Tiny Desk Spotlight: Bloomers Band

If you go to Penn, you are probably pretty familiar with the Bloomers Band! Get to know them even more in our Spotlight and come watch them perform on Nov 8.

Bloomers Band

Where are you from? What’s the music scene like there?

We're from all over — Philly, Seattle, LA, New York, Boston, and more. But really the music setting that has influenced us most is the high school music ensembles of our adolescence. From marching band to jazz ensembles, we're all former band geeks and we're proud of it. Except now instead of learning Bach and Beethoven we get the opportunity to arrange some of the most iconic middle school bops and bangers of our generation — think Paramore, think Cascada — and honestly we couldn't be happier.

How did you decide on your band/stage name?

This one's pretty self-explanatory, but we accompany Bloomers! Here in the band we think we're a pretty funny group of people but they're, like, professionals. For more laughter check out https://www.bloomerscomedy.org/

If you could headline any festival or show in the world, where would you want to perform? Why?

We would travel back in time and headline Vans Warped Tour (RIP). Quite a few of our members used to identify with the grungy, punk rock middle school scene, and we feel we could bring the energy to the former popular rock tour for angsty teens.

What is your favorite piece you have written or you have listened to? Why?

It's different for every band member. One of the best parts of learning music together is that each member gravitates towards different genres in their own personal taste, so everyone brings unique ideas to the table. For some of us, we latch onto the emotional depth and lyricism of songs like "Night Shift" by Lucy Dacus. For others, we're drawn to the smooth and memorable riffs from jazz compositions like "Spain" by Chick Corea. Overall, we take inspiration from artists who are producing pop in fun and innovative ways, from groups who know how to make good use of a horn section and a synthesizer, and from female vocalists like Lizzo and Mitski who never hold back in a performance.

If you could pick anyone in the world, living or dead, who would you most like to collaborate with? Why?

Magdalena Bay, of course. Outside of seeing one of our former band leaders transform into an actual pop star, we're obsessed with Mag Bay's pop concepts and excitedly await the release of more singles.

What’s next in your musical journey? What are your goals?

We can't wait to play more with our extremely talented new members — Jessica, Lynn, Aalia, & Jacob! We've only known them for a few months, but we've already grown so much after welcoming them into our band family.

How has Philly influenced your musical aspirations?

Philly has given us the chance to see a lot of our favorite artists perform, from Rico Nasty and Tierra Whack (both at TRUM concerts!) to Lorde and Kero Kero Bonito.

What is your favorite type of candy?

Watermelon sour patch

Be sure to check out the Bloomers Band on Instagram and Facebook!

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