Blossoms on the gorilla that helped them reach ‘the peak of our powers’
After scoring their latest number one with an album named after an eight-foot fibreglass gorilla called Gary, Manchester band Blossoms are doing a victory lap of their home city – with five sold-out gigs in five different venues in five nights.
Musical inspiration can strike any time and anywhere.
Few rock frontmen, though, would have been open to receiving it while in a car listening to a news report about the theft of a giant model gorilla from a Scottish garden centre.
Tom Ogden wrote an indie-pop anthem about the incident, then dedicated their fifth album to the unfortunate inanimate ape.
“I’m under the impression that anything can be a song, if you approach it in the right manner,” Ogden reasons.
“And 10 years in, you’re always looking for new things to write about.
“I found the story entertaining when I heard it on the radio, so just as a laugh I went away [and said] I’m going to write a song about it.
“I mean, if the song wasn’t very good, it would have never seen the light of day. But I rated the song.”
To Blossoms, Gary has now become muse and mascot, spirit animal and unofficial sixth member of the band.
Both the song and the replica of Gary that the group have taken on tour are fan favourites.
Some would also call it a gimmick, which is partly true, except that not even Ogden could seriously have calculated that the song and the story behind it would really catch on.
“It has connected with people,” the singer says. “I didn’t anticipate it, but I knew I wanted to have something that made people go, what’s that?
“Even if people think it is ludicrous, it’s an entry point. And people were just ready for a bit of fun, I suppose.
“You can sense there’s something in there which has connected with people for all ages. There are kids who love Gary, and then you’ve got our age, and then you’ve got older people.
“If you come to our shows, you’ll see all different ages jumping along and singing to this song.
“I underestimated people’s appetite for the ludicrous, maybe.”
A decade into their careers, and with four number one albums, Blossoms are serious enough to have the confidence to be ludicrous.
They have also thrown off the indie shackles on a special edition of Gary featuring cover versions of songs by acts ranging from Bob Marley to Lady Gaga and Whitney Houston.
“We love doing a cover, and we thought we’d cover songs we loved growing up. I always loved I Wanna Dance With Somebody. It’s as simple as that,” Ogden says.
And in recent years, they have joined forces with 1980s star Rick Astley to tour as a The Smiths tribute band.
Blossoms’ love of 80s pop was noted in a review in The Times of the Gary album, which declared the track I Like Your Look was “Wham!-like”.
“I took that as a huge compliment, because I love Wham!” Ogden says.
Thick skin
However, the same critic also dismissively described Gary as an “ultra-shallow album”.
“I think if you call an album Gary, and you write a song about a fibreglass gorilla, you’re out in the open, in terms of someone’s going to say something like that,” the singer responds.
“But I think there is depth on the album, of course, because there are songs like Mothers, which is about friendship and growing up. And then Why Do I Give You The Worst Of Me? is a very personal song.
“So I think someone’s just thought, yeah, there’s a song about fibreglass gorilla, maybe that’s a bit of fun. And I Like Your Look’s not taking itself too seriously either.
“And do you know what, you can’t please everybody so… I don’t really care, to be honest.
“You’ve got to learn to grow thick skin in this [business]. But I understand if they’re saying it because we called the album Gary.
“Like, fair enough, whatever, man.”
In August, Blossoms played their biggest headline gig yet, to 30,000 people at Wythenshawe Park in Manchester.
Massive outdoor shows don’t always live up to expectations.
In 2019, the band took over Edgeley Park, the home of Stockport County FC, in the Greater Manchester town where they grew up.
“We only had two albums, and maybe it felt like we weren’t as good live, basically, as we are now,” Ogden reflects.
“We feel like we’re at the peak of our powers this year.”
Wythenshawe Park was the “best gig we’ve ever done”, he says.
“We put everything into that show, and in no way did it feel disappointing. It blew us away even more than we expected.”
After that, when the band came to plan a full UK tour, they weren’t sure whether to play in Manchester again.
However, they decided they would – not once but five times, all at different venues of different sizes, and all of which they have played at before at different stages of their careers.
Their mini one-city tour starts at Manchester Academy on Tuesday before visiting the Ritz, Albert Hall, Victoria Warehouse and Apollo.
“We thought it would be nice to play all the venues that we’d played on the way up and make a week of it, and make it a bit more interesting for the fans,” Ogden says.
They are all places that hold fond memories for the band.
“The Ritz was the first big headline show we did in, when we felt like, oh, something’s definitely happening here. We sold that out before we had a record deal and was the first time fans were singing and moshing around.
“I remember going to watch bands at the Academy – I remember watching Jake Bugg there, and I watched Miles Kane there when I was 15 or 16, so I always have a soft spot for that place.
“And then when we then headlined it in 2016 when our [first] album came out, it felt like, oh yeah, we’re part of the big boy [club].
“The Albert Hall is just a beautiful venue, so the memories of that place are great. We support the Charlatans in the Albert Hall in 2015 and we then headlined it ourselves in 2016.
“The memories are in the walls of what you were doing last time,” he adds.
“You’ve got to be grateful that you’re still around, and people care about the band so much that we can fill all of these places one night after another.”
Gary their guardian gorilla might rightfully claim some credit for their latest purple patch, and will be watching on from the back of the stage.
