The land down under has such an amazing and extensive list of heavy bands that have taken the entire world by storm. Parkway Drive, The Amity Affliction, and Make Them Suffer are the current ringleaders, but up-and-comers Bloom are right on their heels. The melodic hardcore outfit from Sydney, Australia, is primed and ready to show everyone they are here to stay, with their sophomore album, The Light We Chase, out now on Pure Noise Records.
“We’re excited!” exclaims guitarist Jarod McLaren. “We started the process for this album cycle in January of this year, with demos and lyric writing before that, so we’re stoked to finally get this body of work out into the world.”
It’s always something to release an album in the first place, but to follow it up with a banger of a record in this one, it’s the icing on the cake. Putting together a debut album versus the follow-up is a daunting task, but they learned quickly from their first experience and used that perspective to attack.
“We learnt a lot from Maybe in Another Life,” explains McLaren. “I think we came into this album a little more confident in what we were writing. Overall, it feels like a big step up and a good progression from our debut. This record reflects a period of emotional turmoil and tackles themes such as relationship breakdowns, struggles with trust, and hopelessness.”
Such themes are so raw and exposing, but the group, including McLaren, vocalist Jono Hawkey, guitarist Oliver Butler, and bassist Andrew Martin, pressed all the right buttons. To be able to just be vulnerable and share those deep emotions, but to also channel it into such a creative outlet, is one of the reasons why this band is blowing up like they are. McLaren focused on the core experiences of his life through the years: first loves, core friendships, and heartbreaks.
“The time we are writing about through this album took place a decade ago. Revisiting those feelings, those relationships so far in the past, that is all difficult to confront. In saying that, though, there’s a real vulnerability to diving into those emotions, and I think that is what makes for strong songwriting.”
Looking to the immediate future, they are riding high on the fact that they will be presenting this new work to live audiences, with a UK/EU tour with Thornhill and Ocean Grove, and then jumping over to the US to end out the year supporting Silverstein.
“Both of these tours are with bands we have toured with in the past, and people we call friends. Going back to Europe and America a second time, with these bands no less, is an absolute treat. We’re having a lot of fun in Europe right now, lots of exploring, food, and coffee. I expect the US and Canada to be much of the same.”
We are coming up on a decade of this beautiful life that Bloom has created for us, just by being there. They have hit moment after moment and risen tier-by-tier, pretty steadily, but expect that growth to be exponential by the time the calendar turns to 2026. With such a strong career built and as bright a future as you can believe, the only real thing to do is sit back and reap the rewards of a dream being achieved.
“We’ve all grown up a lot in that time,” expresses McLaren. “We were nineteen starting this band, and now we’re close to 30. You learn a lot about yourself touring the world, writing songs about your most memorable moments.”
The Light We Chase is out now, and you can order it from Pure Noise Records. Follow Bloom on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for future updates.
Photo Credit: Jack Fontes
