I Heart the Music: Your Online Source for Live Music Reviews and Interviews in Toronto!

It is becoming ever more apparent that the Toronto music scene is popping out talent like nobody’s business. As the talent gets stronger, the competition becomes fiercer as to who will win in the album and tickets sales race. One band that should have no trouble landing in one of the top spots is the fivesome that make up Great Bloomers. These young twenty-something guys come at you with their folk rock/country infused sound that leaves you hungry for more. iheartthemusic’s caught them twice already, and both times we were left with a smile on our faces and a catchy tune stuck in our heads. When we heard that they were set to release their debut album, Speak of Trouble, we knew we had to have a chat with them before they were swallowed up by the hungry media monsters out there… oh wait, that also includes us… Either way, it’s always nice to come into contact with genuine Canadian talent and that’s exactly what we got when we spoke with them during International Record Store Day in Toronto.

iheartthemusic: It’s a big time for you guys! You have gone from self-producing your EP, to signing to MapleMusic, to now having this amazing debut album just come out. What was the recording process like from your EP to this album?

Lowell: Well, with the first one, doing it in the comfort of your home, I really enjoyed making it. We kind of just wrote the songs as we recorded them, more or less. Whereas when we recorded this album [Speak of Trouble], we had been developing the songs for about a year and a half beforehand, so we went in more ready and it was nice to do it in an actual studio.

Andrew: The biggest difference was that we hadn’t even played one show when we were recording the first EP. At that point it started out with just Lowell and I and then Nate joined through that process.

Lowell: We played one show before it was released, but it was recorded before we played any shows.

Andrew: Making this record we had the unit all together and so it was much easier to go into the studio as a band. I guess before, with our EP, we were recording each part individually. I think this album has way more of a unified feel to it because of that.

iheartthemusic: Did you find that your sound differed between the two albums

Lowell: Yes, very much so! We recorded the EP with one microphone!

iheartthemusic: Let’s chat a bit about your musical background, because if anyone has ever seen you guys live they may have noticed that Andrew and Shawn have the habit of switching instruments halfway through the set!

Andrew: Yes, Shawn and I are the most talented in the band! [laughs] It’s funny, actually, because in some articles or blogs or write-ups about us they say that we have professional training, “classical training,” actually.

iheartthemusic: I did read that somewhere, so which instrument did you start with?

Shawn: For me it was the drums.

Andrew: Yeah, drums for me too. I took lessons for drums, but I wouldn’t call them “classical”. I think a lot of us actually grew up listening to music that lent itself to playing music, which then lent itself to playing in a band. All of us are multi-instrumentalist but don’t get to showcase it like Shawn and I do.

iheartthemusic: I think it’s great and definitely adds to your live performance.

Andrew: Yeah, it works out and it’s fun.

iheartthemusic: So when did MapleMusic come into play?

Lowell: It started off with Dave Porter. He has been in the record industry for so long and he came out to a show. We started talking pretty much from there. We signed to Grifter Music, which was going to be Dave’s own label; his own branch of MapleMusic. One thing led to another and we ended up getting swallowed by Maple. I think it turned out to be a good thing, but we owe that to Dave. Dave’s the one that saw the potential and signed us.

iheartthemusic: Would you say that being signed is a defining moment for your band, or is it more so coming out with a full length?

Nate: I don’t think it [being signed] has defined us musically but it gets our album out to places that maybe it never would have gotten to. So I think that part is really cool.

Andrew: I think they work together. I think the album for us is sort of defining our place right now because it allows us to go on tour, but we couldn’t have made the album without Maple because we had no money and we had all these expenses. So Maple allowed us to make the album, which is now allowing us to pursue this upcoming tour.

iheartthemusic: So we can expect a tour this summer?

Lowell: Yes. Maple’s also backing us up quite a bit with a team and has also allowed us to get our van, which is going to get us to the shows, which is pretty important. Another defining moment for us has been deciding to work with Lauren Schreiber as our manager. Basically we were at a point where our album was done and we were treading water just waiting for it to come out, but then we started working with Lauren and the wheels started turning and everything happened really fast. That’s been a big thing for us.

Andrew: What’s interesting when you start a band is that your team is the band and then eventually your team expands to people like Lauren and Carly [MapleMusic] and they help you get to those next places. The extended team is essential to growing as a band. They are the ones behind the scene, but they are doing great work. We owe a lot to them!

iheartthemusic: Big ups to them then! With the market being how it is, are you nervous at all about album sales?

Lowell: No, it’s not really something that we think about. We love making music and we do it because we want to have careers in music. We wouldn’t have done it any differently.

Catch these boys this summer as they cross the country in support of their debut album, Speak of Trouble, which you can pick up now at your local record store. For those of you lucky enough to live in Toronto, be sure to hit up The Horseshoe Tavern this Saturday, May 2^nd for their CD release party!

photography provided by April Day Photography