Santa Cruz Band of The Year: Superblume

Superblume, founded by Nate, Taylor, Tommy, and Jesse, was awarded the 2023 NEXTies Band of The Year.

Superblume started in the heart of the pandemic, united by a common purpose of making original music that brought the community together and to have something exciting to do during difficult times for all. The pandemic gave the band an opportunity when no shows were happening, allowing them to work at their own pace and create Superblume together.

By the time shows started happening again, they were ready to perform right away. Since 2020, Superblume has played several shows and have continued to expanded their opportunities. They now have set goals to perform at Madison Square Garden, Red Rocks, The Gorge, The Greek, and to go on world tour.

Get to know Superblume below and be sure to join the NEXTies award show happening at Woodhouse Brewing on March 31. Get your tickets here .

Describe what you do in two sentences:

Superblume: We create soundscapes of rhythms, melodies, and ideas that are a continuation of the music that started thousands of years ago when someone played a drum beat by banging a rock on a cave wall and all the cave people started shaking their cave booties. Our purpose is to gather the people for epic dance parties in the eternal moment where everyone is invited to be themselves, and our music could be described as channeling elements of funk, disco, water, psychedelic rock, jam, fire, house, carnie sludge, earth, bluegrass, blues, air, etc..

What inspired you to pursue your current path, and how did you get started?

Superblume: What inspires us to pursue music is the desire to leave the world a better place than we found it. There is nothing like music to bring humans together and really connect us with ourselves, our emotions, and each other. It has the power to show us that we’re all the same, and that there’s not a need to be violent towards one another. We see it as our responsibility to create and share our music, love and truth with the world, just as so many heroes of ours did beforehand, so that we might inspire everyone we come in contact with to create and be themselves as well.

What inspires us to pursue music is the desire to leave the world a better place than we found it. There is nothing like music to bring humans together and really connect us with ourselves, our emotions, and each other. It has the power to show us that we’re all the same, and that there’s not a need to be violent towards one another. We see it as our responsibility to create and share our music, love and truth with the world, just as so many heroes of ours did beforehand, so that we might inspire everyone we come in contact with to create and be themselves as well.

We (The members of Superblume AKA Nate, Taylor, Tommy, and Jesse) all have our own stories of how we came to pursue music. For Nate, it started while attending All Good Music Festival in 2012. He was there together with thousands of people gathered to be free from the cruel joke of society, loving each other, dancing, and expressing themselves beautifully. The music carried him on a journey through intense hurricanes and blissful sunsets of sound and emotion, where he experienced himself as the universe looking at a piece of its hair through a microscope. It was in this moment that he realized that he wanted to be less of a selfish asshole. After this event changed how he was being, and started playing a ton of guitar, writing music, and working on himself.

Superblume started in the heart of the pandemic, united by a common purpose of making awesome original music that gets people dancing and heals us all. The pandemic gave us an opportunity where no shows were happening, so we just got to practice and hang out all the time. We were good by the time shows started happening again, and have been playing a ton of gigs and riding the wave since then.

What do you consider to be your biggest achievement so far in your career, and why?

Superblume: Our biggest achievement was playing on the Catalyst Mainstage opening for Spafford. We know the history of that stage, and some of our heroes have played there. It was a humbling experience and we are honored to have opportunities like this just 2 years into being a band.

What are you most looking forward to in 2023?

Superblume: In 2023, we are looking forward to the release of our first studio album, building a management and booking team, and getting on the map with legitimate venues and festivals. But most importantly, we’re excited to play and grow our music, throw more wonderful shindigs, and have a blast in the process!

What are your future career goals and aspirations?

Superblume: We would like to play a concert from the moon that’s broadcast to the entire human species, that makes everyone realize that they can just dance and they don’t have to be so mean to each other.

But in the meantime, we’d love to throw shows at madison square garden, red rocks, the gorge, the greek, go on world tour. The dream is to be consistently playing big shows, having each show be its own unique artistic experience, and funding our lives and art in the process.

What role do you believe mentorship and networking have played in your success?

Superblume: In terms of mentorship, we have not received much, and we are very open to it!

Networking is everything in music, we’ve connected with so many bands, venue owners, and community organizers who believe in us and have helped us immensely to get where we are. The Santa Cruz Scene is strong, and we feel lucky to have so much support from venues and the community to be able to do what we do.

We are very much in need of representation (AKA help with booking, growing, and managing the band)! If you or anyone you know is in the business and wants to shoot for the stars with us, PLEASE SEND EM’ OUR WAY! You can tell them that Superblume is the “Band of the Year” in Santa Cruz.

How do you stay connected with your community?

Superblume: WE LOVE SANTA CRUZ, and the community here is amazing! We love participating, being out and about, and supporting other Santa Cruz musicians. As Superblume grows and starts charging more for tickets to shows, we still do our best to throw some shows that are free to come play with us!

What does being a NEXTie honoree mean to you?

Superblume: While winning the NEXTie award is just icing on the cake of what has been an amazing year of growth and experiences, it is an honor to feel like our Santa Cruz community recognizes what we are doing. It means that we’re doing something right, and we’re gonna keep going for it with everything we’ve got. We’ve put in a ton of work to be where we are, and we are infinitely grateful for the support and recognition!

Who will be joining you at this year’s NEXTies award show on March 31?

Superblume: Nate Smith - Guitar and Vocals

Taylor Brougham - Drums and Vocals

Thomas Ohlman - Bass and Vocals

Jesse Glick - Guitar and Vocals

Anything else you would like to share?

Superblume: We want to thank our families, loved ones, and the Santa Cruz community for being on this ride with us!

From the bottom of our hearts, we love you! Keep being yourselves, and we’ll see you at the next show!