Photo: Olivia Williams
"People say I have a 'cocksure swagger', and I didn't really know what they meant," shrugs Blossoms frontman Tom Ogden - brushing back his long brown locks while gazing across with a fixed gaze. "I think they just mean that I'm just confident. We've always said that we wanted to be massive all along."
He's not wrong. The first time we met was this time last year when the band performed in the middle of the afternoon on the Gigwise Stage at Live At Leeds festival. Now, a year later we're back in sunny Yorkshire, where they've dramatically leaped up the bill - marked as arguably the most talked about band here today.
Since then, they made the top five of the BBC Sound Of 2016 longlist, performed huge shows with Courteeners, The Libertines and more, seen their cult fanbase bloom into something much, much bigger, infiltrated mainstream and indie radio, earned praise from Josh Homme on Jools Holland, and completed their debut album with none other that The Coral's James Skelly. There's an epic summer of touring ahead, with Glastonbury looming and a calendar including the honour of supporting hometown heroes The Stone Roses at Manchester's Etihad Stadium (but they're keen to emphasise that they are in fact from neighbouring Stockport).
Needless to say, there's a lot for them to be cocky about, but running your mouth can only get you so far. The truth about Blossoms is, they've got the songs to back it up, they believe in them, and in each other. The camaraderie as this gang of mates bounce off each other this afternoon is infectious. Despite what Sleaford Mods might want you to believe, Blossoms are not wankers. They're living out their teenage dreams and it's going pretty damn well, so forgive them if they come across as a little brash from time to time.
"The best thing you can do as a band is just keep going in the direction you're going, without searching for it," smiles bassist Charlie Salt. "People call Tom 'cocksure', but you need that to be a successful frontman."
Drummer Joe Donovan chuckles: "And because of where we're from up near Manchester, we get lumped in with those Northern bands with big mouths - but we love it. When you're doing this, you have to give up everything and give it your all. You're not going to get anywhere if you don't. In this industry, it's fucking cut-throat - you have to believe."
One man who'll know that more than most would be Courteeners' Liam Fray. Did he have any words of wisdom for the band as they strode forward into a very similar path?
"Yeah, he did actually," smiles Tom. "Back in the early days we used to play with turtlenecks as like a 'uniform', and that was our thing. He suggested not wearing them, and we eventually realised he was probably right...He's just been dead supportive. Those gigs we did with them have laid the grounds of a lot of our fanbase. He's just dead sound."
As well as shedding their turtlenecks, they were quick to disconnect from any notion that they might be 'psychedelic'...
"We're not," frowns Tom, weary and worn down from seeing the word written by his image so many times. "In the early days a bit maybe, so perhaps we invited a bit of that and then bloggers and journalists just started copying each other, but if you listen to 'Getaway' there's fuck all psych-y about it. It's just a big pop song, but people will be like 'the Stockport psych-rockers are back again'. If you've got to do a good review, just fucking listen to it. That's the one thing that pisses off."
Gimmick-free and comfortable in their own skin, Blossoms' grassroots popularity became impossible for the wider world to ignore. Just as the case with fellow new generation guitar heroes Catfish + The Bottlemen, the youthful exuberance of their sound as they toured the North's countless venues whipped up eager teens and older fans alike - yearning that they were offering something so lacking out there on mainstream radio. The fervour grew strongers as their EPs bloomed with more and more potential, until they found themselves at No.4 in the BBC Sound Of 2016 shortlist.
Photo: Olivia Williams
But could you call that 'a victory' for guitar music? Do they still feel like 'outsiders'?
"Apart from us and Rat Boy there were no other guitar bands in there," Tom replies. "Depending on how you look at it, that's a bit of a shame maybe. We'll fly the flag and hopefully that'll pave the way for more.
"We've kind of always just stayed on our track and not really paid attention to what anyone else is doing. The fact that they're taking to us is nice, but we're not constantly looking over our shoulder at anyone else. We probably are a minority on them lists, in comparison to the superstars like Taylor Swift. We love all that, but we're a different kind of artist."
Could they say that rubbing shoulders with the likes of Taylor Swift, Rihanna and Justin Bieber on these playlists increase the determination of the band to really 'make it', or give them a stronger identity as standing apart?
"We didn't know a lot about it until we were in it," admits Joe. "We've only ever concentrated on us being us. We're dead grateful, but you can't manipulate yourself to go for that - we've just been ourselves."
