“We’ve fuckin’ spent it, ain’t we?” a somewhat refreshed Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols said of what happened to the band’s £40,000 advance from EMI during their infamous TV interview with Bill Grundy in December 1976. When asked how, Jones replied bluntly, “Down the boozer.”
UK band Blossoms are unlikely to have blown their advance from Virgin EMI “down the boozer”, but they did take their name from a pub in their home town of Stockport and this was where they decided to record their own podcast series. They’ve even called it a “pubcast”. Frankly, we’d have been disappointed if they didn’t.
“Each week, the lads greet you into their local for a swift half, top laugh and all kinds of rum malarkey,” runs the blurb around the podcast. “There’s tall tales, sound advice, crank calls, and the ‘Sixth Blossom’ – Charlie’s Granddad John. It’s a bit like Cheers… but set in Shaw Heath rather than Boston.” The fact that the first episode is called A Bee Waved At Me underscores the fact that tongues are firmly in cheeks here.
It appears to be a weekly event, with new episodes appearing every Tuesday. The opening two episodes are marked with an “E” for explicit content so the topics of conversation and language used are not for everyone. Perhaps it might draw in new fans, but the tone would seem to suggest it is all about super-serving existing fans and perhaps plugging the promo gap between albums given that their second album came out last April.
Starting a podcast is one thing, but keeping the momentum going is another, especially when touring and recording bites into an act’s time. Blossoms have no doubt been spurred into action by the success of something like George Ezra & Friends which has been running regularly since February 2018.
Where Ezra really succeeds, however, is that he pulls in huge names – like Ed Sheeran, Elton John, Lily Allen and Nile Rodgers – so the podcast appeals to multiple fanbases simultaneously. Granddad John is a funny, if scatological, chap but he’s not exactly going to have the same draw as Elton.
