“2016 is going to be Atlas Bloom‘s biggest year to date.”
“2016 is going to be Atlas Bloom‘s biggest year to date.”
That’s guitarist Eric Tapper reply to the question of what’s next on the horizon for the Northeast rock trio. It’s a bold answer for sure, but one that no one should really take lightly. After hearing Tapper speak about the band’s industrious ideology and listening to the growth in their music, you quickly come to learn that a statement like that is best described as reserved when it comes to describing what 2016 truly holds in store for Atlas Bloom.
Most of this discussion with Tapper comes from the critical time the band is in at the moment. Entering their fourth year together, the band has amassed a solid live reputation as well enough music in their catalogue to keep people interested and intrigued. The foundation has been laid and it’s perfectly concrete to support the big jump the band’s hoping to make. The band knows jumping to the next level as a band isn’t an easy feat or one that just happens, but they’re going to do everything in their power to push themselves there. To Tapper, it all starts with the music though.
“We’ve got a decent amount of material now that we’re really looking to grow. We’re experimenting with different sounds on our instruments and we’re spending a lot of times hashing things out while we push for something new. One of the beautiful things about being a smaller band is that in some ways, you’re free to try new things without being under the scrutiny of a major label or fan expectations. It’s not safe at all, but it’s very open and we’re going to take full advantage of that.”
Drummer and vocalist Andrew Funcheon echoed these statements and stressed the importance of pushing forward and actually letting people see the result of this hard work. “If 2016 is going to be our biggest year, we have to constantly push ourselves which means it’s also going to be our hardest year. But that’s okay and that’s what we want. None of this works if there’s not a constant stream of new music that’s different and exciting. That’s vital to keep us reaching new people and new cities and keeping them all engaged for years to come.”
In October, the band released the four-track Walls EP that gave their audience a taste of the fresh and exciting direction they were heading into. It was a big step forward for the band and opened people to the possibility of all that Atlas Bloom has to offer, a crucial step the band needed to make as they eye their second full-length record due out hopefully this year. “The Walls EP was perfect because it gave all these people a taste of a new direction for us without having to rush the full length,” Tapper divulged. “It’s a lot darker and covers heavier stuff than we have in the past and those songs just made sense together which was perfect. These new songs have their own sense of cohesion and they’re going to continue to push us forward as a band because we’re not going to stand there and just make the same songs and records over and over again.”
Besides their painstaking work ethic, what’s really driving that new sound is the melting pot that is their musical influences. Each member comes from a different background altogether with Funcheon actually being a classically trained musician and bassist Josh November seriously studying jazz. “Josh’s jazz knowledge definitely brings a lot to the table,” Tapper explained. “When we’re touring, the music we’re listening to gets split pretty evenly and he’ll out on Coltrane or some other big jazz players and we’ll all spend a lot of time getting in their head a little bit. It’s not just that or Josh’s technical ability either. Each of us approach songwriting in a different way because of our backgrounds and while it comes out as this rock sound, you can definitely hear Josh’s jazz background or Andrew’s classical playing coming through.”
The end result is a sound that could be compared to groups like Queens Of The Stone Ages or Muse and while the band’s deeply humbled by the comparisons, they’re still a ways off from even opening for those bands. “We have a long ways to go,” Tapper admitted. “But to me, it’s important to see just how far we’ve come too. Our tours are getting longer, our shows are getting bigger, and our music is just reaching more and more people with every day.” Words like sacrifice get thrown a lot in conversations like these, but Funcheon was quick to clarify that it was much more than that. “It all comes down to what you’re willing to do and what you really want. Sure, we give up a lot and all of our energy and money basically goes into this, but this is what we want to do so personally, I feel as free as ever and I don’t think people sacrificing feel that way.” Tapper agreed while offering up his own take. “It just takes hard work a lot of bands aren’t interested in doing. It might take 20 or 30 times hearing about a band before you risk going out to see them and I’m just going to pour as much as I can to make sure we get that.”
The power trio kicks off their new “Suits” tour this Thursday night here in Richmond at The Camel and if you ask them, the importance of Richmond for the tour can’t be expressed enough. “We wanted to start the tour in Richmond because we really wanted this tour to kick-off with a bang and Richmond’s the place to do it,” Tapper detailed. “It’s definitely been one of the more fun places we’ve been to on the road. We’ve been up and down the East Coast and Richmond, it’s just always a city we’re looking forward to.”
This will Atlas Bloom’s third time in the city and first since playing Balliceaux last fall with Those Manic Seas, a band that the young trio holds in high esteem. “Oh, man. They’re just incredible,” Tapper exclaimed. “They’re probably one of the bands we’ve become the closest with on the road. We are always in contact. We have this massive group chat with all of them that we’re always posting stuff and goofing on each other. Those Manic Seas are just a class act and we all love them.”
But even without Those Manic Seas cheering them on, the band would still be jumping at any chance to come back to Virginia’s capital. For any band, the countless cities you find yourself in can just fade together into one giant picture. Not Richmond though, at least not to Atlas Bloom. “It definitely stands out among the rest,” Tapper declared. “The people here are so great and so is the food and the nightlife. It’s all so cool to us. There’s just this really strong youth culture in the city that we all think feels very welcoming and we’re always dying to get back to it.”
And this Thursday night, all of Richmond will see just how eager they’ve been to return. Lucky for us, we’ll get to see them as they continue to strive for that next level. Ask some people after the show and they might even tell you they’ve blown past that level. Who knows?
Atlas Bloom kicks off their new tour Thursday night at The Camel opening for Camp Howard alongside Worse Curses and Collin Thibodeauxx. Tickets are $5 and doors are at 8 PM. For more information on the show, click here.
