Frontman Tom Ogden talks touring with Kasabian, Gary the Gorilla and how those Oasis rumours came to be
The first thing I notice when I see Blossoms’ Tom Ogden is hair. He has probably the most luscious hair I have seen on a frontman in years. He looks a bit like a modern- day Jim Morrison —albeit if Jim Morrison had grown up in Stockport, Greater Manchester.
Sitting in a bar he co-owns with his wife; Ogden is dressed in one of those knitted crème sweaters—the kind that looks like it contains the warmth of a fire. The bar is fittingly called ‘Bohemian Art’s Club’, a name that Ogden seems to embody perfectly in both life and career.
“My wife owns a hair salon beneath it,” Ogden notes.
“Makes sense,” I counter, to which both of us let out a slight chuckle.
It’s fortuitous timing that I’m talking to Ogden. I had hosted a pre-drinks party at my house the week before. In charge of the music, I selected my carefully curated pre-drinking playlist. One of the long-standing staples on that playlist is Blossoms’ Charlamagne. Slightly touched by my experience with the song, Ogden scurries around his brain to find the right words.
“It’s one of those songs that just, for whatever reason, breaks through to the next level,” he says. “It’s become a part of people’s lives. Sometimes people say to me it reminds them of whatever they were doing in 2016. We’re grateful it resonated.”
The British rock band will soon be returning to Australia for the first time in nine years. In the most British way possible, Ogden immediately felt the need to apologise and offer me an explanation for the absence.
“When we last came, we did Splendour in the Grass, and it was great. But then we got really busy, then it was COVID. But then some people reached out to our podcast, saying we should come down.”
Unsure whether they should book a headline tour, an offer came for the band to support Kasabian. They couldn’t say no.
“It’s a good fit, and we know Sergio,” Ogden says, referring to their connection with Kasabian’s frontman, Sergio Pizzorno. “It’s easy for us. But I don’t know how much time I’ll spend at the beach. I don’t tan; I just burn.”
While Ogden might not be gushingly enthusiastic about Australian beaches, he certainly is when it comes to our music. When asked about which Australian bands he has been enjoying recently, his answer is clear.
“Royel Otis. I listened to their whole first record after their Murder on the Dancefloor cover got huge.” He also named Pond, Tame Impala, DMA’s, and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard as some of his other favourites.
This time, Blossoms will arrive in Australia with a new collection of songs from their fifth album, Gary—an album named after a stolen gorilla statue.
“The news was talking about this fibreglass gorilla that was stolen, named Gary,” Ogden says when asked about the album’s title. “I then followed it up and began reading articles online. Then I thought, ‘I’m going to write a song about this.’”
Chasing his impulses, Ogden began to pinch lines from various articles and things he saw on the news about Gary. To his great surprise, the public really connected with it. The band even brings a fibreglass replica of Gary on tour with them now.
“It turned out to be this whimsical thing that people really connected to. I underestimated people’s appetite for the ludicrous. We actually end on Gary now.”
“So, what ended up happening to the real Gary?” I asked Ogden.
“They found him a year and a half later,” Ogden recounts as if he’s telling me a spooky bedtime story. “But they only found the back half of him in a ditch. I think someone’s cut him in half and pushed him up against a wall. But they’ve still not found him.”
It’s a strange, surreal ending to a story that’s almost too odd to believe, but one that’s certainly had an impact on the band’s identity. Ogden also reflects on the aesthetic of the Gary album, which leans into a kind of cinematic, darkly atmospheric vibe—velvet curtains, all-black outfits, and a touch of neo-noir.
“We didn’t want the title Gary to be just some silly joke. We wanted the visuals to balance out that absurdity,” he explains. “So we shot the cover in a big lock-up we have, using huge pieces of fabric that we sewed together. It was about countering the silliness with something a little more sophisticated.”
As for the music, Ogden is clear that the band didn’t set out to make a concept album. “We just wanted it to sound like a party. And also sound great live,” he says.
Finally, as a little note to end on, I thought to ask Ogden about the rumours that Blossoms would be supporting Oasis on their reunion tour later this year. As someone who literally battled through queues to get tickets, I needed some sort of validation. Ogden firmly shakes his head.
“We have the same promoters and were doing this show in Manchester. After we finished, they put up a little teaser on the screens as people were leaving. But that was it. We aren’t supporting them.”
Blossoms are touring Australia with Kasabian. They will be performing in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Tickets can be purchased here.
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