Talking to: Beacon Bloom
If you don’t already know Beacon Bloom, then get to know them. We had the absolute pleasure of speaking with front man, Ryan Ferris about their latest release, Nothing Here But You, the first ever NFT music video and future goals for regenerative festivals.
Listening to the trio’s music catches you in a deep trance that you don’t want to get out of, sending you off into the star-lit abyss of psychedelic electronica. This is the kind of music where you’d walk away from their live set with an overwhelming euphoria thinking, “that was the best moment of my f***ing life” – you probably can’t tell your friends from tree trunks, but it’s all love by that point.
I’ll leave out my attempt at trying to poetically describe their mystical sound and let you experience it for yourself. So shut your eyes, take a deep breath, and play.
So to start us off, can you tell us a bit about Beacon Bloom - who makes up the group, when you formed, and why?
Beacon Bloom are Ryan Ferris, James Allen and Joss Doge. Ryan and Scott, our manager, formed the group in 2018 after Scott saw Ryan busking in Nuremburg, Germany. We wanted to make a world class electronic band that moves people both physically (dancing) and emotionally.
So, where are you based now? How did James and Joss find their way into Beacon Bloom?
We’re based in Christchurch/Otautahi in New Zealand, Scott is based in Nuremberg, and we’re looking to spend more time in Germany when we can.
How would you describe your sound?
Multi-genre dance music with magic and ethereal vocals.
Could you give us some background to your individual musical upbringing? Were you always making electronic music? Where did it all start?
Ryan: Berlin is where it all started - I was making singer-songwriter music until I got bitten by the Deep House bug, about 8 years ago.
Oh cool, so what kind of music were you making previously and was it for yourself?
I was making folky singer-songwritery stuff mostly, it was the path of least resistance and the best way to start when I didn’t have much music gear or money!
I take it you (Ryan) are the song-writer for Beacon Bloom? Do you play any other instruments? What do James and Joss do in Beacon Bloom?
I was initially, but increasingly I’m writing songs half and half with James. Joss has also begun his songwriting/production journey so we’re looking forward to more songwriting and production input from him as well. James sings, plays most instruments and is amazing at writing harmony and melody. Joss DJs with us live, does sound and increasingly will do more creative work. Scott does our design and visual stuff.
What would you say your motivations are as artists?
We want to make people dance, and make them feel things. Playing live is the most special thing. And the process of creating music is true magic.
Do you have any inspirations that spurred your music career?
Seeing Bonobo live in Auckland in 2018 was the big push that got it all going really. They were incredible.
I love Bonobo, his music really does take you to a different place...I can definitely see how he’s influenced your music. Is there anyone else, growing up, you always looked up to as inspiration?
He’s amazing, hey? I loved The Beatles and Pink Floyd as a kid, and got into a lot of random stuff in high school - Rammstein, Metallica, Eminem etc…which I don’t listen to anymore! Jeff Buckley and Radiohead came in at high school and were a big influence. The whole Djent Metal scene was massive then too.
Tell us about your latest release, Nothing Here But You, what motivated this track?
This all started with a deep dive on my podcast into NFTs and the crypto space with Mango from Charged Particles. This and previously spending time in an isolation hotel in New Zealand (after coming back from Europe) and wondering what is going on in people’s heads who try to to escape those facilities. Mania, really.
In the music video for this track (which by the way I’m obsessed with), there’s a lot of random things going on, a real Alice in Wonderland vibe. But one thing that’s been on my mind since I saw it...who the heck is Mary Hush?
That’s something that may be revealed in the future.. ;)
For those who have never heard of it before, what does an NFT music video entail? What made you decide to take this route with your music video?
We were a part of an art launch with Charged Particles, so we decided to include our art pieces (NFTs) in the music video itself - one of the pieces which sold was the Mandelbrot Sockthief, which was bundled with the Fanny Pack the main character in the video is wearing. The Fanny Pack itself is NFT integrated too. Essentially you can buy art that is featured in the video, the NFTs give special privileges in the Beacon Bloom metaverse, and 10% of the proceeds go to charity - in this case, to regenerative forestry: Trees for Canterbury.
I love that, what made you choose this specific charity?
They’re doing some truly great work - planting trees, and employing disabled folks and troubled kids to do work that’s really fulfilling. We’re really on the regenerative forestry buzz - it’s unifying, non-political and it’s self evident that it’s a good thing to do. We have a first goal - to plant 10 000 trees - but further than that we imagine creating a festival that tours on damaged land and restores it - kind of the opposite of leave no trace in a good way - giving a true reason for the celebration of the festival. We’re also working on a metaverse and cryptocurrency for this project as well, with much larger scale goals and artist partnerships. We want to plant trees and conserve forestry at scale.
Have you managed to do many live performances recently? If so, what has been your favourite so far? What can we expect from a Beacon Bloom live set?
Yes, we just did a whole tour thanks to NZ eliminating COVID early on. It’s hard to pick a favourite as they were all amazing in their own way, one that was particularly special was our show at Shipwrecked Festival in February 2021, as it brought us together with our friends, and a bunch of new friends as well, and in a really amazing location. You’ll see us either playing in a four piece with drums on a big festival stage, with our hybrid-dj setup three piece on smaller stages, as a DJ duo, or doing magical acoustic music as a folk duo/trio - playing reimagined Beacon Bloom tunes acoustically.
Sounds like my kind of set. What is the music scene like in New Zealand then? How do people receive your music there?
It’s great fun! The music scene here in our experience is very supportive and non-competitive. It’s very small so quite quickly you can know a lot of the people in the scene, especially the electronic scene. There’s a very high level of talent per capita in NZ and some really great smaller special festivals and shows.
Do you have any plans to gig over here in the UK in the future?
We would love to! We’re aiming for October 2022 for a European tour.
Who are you listening to at the moment? Who’s on your recently played?
The 1975, Ben Bohmer, Be Svendsen, Father John Misty, Florence and the Machine Plenty of 60s and 70s folk and soft rock. The Music for Plants playlist on Spotify.
What’s next for Beacon Bloom?
We have a bunch of releases this year and another music video - another world in our metaverse will be revealed, the regenerative forestry project to be built up, festivals over summer and an album next year plus a bunch of other fun stuff. It’s going to be a very interesting next couple of years.
You can listen Beacon Bloom on Spotify, Soundcloud, YouTube and Bandcamp.
Keep up to date by following their socials on Instagram, Facebook and their website.
Make sure you tune into Everyday’s July Earwax to hear our favourite tracks by Beacon Bloom.
In the meantime check out Everyday’s June Earwax. The theme for this one was our favourite festival live performance.
Fiction and Poetry
Food
