Hey guys, hope this blog finds you all doing well! Just wanted to give you all an update on what's happening in the Bloom world.
We've just announced a show that we'll be playing in New York. We're all very pumped about this. Hilde and Brad the sound guy have never even been to the Big Apple before, so I know they're very excited about the trip. The last time I went was back in 2000. Wow, that was weird just typing it. Ten years ago.... What were you doing ten years ago? More specifically, what were you all doing when you found out about the World Trade Center collapsing in 2001? I remember I was outside during marching band practice (yes, I was band nerd; but, at least I was cool in the realm of nerds since I was a drummer). I remember hearing about it from our band director and didn't really believe it at the time. We all went in to our classes for the day and did nothing but watch TV coverage and talk about it the rest of the afternoon. Thinking about that is still a bit surreal...
Anyways, back to happier thoughts. Our show will be during the annual CMJ Music Marathon Festival. This festival features some of the best and brightest upcoming bands. Muse was actually "found" (as far as US markets are concerned) at CMJ! Pretty cool... Hope to see any Bloomers in the area at the show! You can view details about this show and any other shows we play by clicking on the "Tour" link on the top of the page.
Thanks for your support. We couldn't do this without you guys.
Brink
Hello Bloomers,
I just wanted to share some very exciting news on the bass player front as well as share with you how the BuzzFest and After Party went.
1st, I have to express my extreme delight in announcing my new prop page on the Warwick Bass web page. Click Andy's Warwick page I have been using the Warwick basses for almost 10 years now and if you have ever seen us live, you know what I mean when I say it has an amazing "growl". I'm very pumped to be a part of their team.
2nd, just to give you a heads up on how the BuzzFest shows went. Even though the weather didn't cooperate while we played and it drizzled the whole time (still trying to resuscitate the Marshall plexi that got wet since there was no cover on the stage, rest it's soul), we were able to pull off a killer rock show and the crowd came out and didn't disappoint...THEN, over to the Rock Bar to play, what some would say, one of Manic Bloom's best and shining shows to date! If you missed it, believe me, it was incredible and we will have many more like it. We learned a ton.
As always, please come by and say hi at our next show, which is this Friday at Toasted Toad in Murfreesboro or if you can't come, be ready to catch us on the road soon, as the Fall is starting to pick up quickly with touring out of Nashville area. You can alway catch us on Monday night live on Manic Monday as well on Ustream.com
WE LOVE YOU ALL AND KEEP US INFORMED ON YOUR BLOOMAGE!
ANDiROO
PS...I took this shot after we were done playing at BuzzFest...the Nashville skyline looked amazing behind the stage.
Sorry - Manic Monday's not happening this week... We're bummed, but we've got some meetings that we can't reschedule, and our new manager (!!!) is heading out of town, so we can't reschedule them. That's right - Mike is on our contact page, so you know it's official!
Besides being pumped about working with Mike, we're coming off of a very busy few days! We played the Buzzfest at LP Field in Nashville on Friday with bands like Papa Roach, Sick Puppies, Seether, Shinedown, etc, and despite a bit of rain, it was a lot of fun. The stage was a little wet, so I was close to some banana-peel-type falls, but luckily I stayed on two feet the whole show! Matt's amp head didn't work, so the guitarist from Adalene was cool enough to let us use his. Saved the day!
We played another show at the Rock Bar at 11pm that was put together by Irish Nancy of Nashvillerock.net, and despite a long day, it was an incredibly fun show. First time I got to use my in-ears at a show, and it was like a dream - I could actually HEAR everything! Hoping that'll step up the MB game (or at least mine) from here on out.
We've got some new tshirts, so they'll show up on the website really soon... We really like them, and we hope you will too!! We also got some tour posters made, and I'm not sure if we're going to sell them off the website (I don't know what shipping would cost for them since we'd have to keep them flat - we'll crunch some numbers to see what we'd have to sell them at to make it worth it, but still reasonable), but if we do, we'll probably just sell autographed ones.
We are most likely playing a show in Murfreesboro, TN on friday, so keep your ear to the ground if you're in the area. Then Clarksville next wednesday.
Again - sorry for bailing on Manic Monday... We don't want to ever leave you hanging - but there's just no other way to fit everything in... We'll make it up to you somehow...
