Photo by Roy Barry
On February 2, Zebedy will be releasing their brand new single Bloom. We wanted to find out a bit more, so we caught up with vocalist/guitarist Jonny Harding-Smith to get an insight into the track, which can be read below, along with our review of the single – and the very first play of it! Check it out!
The last time we caught up with you was about a year and a half ago, just after the release of your second album Marionette. What’s been going on in the Zebedy camp since then?
We’ve played loads of gigs – some further afield and we put another two videos out. We won a battle of the bands at Pentre, which was nice because it meant people are appreciating our music. We’ve just been gigging, really.
2015 will see the release of your brand new single Bloom. What’s the story behind the song?
The story behind the song is basically uprising against a greater power or something that is not running a particular country or place correctly, but then actually becoming that person and making the same mistakes again. So history repeats itself and it’s an underlying thing of trying to be better – and don’t think that you can’t be better, because you can.
Can you describe your writing and recording process for this song?
We started writing it in April 2014, or maybe even before that. I then managed to continue writing it just before we went into the studio in November, so we set up at my mum and dad’s house, and continued just going through the song and making up new bits to it, adding new bits, taking bits away. Instead of writing a load of songs, we decided to just write one but it basically encompasses everything that we do. We’ve got so much material from Marionette and releases before it that we don’t need to bring new material, so to confuse people we thought we’d just bring out one really strong song that we’d all put our bit into.
It’s an evolution of where Zebedy is going – and if it happens to go somewhere, then we’ll write an album off the back of that. And that’s why we chose it as a single, because it’s the only thing we’ve written in the past year. Not because we couldn’t write more, because we could! But we preferred to keep it as one in order to keep people’s interest in more one-type songs rather than being a load of songs on that type of thing – I guess that makes no sense, but it makes sense to me!
Would you say it’s representative of your next full-length album or is it more of a standalone piece?
I’d like to say that it does. We haven’t started writing anything for a new album but if Bloom goes well, then we might go down a bit more of a heavier path, but even when we’re doing heavy, we’re making sure it’s melodic at the same time. It’s always about being melodic and anything that anyone in the band is good at doing – whether it’s vocals, or the way their voice works with things, or lyrics – we all put it in if it works. Rather than just seeing me as the main singer, we do what works for us with what we’ve got, basically. We wouldn’t do something we’re not good enough to do.
What’s the story behind the artwork? Did you go to Clearway Media with a clear image in mind of what you wanted, or did you just let him do his thing?
I had a picture that my wife did with a photographer that was kind of similar to what I wanted, but I wanted something a bit grittier. So I sent it to Clearway Media and from there, he came back to us really quickly with exactly what I wanted. That’s why you should pay a bit of money to get someone to do it properly because it’s always well worth it if someone gets your idea.
And finally what’s in the works for 2015?
In 2015, it’s all about gigging and bringing this single out. We’re hoping to push it as far as possible and the fact we can go behind this one song and push it to the radios and stuff like that is good. It’s short for us, at four and a half minutes long, which is pretty crazy for us! And other than that, just gigging. I’d like to get some support slots, but I guess we just have to do what we can do!
Bloom Review
Bloom is certainly a different track in comparison to the rest of Zebedy’s back-catalogue. Starting off with harsh vocals, the song has this great Every Time I Die/Cancer Bats vibe to it and it’s absolutely tremendous.
The thing that works best about Bloom is the fact the melodic sections juxtapose so well against the heavier and more aggressive parts, and the track is filled with that many riffs and ideas that you barely even know where to look first! There’s a lot going on, showcasing just how many strings to their bow that Zebedy has, and truly highlights how well the band is at writing in different styles.
Bloom shows a new side to Zebedy; a side that’s unafraid of being a little more adventurous and trying new things, and it’s really paid off this time round. So if this song is anything to go by, then 2015 looks set to be a bright year for the band – stay tuned!
8/10
What do you think of Bloom? Let us know in the comments below!
