Washington State-born and Nashville-based singer, songwriter, and guitarist, Vera Bloom, holds nothing back in her addictive hybrid of alternative, grunge, and punk, and has released her latest offering, her sophomore EP, ‘It’s Me’ which she co-produced alongside Jeremy Ferguson and Jacob Carey. It is a six-song collection, loosely rooted in the classic theme of the Phoenix that also includes her recent single ‘Boxes’ and previously released songs ‘Say Goodbye,’ ‘Mud,’ and ‘Serenity.’
With the pop/punk grunge-world at her feet and living in one of the most musically creative places in the world in Nashville, we thought it was about time we caught up with Vera to find out more. We tracked Vera down at home in Nashville to discuss the EP, how she approaches her song writing and also what her influences were growing up.
Vera: Thank you. Thank you very much.
Vera: Yeah. So the lead track, ‘Eyes On You’, I released, I guess, three weeks before the rest of the EP and that one is definitely gaining the most attention and traction. That’s kind of like the bop of the EP. But yeah, overall, really well received. And I think there’s a little bit of everything for everyone who loves rock music. You know, because I sway a little bit between like punk and indie and alternative and whatnot. But yeah, it’s going really well.
Sean: Fantastic. And of course, you’re based in the nerve centre of music in the world in Nashville. How’s that with the inspiration for writing over there?
Vera: Honestly, I feel a lot of freedom here just because, you know, there is definitely a rock scene here and a pretty decent one. I feel like there’s a really great community. But I also feel like I kind of own my space a little bit, you know, because I don’t I don’t feel like I’m competing against a lot of people who are doing the same thing. I kind of feel like I’m doing my own thing and just kind of owning that. So it definitely gives me the freedom and confidence to just kind of do whatever I want.
Sean: We hear so much about it. It’s a place I’ve always wanted to go and visit. Is there really that song writing vibe there? Has it got that magical feel to the place?
Vera: You can definitely find your way into the singer/songwriter kind of circuit. And there is constantly writing happening. I feel like that’s more for folk, country, those kind of genres and pop. There’s like a lot of people meet up to do writing for pop as well. But I think for a lot of us rockers, we just kind of do our own thing and then come out to each other’s shows. But, yeah, there’s definitely there’s a lot of music happening all the time here everywhere, which is which is cool.
Sean: Well, what’s been great about the EP with ‘It’s Me’ is you’ve drip fed some of the singles out, which is great. And it seems to be the way to really get the benefit out of something like a six track EP. I was looking at the list. ‘Boxes’, ‘Mud’, ‘Say Goodbye’, ‘Serenity’, all have all been fed to the world to have a good listen to. And they’ve really got some power to them, some real punch.
Vera: Yeah, thank you. I was pretty fortunate to play with the musicians that were on the record. I think they’re all the same. Yeah. But it wasn’t my intention, actually. I just started putting out songs one by one. And then it wasn’t until I had opened for L7 a year ago and I was like, OK, I need to do something like put something together soon, you know, after kind of gaining some more fans than I normally would have because I was in front of their fan base. And so I had already released three of the three singles and then I did ‘Boxes’. And then I had been sitting on ‘Eyes On You’ and the title track ‘It’s Me’. So I was like, all these other songs need a home. You know, it didn’t feel right for me to just have them in digital space forever for the rest of time. You know, I was like to me, like having a tangible something, you know, that holds the songs is really important. So I was just like, OK, I’m going to throw them all together. And it kind of really like felt right. It was like this was the chapter that I’m talking about in my life. You know, so it really they all kind of belong together. And now I’m going on to the next next chapter. But it wasn’t planned to do a six track EP, that’s just kind of what happened. And I’m happy about it.
Sean: Yeah, cool. Well, you just said about chapters, your first chapter only started two years ago. Is it an easy process for you with song writing or is it something you’ve really got to apply yourself to do? Are you one of these people who walk down the street and say, hey, there’s an unusual thing happening now. Do you have to kind of nut it out and sit down?
Vera: No, it comes really. It comes. It actually just forces its way out. Sometimes I don’t have a choice [laughs]. It’ll be like three in the morning and I’m just like, OK, time to write a song. It comes knocking. So, yeah, I write a lot of songs that never go anywhere. But there are the ones where it’s just you sit down, you start writing or you had an idea that’s been kind of mulling around. And in a couple of hours, it’s done. And almost all of these songs were that way. Yeah, they were just. I think there’s multiple kinds of songwriters. There’s like storyteller songwriters where they extract a lot of things from external stuff in their lives. I’m like the opposite where I write from my feelings and thoughts and experiences so it comes from the inside out. I think as long as I keep living life, you know, the songs will keep coming out. So I feel pretty, pretty good about that. But, yeah, it’s pretty easy for me.
Sean: Well, obviously, you’re sitting there enjoying the release of the EP now. Is there more stuff already bubbled out ready for the follow up of this one?
Vera: There is. I would love to do a full length. I really would. I’m like slowly trying to mark off my own bucket list and having a vinyl was one of them. So my goal is to do a full length, but we’ll see how it goes. I’ll probably release a single or two, you know, just to say, hey, I’m here still writing music. You know, don’t forget about me.
Sean: Well, if you can get hold of L7, they’re due to come out here in December. So maybe you could jump in, carry a suitcase or two and open up for them here in Australia [laughs].
Vera: We’d love to. I would love that. I would love that. Yeah. We’ll see what we can do. We can do that. Sounds good to me [laughs].