-David
MB
Howdy Bloomers!
I say this far too often, but a lot of stuff is going on with the ol' MB. First of all - I'm reeeeallly hoping this blog ends up in a bunch of inboxes, because I've been working on trying to fix some problems with host issues - but that's boring and I won't talk about that.
Manic Monday has been awesome lately - this past Monday we had people from here in the US, plus Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Argentina, Germany, Brazil... Am I missing someone? The sound board that Hildee mentioned in the last blog has pretty much changed EVERYTHING! Swing by this monday at 7pm CST to see what I'm talking about. Actually... This Monday is Labor Day, so I'm not sure if we'll be playing, but Manic Monday will still definitely happen - though perhaps it'll be a stripped down acoustic thing or something. We'll see...
Next week (9/10), we're playing Nashville's Buzzfest, which we're super pumped about. I'd say it'll easily be the biggest show we've ever played. No pressure... That night, we're playing an after party at Rock Bar, which is FREEEEEE, and which will also have free Roaring Lion Energy Drink, as long as all the I's get crossed and T's get dotted. We'll have new shirts and some posters by then, hopefully, so they'll be up on the website soon after.
We're also coming to Atlanta, Muncie, and Arlington TX soon, too. If that's anywhere near you - be there! If it's not anywhere near you, then bug your favorite local radio station until they play us so that a club in your town will call us back! Seriously! :)
We're supposed to be recording a Christmas song for a local project... We haven't started - but don't tell anyone! We'll get the fire under us soon.
As for now, I'm pretty excited about going camping this weekend with half of MB... (Not everyone is able come) What are YOU doing for labor day weekend?
Hello Bloomers!!! It's been almost a month since we released In Loving Memory and the reactions have been nothing short of amazing. We would like to extend our deepest appreciation for all the feedback and support so many have shown as we've been moving forward towards becoming a full-time band. We often wonder aloud what it would be like if all we had to do was wake up each morning and only think about the band.... as our JOB!!! So far, all we've ever known is the daily grind of our 9 to 5's and then the small sliver of time every few days to cram in all the creativity and administration of Manic Bloom. It is nothing short of maddening. But, alas, it's what makes us who we are. Part of me wonders if relieving some of that pressure would be truly helpful in this artistic pursuit. Or is it the pressure and stress that makes us who we are. Guess we'll find out one of these days.
So last weekend, a couple of us drove down to Birmingham to purchase a new soundboard. We felt that with our limited budget, there were a few things we needed to do in order to improve upon our live show. Buying a board would allow us to fine-tune our practices a bit more so that when we hit the stage on the weekends (or whenever) we'd be a well-oiled machine, raring to bring wheel barrows of rock to the stage. So far, the board has been a total blessing
Perhaps the most delightful surprise that came with buying it came the other night on weekly broadcast, Manic Monday. For those of you who may not have had the joy of spending a Monday with, Manic Monday is a LIVE broadcast of the week's first practice. Sometimes we run through our set, sometimes we write new songs, other times we talk about important stuff, but EVERY time we act ridiculous and try are hardest to involve you as much as computerly possible. If you haven't been by yet, please, for the sake of all things funny, come hang out with us.
Anyways, Giga (our resident sound bro), got to messing with this new board of ours and figured out that it could be used to, not only run our monitor mixes during practice, but that it could also use mix our sound for Manic Monday. Meaning, no longer do you hear distortion when we get loud....no, now you hear flat out amazingness, especially considering that it's a LIVE feed.
I think you'll agree. Click the link below and load this past Monday's episode (8/16/10) and fast forward to 1:49:50. We jam out Never Back Down. It sounds sick!!!
www.ustream.tv/channel/manicbloom
I'm out!!
Hildee
P.S. Below is a pic of our new board....aint it a beauty? The pic below that me in the backseat on our way to Birmingham....I'm yawning b/c we were waiting for a tow truck....yeah, our trusty band vehicle broke down on the side of the road. Friggin fuel pump wigged out. No worries, we just banged on it and it started working. S'what I like to call a quick southern fix!! Thanks, Tow Truck Tony!!