Tom gestures towards his bandmates: "I think that's why people like us. We're just five normal lads. It happens every so many years when a band like that comes along - just working class lads who are all mates and just write good songs. That's basically it."
Their friendship bleeds into everything they do, growing ever closer as their vision of becoming 'absolutely fucking massive' becomes more and more of a reality. I ask them what their greatest 'headfuck' moment has been as a band. "Just getting stopped in the street on the way here," smiles Tom, before Charlie trumps him - "playing pool with Pete Doherty, I beat him then he just said in thick cockney 'funny old game, innit?'".
However, after a few minutes of banter and ribbing, they settle on the landmark achievement of finally finishing their debut album with The Coral's James Skelly.
"Some of the fondest memories of us as a band are from recording this album," says Tom. "It was a dead creative and fresh experience. We built up a relationship with James Skelly and Rich recording those singles, then when we came to make the album we didn't have to faff about. That's why the album sounds quite free and fun.
"I think it will exceed what people expect. People buzz off our EPs now, and they're the tracks that never made the album."
If Blossoms do fulfill on their much discussed promise, it will be because they're harder on themselves than anyone - looking to their heroes for just how high the bar can be raised.
"We wanted our B-sides to be as good as our A-sides," interjects Joe. "We were speaking to Mike Joyce the other day and he was saying the same thing about The Smiths - they were asked for a bonus track for an album and wrote 'How Soon Is Now'. It had to be a single. They were told to stop writing singles because they were all too good and Johnny Marr was just like, 'well, these are the songs I'm writing - deal with it'."
Tom continues: "Oasis had that, Arctic Monkeys had that. If you're going to write a song, why not make the best it can be? Every song on this album can be a single, it's kind of relentless. It's got what The Stone Roses and The Smiths had, it's broken up into moods. There's a moment where it gets a bit weird like on 'Elizabeth My Dear' - we've got little things like that to make a 'complete' record. That's why James Skelly was good. He's got that experience.
"He messaged us before it was done saying 'just listened to the master - you have created a classic'. He's proud to be part of this record."
Joe grabs his hair and shakes his head in disbelief: "James Skelley texting you that, it's fucking mental isn't it? It's just not normal. It's James fucking Skelly."
So now, if the record is every bit 'a classic' as we've come to expect, then the future belongs to Blossoms. Each single has been more affirming and universal than the last, yet still retaining that swaggering Blossoms charm. I put it to the days that if they're hoping the album will thrive on its own grounds, or if they feel a backlash at the hand of indie snobbery?
"Fuckin' hell, you're making me feel dark!" laughs Joe, before Tom firmly steps in: "Everyone's been really nice until now. So for that groundwork of support for two years to be for nowt, I would just be like 'what's the point?'
"It's not throwaway - a lot of these lyrics are really personal - it's brutally honest, and not disguised. You can't argue with that."
It was latest single 'Getaway' that saw Tom reach his most personal level to date, earning a flood of admiration from fans as he wore his heart on his sleeve to pine for escapism as the honeymoon period of a relationship seemed on the rocks. Is it strange at all, to go from writing songs for yourself to suddenly having your most raw-nerved feelings exposed to a newfound audience?
"I like that...," pauses Tom. "It's better than just sitting in your bedroom and going West..."
Charlie leans in: " When he brings a song it, you have to use your playing to bring out what he's about - and that's why the songs work so well. We're not just five musicians - we're best mates. We went to Mallorca last week and we're constantly together."
A cheeky grin beams across Joe's face: "It's different for me. Tom will ring me up and say 'I feel shit about something', and I'll just be like 'write a tune, mate'. We've been mates for ages now, too long.
"We all feel closer to Tom. When you hear your mate writing a song about what they've been through, it gets you a little bit deeper."
Tom raises his hands to conclude: "We spend all our time together so there's nothing they don't know."
Well, the window into his life is about to open a whole lot wider. You can't stop Blossoms from blowing up in 2016. We're daresay their debut will hit the top five, they'll be selling out Brixton Academy by the end of the year, and they'll be headlining festivals if they can keep up this momentum - all of done with a cocksure swagger, but it's down a path they've certainly earned the right to tred.
Blossoms release their self-titled debut on 5 August. This summer, they play Isle Of Wight festival, Parklife, Field Day, Glastonbury, Standon Calling, Y Not, Boardmasters, Electric Picnic, and Reading & Leeds.
- They perform at 12.30pm on Friday on The Other Stage at Glastonbury
