Neon Bloom, It’s A Crime – 5 Quick Questions
Neon Bloom, the Toronto-based garage rock/synth-pop quartet has a brand new video for us today, It’s A Crime!
We’ve offered up music from Neon Bloom on past New Music Spotlights, but this time around we thought we’d do a deeper dive.
Let’s start at the beginning. The band came together the way many bands come together, through the local music community, craigslist, and word of mouth. They bring a wide range of influences to the project and a shared love of The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, David Bowie, Nirvana, and Arcade Fire. This is a a great jumping off point for influences.
We wondered if they had a favourite venue to play in. It may not surprise you, especially if you’re a Toronto fan or musician, that their answer was The Legendary Horseshoe. In fact, it’s also my favourite club to shoot. There’s an ambience, a feeling of comfort. If you’ve never been there, the band will be playing a show on March 4th. You should check it out!
“Neon Bloom is excited to share this super cool video for our new single “It’s A Crime“, which was released today. We had so much fun filming the video while on tour in Europe last year! 🎬🎥”
We’d noticed the video had been shot out of country, and so we asked – “Lighten Up, was shot in Taiwan, while, you were on tour, It’s A Crime, was shot in Prague.”
Turns out they were on tour with Prague-based Hedgehog Eyes. “We planned to shoot the video in our down time from performances. We had scripted out the rough ideas, and we just explored the locations as we went along. – said the band. It looks like it worked pretty well to us.
It’s fun and exciting! Check out the video below.
It’s A Crime
When we asked about the concept for It’s A Crime, this was their response –
“The song It’s A Crime is about a relationship, changing cities, and figuring out who you are as an adult. More specifically, it’s a lament about feeling that all your time is being wasted on the wrong things. The concept for the video drew inspiration from European spy films. We wanted to create a sort of cat-and-mouse/spy vs spy vibe. We wanted the video to be action packed, a bit mysterious, and a also a bit dangerous.”
Are you wondering about Hedgehog Eyes? I know I am. Hedgehog Eyes are an indie rock band based in Prague. The front-person Sean, once played in the band Beekeepers Society with Fred (of Neon Bloom). Sean moved to Prague for work, but kept in touch with Fred. Hedgehog Eyes had a tour in Eastern Europe during Spring 2019, and they invited Neon Bloom to join them for dates in their home country, Czech Republic. To reciprocate, Neon Bloom organized tour dates for both bands to play together in Ontario during this past September. You can find their link at their first mention or in the credits of the 5 Quick Questions YouTube video.
Thanks to Fred, Jen and Simon for taking the time to put together this fun round of 5 Quick Questions.
5 Quick Questions with Neon Bloom
What’s up next for Neon Bloom? They’re starting to record an EP next month which they’re hoping to release in the late summer of 2020. Over the last two years they’ve ended up doing international tours, they’re hoping something cool comes up this year. There are plans for more videos, great shows bookings, collaboration with the epilepsytoronto.org, and work on writing some new songs while getting better and tighter as a band.
Neon Bloom’s Links
Web / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Spotify
Writer/Photographer/Editor
Toronto Music Blogger