_0.jpg)
_0.jpg)
OK Bloomers, it is official, we are on the line up for BuzzFest 2010! We had an amazing interview last night at the Buzz Studios with Tony Stone and again, we are very excited to hear all of the amazing feedback from you, our fans on our new album "In Loving Memory".
We are so excited about the opportunity to play this huge festival and we hope that all of our fans that are anywhere near Nashville will come out and support us. We not only are very lucky to have this position, but we are also pumped to be sharing the stages with some of our favorite national and Nashville bands. Along side Manic Bloom will be November, Shine Down, Papa Roach, Forgotten Fable, Seether, and Drowning Pool - among many others!
Thank you Tony Stone for going to bat in a major way for Manic Bloom and the other elite Nashville bands that we are honored to share the stage with.
There are a lot of things going in Manic Bloomia! For those that don't know, our new EP In Loving Memory has been released, and you can hear the whole thing on our website. (sorry for being repetitive, but we recently discovered that our web host was only sending our emails to a small portion of our email list, so we switched to DreamHost)
I've been COMPLETELY blown away with the number of tweets/facebook posts/emails/etc that have been pointing people to our music. There is really is no way for us to express how thankful we are to have fans and friends that are so supportive of our music! We are able to continue to make music only because of you! And please feel free to send us emails and post comments telling us if our music has meant something to you. That keeps us going. Seriously.
And on topic of amazing support for us, we were sent a video from a handful of AWESOME fans in Russia, showing what they're doing to Spread the Bloom Responsibly:
When they sent this to me, I seriously teared up a little. To think that people are hearing our music on the other side of the globe is simply incredible. I will say - if you want to do something like this in the States, please use chalk instead of spray paint! We definitely don't want any Bloomers getting arrested on our behalf! (I've been informed that Russian law is different than U.S. law)
So - again - THANK YOU!! And continue to Spread the Bloom Responsibly!!
-David
MB
As a band, we are very lucky to have a singer that doubles as a talented website designer. David's newest creation is an idea we've had for awhile that we're now ready to launch. It's called www.DeathAndConversation.com. We wanted to raise the question "When you're gone, what will people remember about you?"
This is a website where you can post your own eulogy. If you had to summarize your life in a few paragraphs, what would you write? And when you post your eulogy, there are features to let you share it on Facebook or Twitter, so please make sure to help us spread the word.
Matt
-Manic Bloom
July 20th is here! That means our album, In Loving Memory, is now available on iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody and many other online music distribution sites. If you haven't bought it yet, please go do it now.
iTunes - http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/in-loving-memory/id380373641
Manic Bloom website (to get the hardcopy) - http://www.manicbloom.com/store.php
Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/In-Loving-Memory/dp/B003UM15L8/ref=dm_ap_alb2
Also, please help us spread the word today. We're hoping that all of you can help us make the web light up with talk of Manic Bloom today. Here are some things you can do.
1. Post to your Facebook about our new album
2. Suggest our Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/manicbloom, to your friends
3. Tweet about the new album with the hashtag #inlovingmemory
4. Make the picture below your profile pic on any of your social network sites
5. Email your friends about it
We've worked on this album for a year, and now we need your help!
Matt
-Manic Bloom
I'm gonna start by saying that yesterday was one of my favorite Manic Bloom days in a long time. First, I finished editing and released our last individual interview video, for "Push Off The Ground". It's been a lot fun filming these videos, and hopefully you've enjoyed watching them as much as we've enjoyed making them. Second, we found out that we were played on the Real World yesterday. Now, being played on any reality show would be awesome to us, but the fact that The Real World was basically the original reality show made it even cooler. Third, we found some art that a fan in Russia made of us. I've been trying to describe how awesome it is, but I haven't figured out how to do it justice, so I'll just let you see for yourself.
Ok, back to the video...This video was probably the most fun to make because...well...we got to slap each other. It's fun. Also, I enjoyed seeing my guitar played with the camera attached to the headstock. We had a version of that shot that actually had me spinning really fast while playing, but it actually makes you a little dizzy to watch, so I didn't include that in the video.
This video talks about what we did during the recording process to destress, which for me is typically reading or watching tv. Post comments and let us know what do you do to destress. Give us ideas for the next time we record.
Matt
-Manic Bloom
Look Dad Creative
