Bloom are inching closer to their headline Australian run of shows to celebrate their latest album, The Light We Chase, and to get you in the mood HEAVY asked frontman Jono Hawkey for some of his favourite tour memories to date.
- The first memory that comes to mind is the Melbourne Stay Gold Withered show. We had a full on stage invasion right near the end of the set. I want to say 40 to 50 people got up on stage with us, and everyone on stage got buried by people. It was such a crazy thing because it was completely initiated and instigated by the crowd. It wasn’t something we’d planned for and it was absolutely mind blowing.
- The second memory that comes to mind is: we just wrapped up a long stint on tour between Europe and the US. It was the second last show in the US, we were in Worcester, and the set was going fine as it normally does. At this point in time, we’ve got all these songs pretty much under our belt. But at this show: I fully forgot the lyrics to a song. It was Bound To Your Whispers, we have a big thing to start, a big vocal phrase, and then I come in in the verse; and I just completely went blank and had no idea what the words were, or where in the song we were up to. I started looking around on stage to Jarod [McLaren], to Ollie [Oliver Butler], to Andrew [Martin], like: “guys help me out”. And they did not throw me a bone, they had no idea what was going on. I remember at one point it felt like one of those things where in the moment it feels like a million years are passing. I was like, “I can’t remember the words, but maybe if I just make some noise, it will jumpstart and I’ll kind of catch myself and get back into rhythm”. I watched an Instagram story back later of that show, and it’s me just making random noises. It did not work. I finally caught up to where I was at, but it’s never happened to me before. And it made me so paranoid that I would forget more songs or more lyrics. So, that’s memorable for the wrong reasons.
- The third one that comes to mind is the very first headline show that we did in 2019. It was at the Burdekin Hotel in Sydney, well before any sort of renovations. It was a floor show, I think maybe 120-130 people were there. That was the first time we’d ever headlined, and there’s something super special about the first time doing anything. At that show, it was all our friends and a bunch of people, fans of the band who came out to support us. And I think that was a really big turning point for the band because we’d done a headline show and it was a success, and it really motivated us to keep going and keep pushing. And then COVID happened…but that first headline show is very special.
- My next one would be UNIFY Forever in 2022, or as we called it: Bloomify. That was the first festival appearance we’d ever had, and we put a lot of pressure and weight on ourselves making sure we got that one right. That was one of the shows where we prepped so hard and we worked tirelessly in the lead up. It was the most amount of people we’d ever played to and it was really special. I think it’s similar to the very first headline show, you only do your first festival once. And that show, especially now knowing that that was the last UNIFY, I think that was super special.
- And for my last touring memory, I call this one “Japan Sickness”. We did our first Japan tour in 2024. We supported ERRA, we had three shows, two in Tokyo, and one in Osaka. Before the very first show in Tokyo, we met up with ERRA and the promoters, and the promoters had booked out a traditional Japanese restaurant, one of those little places that seats 20 kind of thing. They took us all out for this meal so we could get to know each other and sort of break the ice ahead of the first show. And it was incredible. None of the chefs or staff there spoke any English, so plates of food were just coming out and you just eat whatever’s in front of you and you wouldn’t ask any questions. It was all delicious, we had a great time, had a great night. The first show was the next day, I came off stage and I went, “…I don’t feel a hundred percent. I’m feeling a little lightheaded, a little woozy. I think I need to lay down”. 20 minutes passes and I go, “no, something’s really bad. I think I’m going to be sick”. I go to the bathroom and I start vomiting quite violently going, “oh no, this is the very first international tour we’ve ever done, and I’ve clearly gotten something and I’m very unwell. And if I’ve gotten it, then I hope that it’s just me and it’s not going to knock out everyone else”. We had a drive that night, it’s a two hour drive, and I probably got the driver to pull over eight or nine times, and I was just dry heaving on the side of the highway. We got to our hotel in Fuji, I got the hotel room to myself, threw up all throughout the night. I had cold shakes and quivering, it was probably the sickest I’ve ever been.
If I was 10% more sick, I probably would’ve said I need to go to a hospital. Very, very unwell. But the show must go on! The next morning, I get down to the lobby, and 50% of the tour party has been absolutely taken out. Both Bloom and ERRA, the merch guy, the sound guy. Half the bands are just absolute shells of themselves. We make it to Osaka, and I think at this stage it was just me and Ollie from Bloom that had gotten sick, or maybe it was me and Jarod had gotten sick.
But I remember before the Osaka show, it was just like, “ohhh, this is going to be red hot. It’s just going to be riding on pure adrenaline”. And Jack [Van Vliet] who never throws up, god bless his soul, about 10 minutes before we have to go on stage to play, he just absolutely hits a wall, goes to the bathroom and starts throwing up. We ended up playing the set with a bin side stage in case anyone needed it. I remember as soon as we finished, Jack braved through the 30 minutes, got off, put his sticks down, sprinted to the bin side stage and just started throwing up.
I don’t know how we pushed through those shows, eventually everyone in Bloom got it, everyone in ERRA got it. It was pretty brutal. But we got through it. And what else are you gonna do, you can either be like, “oh, I’m sick, I can’t play”, or you just ride it out and the adrenaline will do wonders. You just need to make it work, your brain tells your body: just pause that thought for a moment.
Tour Dates:
Wednesday 11 February 2026 – Crowbar, Brisbane
Friday 13 February 2026 – Mo’s Desert Clubhouse, Gold Coast
Saturday 14 February 2026 – Hamilton Station Hotel, Newcastle
Sunday 15 February 2026 – Crowbar, Sydney
Tuesday 17 February 2026 – Dicey Rileys, Wollongong
Wednesday 18 February 2026 – Max Watts, Melbourne
Friday 20 February 2026 – Pelly Bar, Frankston
Saturday 21 February 2026 – Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide
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