Sean: So have you had much time to perform the EP live? Have you managed to get some shows under your belt?
Vera: Yeah, I just did three last week, just a regional, regional skip around. And then I’m taking the winter to really like plan out a good tour, like one that is hitting, you know, like other markets other than around Nashville. I just didn’t get the chance since I’m doing the booking by myself. I don’t have a label. I’m independent. So it’s going to take a lot of planning, a lot of patience and hard work. So I’m kind of dedicating winter time to that. And then, yeah, we’ll really hit the road and hopefully sell some records and keep the keep the ball going.
Sean: Well, taking you right back to the start, where did that where did it all start for you? I mean, growing up at home, was it was music around the house or was it something that you grew up with at school or what was it?
Vera: Yeah. I mean, music was always present. My dad, he plays guitar and is like a hobbyist songwriter. So I definitely learned about the idea of song writing through him, that it was even a thing, you know but I’ve been like an avid journaler and poet, poetry, you know, kind of like dabbler for a long time. And then I grew up classically trained actually on the piano. So eventually I think maybe through my rebellion of like, I don’t want to practice, I like started combining the two of, you know, like, oh, I’ll use these words to this stuff I’m creating and so naturally, I just started. I think I was around 14 when I wrote my first official song. And then a couple of years later, I picked up the guitar and that’s when I was like, OK, this is the instrument I like the best, you know, with writing. So, yeah, it was. I would say from a creative outlet, music has always been around, but it wasn’t like from a fan standpoint. We weren’t always having records playing in the background or anything like that or going to shows all the time. But it was still it was a different musical upbringing. Yeah. One that was like, yeah, you can express yourself through music kind of kind of thing.
Sean: So what was the sort of the music around that you were hearing at the time that influenced you? Obviously there’s going to be influences like the classics, like The Runaways and Courtney Love and such like. You’ll always get compared to that gritty sound.
Vera: I will. Yeah.
Sean: Is that the kind of stuff you were listening to back then?
Sean: Wonderful. I got to catch her last time she was here in Australia and even at her age now, she just blew me away. Her energy on stage was just fantastic.
Vera: Yeah, she’s my idol.
Vera: Oh, thank you. Yeah, it’s in the works.
Sean: I’ve just got a couple of general questions to wrap things up, if that’s OK with you. Love to ask my restaurant question. If you could invite three musicians past or present, dead or alive, to join you for a bit of dinner, who would you like to have join you at the table?
Sean: I had a feeling she’d be there.
Vera: Yeah, she’s there. I’d also really love to have David Gilmour. I think that’d be pretty cool. Just like intellectually, but also he’s like one of my favorite melodic guitar players. I just love what comes out of him. And then I feel like someone like Ozzy, just to spice it up and just to be like, we need some craziness in this mix. You know, I guess maybe that that would be like a fun evening. I would learn a lot, but it would also be really entertaining. And I think it’d be an eclectic but good mix.
Sean: And then you just want Roger Waters to walk in for the end of the day just to spice it up with Dave Gilmour [laughs].
Sean: In a world where we’re sucked into playlists, what was the last album you listened to?
Sean: I’ve heard of them but not sure if I’ve listened to them.
Vera: Yeah, they have their first album from 90s. There’s like shoegazy kind. It just really calms me. I don’t know why it does that. But they’re like a shoegaze kind of rock band. They were popular in like the early 90s. But I actually love listening to albums. I don’t use Spotify and I don’t listen to the playlists a lot. So Apple Music’s pretty good for full length album listening. So I think it was The Hives album that has the ‘Don’t Listen to The Radio’ song on it or something like that. But that might have been it but I’m a big album lover.
Vera: I agree. I’m right there with you.
Sean: And then you have that wonderful break with the vinyl where you have to get up and turn that record over. That’s the excuse to top up your glass of wine or grab another beer from the fridge.
Sean: I’d love to finish with my favourite question. And that’s if you could be credited with writing any song ever written, what song would you choose?
Vera: I don’t know. That’s a really tough question [laughs]. That’s really hard for me. I guess there’s probably a couple. I think one of the coolest vocal parts is ‘Great Gig in the Sky’ by Pink Floyd. I don’t know if I really necessarily need to write it, but I would have loved to have been there in the studio during the whole process. Especially when she comes in and just does that one time. I know this doesn’t really answer the question.
Sean: That’s like a spinoff. You can have a spinoff.
Vera: That’s a hard one. That’s a hard on the spot question. I feel like any answer I give you is not going to be the right one.
Sean: Well, that’s it. Because you’ll put the phone down and then go, what about that one? What about that one? One of my colleagues here at The Rockpit, one of his questions he always asks is the fly on the wall question. What great album would you like to be a fly on the wall to watch being recorded?
Vera: Yeah. So maybe that was the answer to that question [laughs].
Sean: You can have that one. Well, Vera, thanks ever so much for your time. And congratulations on the EP ‘It’s Me’. Looking forward to what comes out next from you. Even though this one’s not gone away just yet.
Sean: Well, hopefully eventually we’ll get to see you down here in Australia. It’d be wonderful to have you because your kind of music works so well down here.
Vera: I would love that. That’s a dream. That’s a bucket list item.
Sean: Well, I’ll pour the margaritas. You just stand on stage and sing.
Vera: That’d be fantastic. That’s a deal.
Sean: All the best with everything you do. And we’ll keep in touch.
Vera: All right. Thank you so much, Sean. Thanks for having me. Take care. Thank you.
