FLICKY HARRISON talks to singer Tom Ogden of indie hit-makers Blossoms 

URBAN pop takes on a whole new meaning when you actually rehearse in a scaffolders’ yard.

Blossoms, who shot to number four in the BBC Sounds of 2016 list, are a five-piece from Stockport, who do just that, thanks to Charlie Salt, the bass player’s grandfather, who is in the building trade.

The indie pop band are blooming with success this year after their Glastonbury debut, first album release, airplay on BBC Radio 1, tours in Australia, South Korea and Japan and now playing at Reading and Leeds Festival.

Speaking from a field in Cumbria following a sound check for their set at Kendal Calling, lead singer and guitarist Tom Ogden admits to being a little dazed.

“We flew in from Australia last night so it’s a bit of a mad jet lag haze, but playing music around the world with your mates is just the best,’’ he said.

“I got some sleep on the plane.’’ Blossoms are currently being compared to huge Manchester bands such as The Stone Roses and Oasis and Tom says the band are happy with that as Stockport is only a stone’s throw from Manchester, and they are his music heroes.

“To be mentioned in the same breath as them is amazing,’’said Tom, who is a self-taught guitarist.

“I took a few piano lessons to escape science class at school and got to the level of playing the James Bond theme, and then I started learning Oasis covers myself on guitar.’’ Coincidently Noel Gallagher’s band High Flying Birds were also performing at Kendal Calling.

Joining Tom and Charlie in Blossoms are Josh Dewhurst on lead guitar, Joe Donovan on drums and Myles Kellock on keyboards.

The musicians got together in 2013 but their roots go way back as they were all born in the same hospital.

“We are like brothers,’’ said Tom. “Joe and I met on a school trip to Alton Towers when we were 12, and the others all fell in through friends of friends.’’ The musicians were given their rehearsal room through Charlie’s uncle who had been a musician himself in the 90s and kitted out the room in one of the warehouses surrounding the scaffolding yard owned by his father.

“It’s the key to the band’s early success,’’ says Tom, who is the main songwriter of the band. “Having that space to ourselves.’’ It was the band’s first single that attracted the notice of James Kelly, lead singer of The Coral and a record producer. He worked with Blossom on their debut album due for a release this autumn.

“He’s a great guy, loads of experience and he writes huge pop hits. He was the catalyst for us on this album. It is a mix of songs I wrote in the back room working out words and melody before taking it to the band, and newer ones that we built in the studio, recording as we went along.’’ Coming from Stockport it was Leeds that was Tom’s first experience of the festival vibe when they played there last year, but it was stepping out on the stage at Glastonbury this year that really hit home to the guys how far they had come.

“We played the other stage at Glastonbury to 30,000 people. We just gave each other those looks. It was amazing,’’ said Tom.

Now Blossoms, named after a pub in Stockport that the guys used to see from the bus on main street, are looking forward to coming to Reading when they will be playing on the Saturday on the BBC Radio 1 Stage.

Reading Festival, at Richfield Avenue, Reading is on the Bank Holiday weekend from August 26 to August 28.

For more details about the line-up visit readingfestival.com.