In Conversation with Cardinal Bloom: LA Benefit @ The Depot

Downtown Salt Lake City hosted the “Salt Lake City Loves L.A.” benefit show on Feb. 13 at the Depot. The lineup consisted of five different local bands that have become staples in the scene. The line outside the venue was full of fans braving the cold to see sets from 26fix, Dad Bod, Riff Wood, Deeper Sleeper and Cardinal Bloom. I had the pleasure of speaking with Joey and Jacob from Cardinal Bloom before their performance to talk about the band’s conception, their music school experience, the benefit show and their projects in the works.

Michaela: You all met at Snow College?

Joey: Yes, well me and Jacob know each other from high school but we met the other two down there in the music program.

Michaela: So it was kind of like, the birthplace of Cardinal Bloom, you’d say?

Joey: Yeah yeah, definitely at Snow College. Me and Jacob used to just mess around in high school and we’d play stuff.

Jacob: We weren’t serious about it.

Joey: Nah, We’d mess around and play funny songs all the time. And then Jacob came to Snow College.  I was there I think a year or two before Jacob while he was on his mission and then yeah the band started at Snow College with the other guys in 2020ish.

Michaela: With that kind of environment, like the educational music environment, you've touched on how it helped the formation of the band but how would you say it influenced the sound and development of you guys as a whole and as musicians?

Joey: I think it got us really in tune with our instruments. I think a lot of us, musically, hear the song in our head, but sometimes you have a hard time being able to play what you hear. And I think going to school for music really helped us find a way to play what we’re hearing and just like affecting the sound. 

I think one thing we’ve been doing recently and also just in general is we try to unlearn a lot of the theory and stuff we’ve learned, to try and get a more authentic sound. There's something about it being overly polished all the time that kind of makes it sound not as authentic. 

Jacob: I think there’s definitely things that you learn a lot faster by going to school for music, that would take a lot longer to learn if you didn’t. I also kind of believe that there are things that doing it, you know, going out and just doing it, will teach you faster than going to school would. So, I don’t know, I think we’ve been pretty good at the best of both worlds. Because while we were in school, we would, on the weekends, drive up here and gig and stuff. So, I mean there’s pros and cons to both approaches.

Michaela: I know you (Jacob) teach my brother, do you (Joey) teach at all?

Joey: I did teach private lessons my last two years at Snow College. I definitely did enjoy teaching from time to time. I think the hardest thing about being a teacher is when you get the student who doesn’t want to be there, but their parents want them to be there. But then, when you have that student that can barely afford to be there but puts every effort into everything you ask them to do, that’s kind of what makes it worthwhile. I've kind of transferred from teaching lessons to just giving advice, because I like to know if people are very, very interested in their instrument like, “Hey how can I get better?” I'll just give them advice rather than, “I’ll see you for an hour” I just try to keep ‘em on a good path to getting better. Yeah, I’ve kind of given up the lesson route.

Michaela: Do you feel like teaching has kind of changed the way that you write or think about playing at all?

Jacob: Um…no. Not really. Like what Joey said, there were some things that I was teaching,  that I got a lot more of the students that didn't really care. But I’ve been able to become more selective about what I teach down there. So, now, pretty much everything I teach, the students wanna be there and they are invested. So I don't feel like both of our time is being wasted. But yeah, I don’t think it’s really affected the way I write or play or anything like that. 

Michaela: For tonight’s show, it’s obviously very special. What can you say about the importance of music and community in uncertain times, the importance of this show and why you wanted to be a part of it?

Joey: Yeah, I think music and just art in general is one of the best ways to get people from all types of political backgrounds or cultural backgrounds or whatever it is. Whatever language you speak. It’s like, music is a universal language and can speak to all people, and I think it’s kind of obvious the tragedy that’s happening in LA with the fires and how many people that affected. So, when we got offered the opportunity to help ease that situation in the smallest way, anything we could do as a band, we would love to help and do that sort of thing. 

With the state of the world and all that, I think we just need more music and we need more happiness and enjoyment in the art than what we see a lot on the news. 

Michaela: I saw your story… Tonight you were slated to play an acoustic set. You decided to switch to a full electric set. What brought on that decision?

Joey: We’ve never played here at the Depot, so we got really excited about playing here for the first time. We played Soundwell, which was a bigger room. We’ve played like all of the other local stages. This was kind of the next step, and we started thinking, “We really want to come here as us.” We are a loud band. I think playing acoustically it was gonna be very special. 

We were also kind of uncertain of the atmosphere of the show. We didn't know if it was gonna be a more somber reflective day, to help the LA relief, or just a rock concert raising funds for it. I think when we slowly came to realize it was going to be more of a rock concert, we didn’t want to be one of the louder rock bands not playing full strength. So, we decided to change our minds, kind of at the last second. 

Michaela: I’m excited to see it! You said this is your first time playing the depot, but you’ve played all over Utah at the local venues. You’re playing Kilby Block Party which is so exciting. This is your first year playing that festival right?

Joey: Yeah!

Michaela: You must be excited.

Joey: So excited, yeah. It’s like a bucket list item for probably every band in Utah, honestly. But, finally getting to be on, It put a smile on our face to say the least. We were very giddy. 

Michaela: I’m very excited. I'll be there to see you guys again. You also have shows coming up on the East Coast. Have you played the East Coast before?

Joey: We have, yeah. We went out to New York City once before and that’s the farthest East we’ve been. That’s about the farthest east you can go in the country. so now we’re doing D.C area, back up to New York, and then Philly range. We’re doing a Southeast tour, that’s going to get announced I think next week. And then for everybody in Utah, we are playing a double show at Velour next month. March 21st and 22nd. We are playing both those days with our friends from LA called Sego and one of our favorite local bands. So yeah, back to back days at Velour in Provo.

Michaela: Exciting. 2024 was big for you guys as far as your album coming out and everything. Do you have any music releases or anything you can tease, or that you're working on?

Joey: We are writing songs right now. We are in the process of three or four songs at the moment. We might have some singles come out relatively soon. As soon as we can get those recorded and into the system, we’ll have those come out. No exact time frame. 

With all the touring going on, we actually really want to get something ready to go before we leave for such a long time. Just so that we’re not pushing the releases back too far. But yeah, we’ve got a single hopefully coming out before April.

We’ve got a lot to look forward to from Cardinal Bloom. Be sure to keep up with them on Instagram and listen here so you can sing along at one of their next shows!

Check out the other interviews from The Depot's SLC Loves LA show here