DIY Spotlight: Vera BloomAlternative rock/punk singer, songwriter and musician Vera Bloom saw her musical journey start when she was just six years old.

“I’ve always been a bit of a rebel without a cause, so as I grew up I spent a lot of my practice time improvising and writing my own songs instead of practicing what I was supposed to,” Bloom says. “Since I could write, I’ve been an avid writer of poetry and journaling, and it was my father who introduced me to the idea of songwriting and adding lyrics to music. The piano was my instrument for writing, but I made the switch to guitar at age 18 and something really clicked. I performed in classical piano recitals throughout elementary and middle school, but in high school I performed my own song on the piano with a drummer in the school talent show and won first place. That’s when I knew this could be something and that my songs could reach people.”

She describes her sound as unpredictable, skirting around the punk sub-genres. That can all be heard on the recent It’s Me EP.

“It’s Me is a compilation of six songs I had written over a year and a half that all belong in the same chapter of my life,” Bloom says. “The common themes are self-love, owning and recognizing self-worth, and reflection and growth. All the songs except "Boxes" were recorded here in Nashville at Battle Tapes Studio, and engineered by Jeremy Ferguson, who also recorded my first EP. The lead guitarist on the songs, Jacob Carey, engineered "Boxes" in his home studio. The tracks feature Brian Chinino on drums, Levi J Miller on bass guitar, Jacob Carey on lead guitars, and me singing and playing rhythm guitar.”

For Bloom, “DIY” means being true to yourself and keeping it real.

“It means doing what you like versus what you think you should do or is expected of you,” she says. “I really strive to maintain this in my music and my music videos, and I think that’s something that people really like about me. That’s why my sound is a bit unpredictable, really, because I do what I want and what I like and what the songs want versus shaping it into something that fits in a box to ‘stay on brand.’” 

For more, visit verabloom.net.