A Quick Chat with Bloom Parade

Brisbane five-piece Bloom Parade release their new single "By Another Name" on 14 August. It's the most country-leaning song they've put out so far — big, loud and romantic, without losing the emo and alt-rock foundations the band was built on, and it was written, recorded and mixed by frontman Mitchell Manz. We caught up with Mitchell to talk about the single.

The song opens with "come on baby won't you simmer down with me" — a request rather than a declaration. What made that the right first line?

I usually start writing by finding a chord progression I like and mumbling gibberish over it until a melody and phrasing sticks. That line just came to me amongst the gibberish — I liked the rhythm of it.

For some reason the word "baby" has really stuck with me over the last couple of years of writing. In the earlier days of Bloom Parade I would have viewed it as pure cliché, maybe even lazy, but my perspective has shifted. It's a motif countless songwriters in similar genres have carried, and I've come to appreciate it as a tradition.

You recorded and mixed this one yourself, and one of its lines is "I don't need perfect, I don't need clean". Is there anything on the track a hired engineer would have talked you out of keeping?

Probably dozens of things. I've learned to produce purely by doing, with the occasional YouTube tutorial when I get stuck or don't know where to start. 

I'm sure an actual engineer would have spent a lot more time tidying the backing vocals especially — there's a lot of variation going on there, and definitely some sharp and flat notes. I'm happy with the way it came out.

"By Another Name" is a title that reframes everything around it. Did it arrive before or after the song, and did having it change what you wrote?

"By Another Name" was the obvious choice, really. It became the premise of the whole song as I was writing it, and it's the little hook you hear at the end of each chorus. 

I probably could have soul-searched further and come up with something more abstract and less on-the-nose, but I decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

The song's argument is that the sting, the mess and the marks aren't the price of love, they are the love. Is that something you believe, or something the song was working out as you wrote it?

I think it's something I already believed, though I probably wouldn't have stated it so explicitly or eloquently before I wrote the song.

What changes about this one once the whole band is playing it in a room, compared to how it exists on the recording?

Things are a lot looser when the group is playing together — not in a "damn, these guys need to practise" way, but because we've been lucky enough to develop an understanding of each other's playing styles and habits. 

Personally I love being able to add things that aren't on the recorded version, and to let the songs keep developing past what's locked in on the release.

You're playing Sunblushed Sounds next month, which is also an event you put on yourself. What made you want to build the show rather than just get on someone else's bill?

The idea for Sunblushed Sounds came from wanting to play with one of the bands on the bill, Camping, after I saw them do an instore at Sonic Sherpa Records in Stones Corner a couple of months back.

I'd also recently become aware of a few live music events happening at Gaythorne Bowls Club, so logically(?) I decided to dedicate a large amount of time, effort and money to starting a new series of all-ages shows at the bowls club, instead of just doing something easy at a bar.

Sunblushed Sounds is on 12 September at Gaythorne Bowls Club, with EJ Wood, Chelsea Costar, Camping, Eden King and Chestr playing alongside us. All ages, and hopefully the first of many.