NEW SOUNDS: THE BLOOMS

A friend with incredible ears turned me onto this band from Tulsa, Oklahoma recently, and although I only have 4 songs, it shows the promise that this band has in front of them. They are called THE BLOOMS, and let's get it out of the way and mention the QUEEN sounds right off the bat. It's important to differentiate this Queen from say MIKA or even SCISSOR SISTERS, where they take Freddie over the top, THE BLOOMS give you the rockin' Queen. So many times you find artists hidden away in cities like Tulsa, Kansas City, and Cincinnati that aren't in some kind of "scene", but rather have their favorite records, memorize them, and follow those high standards into making their own music with their buddies. That's where the BUDDY HOLLY's (Abilene, TX) show up and exactly how we came across THE KILLERS at first in Las Vegas. I've been enjoying the track, "White Walls" the most.

The band was nice enough to answer some questions I sent their way so I'm going to let them tell their story.

Q: Can you briefly give us a rundown of the line-up of THE BLOOMS?

A: (Caleb) Sure. David Dean is the front man I guess you could call him. He does lead vocals, plays rhythm/lead guitar and piano as well. I am the Blooms guitarist as well and responsible for rhythm/lead parts as well. Elad Fish is the Blooms drummer and Dan Morrow is the Blooms bassist.

Q: From the songs I've listened to, the obvious references are QUEEN and ELTON JOHN, which is also stated on your Myspace page, but can you tell us more about where your inspiration comes from? Past and present?

A: (David) Well, The Blooms as an entity have inspirational influences that cover every musical facet you could probably imagine. From classical to gospel to you name it, its in there some where. Id say past influences which are really heavy are Queen and Elton. When I was a kid before I discovered Queen I used to get as many tape recorders as I could find and overdub vocals and guitars and of course it sound horrific but its what I heard in my head. So when I discovered Queen I was like," Thats it!" No other rock music moved me like that. As for Elton, his lyrics were so interesting and so effortless and I always wanted to achieve that. As far as present influences go we really haven't listened to anything in a very long time. We have to check every few months just to see who's doing what.

Q: I understand that you have a "private investor" - I love hearing those stories because I'm a believer that artists should be open to making things happen for themselves now more than ever before. Does this outside party influence any decision making regarding the next steps for the band? Did they help create a marketing plan?

A: (Caleb) Well, yes and no. Its actually pretty complicated and I'm not sure we understand our arrangement at times. Our investor's involvement of his time resource sort of comes and goes but yea we discuss things and try to figure out the best way to go on things.

Q: The Blooms are from Tulsa - Outside of the Flaming Lips, what's going on with the music scene in Oklahoma and enlighten us on bands that have come from the Sooner state?

A: (David) Well in Tulsa the arts district has only been around for a few years now. Its a pretty conservative and highly religious town so Id say thats why. Hero Factor was a band that was really big around here for a while and just kinda disappeared. Of course, Hanson is from Tulsa. All American Rejects are from around here. Admiral Twin which are still together but really don't play around here anymore get some radio play here and there. Theres a really high turn over rate on clubs and many of the live venues have been turned into dance clubs so most bands have to find gigs elsewhere. Theres still a problem in that area with the crime rate which has really hurt quit a but. Hopefully, that will change for upcoming bands.

Q: We're always looking for new artists, can you name three bands/artists in Tulsa/OK that we should know about?

A: (Caleb) There has really been a drought of bands around here. EAST, WEST, BY MIDWEST is a band thats doing ok now. Other than them I couldn't tell you.

Q: What are the venues that indie bands play at in Tulsa?

A: (Caleb) 1974 is really the only 'real' venue for indie bands in Tulsa aside from a few tiny little hole in the wall joints where solo gigs are kinda the thing.

Q: What is the best thing about Tulsa?

A: (David) Best thing about Tulsa....? I think we're relatively safe from the threat of terrorist attacks.

Q: What can we expect at a Blooms live show?

A: (David) At a Blooms show you can expect a huge amount of energy, a lot of attitude, and of course our standard of musicianship that has become an earmark of what we do. The songs actually take on a whole different life from the studio cuts. We're very aware the studio is one thing and the live environment is something completely different and we accentuate that.

Q: I read on your Myspace that the 4 song EP was recorded in Hollywood at Capitol Studios. Are there plans for more recordings? If so, with who?

A: (David & Caleb) Well, we are recording constantly. We have over the past year and a half accumulated some very high end recording gear and we understand that while a tour is a great deal of fun and connecting with an audience is priceless it is our recorded product that will live on past the memories of this show at so and so venue. With us, its more of a question of what not to record since we do so much writing and pretty decent writing at that. So yes, we do a lot of "home" recording but we're hoping to be able to go back in the studio at some point with our new friend Ryan Hewitt who mixed the latest EP. Ryan has a lot of great credits which include the last Chili Peppers album but hes also just a great guy to work with. If we're fortunate enough to land some kind of a label deal we will go back in with Ryan and take our time this time and give our investors some breathing room.

Q: Because Future Sounds has always been a tip-sheet in nature for the industry, can you tell us a bit about the team behind THE BLOOMS? Management? Legal? Booking? Are there any team members still needed?

A: (David) At the moment we do everything and its extremely time consuming and frustrating. So yes, yes and yes!

THE BLOOMS
MYSPACE