. Another has to be probably our first show. I kinda thought we were just gonna break up after that one just because we had lost a bassist and drummer right before the show and had someone from another band in the line up play drums for us at the last second with one practice in. I didn’t think I’d continue Blossom for much longer but I’m glad I continued though it’s been through many line up changes but we’ve always been able to overcome it and adapt to these changes.
What are y’all’s earliest memories when it comes to knowing about the power of frequencies and how has this knowledge impacted the way y’all create?
It was probably when I had started getting into more noisier music like alternative rock as well as Shoegaze. Knowing that these bands like the Smashing Pumpkins would play through Marshalls cranked full of gain to get this warm blanket of sound that many refer to it as. Then finding out through videos and many many people talking about how loud My Bloody Valentine were live, that definitely inspired me to want to turn up way louder than we probably should be but I feel accomplished when I hear people saying we were loud or something along the lines of them hearing ringing in their ears. I never want there to be a moment of silence in a Blossom set even after we play our songs and get off stage. I want people to just sit with it.
Talk to us about these two songs: “Warm Stay” & “Soothe” — what was the creative process like and what emotions provoked you to create these songs?
“Warm Stay” was the first song written for the EP. It was immediately all laid out in my head once I got the main lead written, then added programmed drums from garageband and sent it to everyone in the band. Sometimes when it comes to lyrics I don’t immediately know what the song is about , so I let it linger for a bit. I don’t think I fully figured out what the song was about till a year after writing it. But writing lyrics for that one was definitely hard and took a bit to understand what I wanted to say in that song. The whole song is just about taking someone for granted and having them but then losing them without abruptly. “Soothe” is a really meaningful song to me and one of my favorites to play. I wrote it during a time where I experienced unrequited love haha. But musically it came out of nowhere. I knew in my head I wanted to write a song that was way more mellow and somber and was more isolated than the other songs I had written for the EP but whenever I had tried to pursue that nothing came out of it. This song is one of my favorites to play and one of my favorite songs off the EP.
If you could go back to the 90’s what bands would y’all want to perform with on your ultimate bill?
The Cure -Nirvana-Slowdive-Blossom
How important is community and friendship to the way that Blossom interacts with the world?
The scene and friendships I involve myself in are extremely important to me. Ever since I had gone to my first hardcore show, I noticed people weren’t just there for the music, but for the friends that were there at the show, too, and I definitely wanted to find that for myself. All the friends I’ve made since I started Blossom have given me so much support and aid for when I was going through my lows with the band and to be there in my highs. Shout out Sledges, Junkstarr, Home View.
