After landing their latest number one with an album named after an eight-foot fiberglass gorilla called Gary, Manchester band Blossoms are taking a victory lap around their hometown – with five sold-out shows at five venues different in five evenings.

Musical inspiration can strike anytime and anywhere.

However, few rock singers would have been willing to receive it while they were in a car listening to a report about the theft of a giant model gorilla from a Scottish garden center.

Tom Ogden wrote an indie-pop anthem about the incident, then dedicated his fifth album to the unfortunate inanimate ape.

“I feel like anything can be a song, if you approach it the right way,” Ogden explains.

“And ten years later, you’re still looking for new things to write about.

“I thought the story was funny when I heard it on the radio, so just for a laugh I went (and said) I’m going to write a song about it.

“I mean, if the song wasn’t very good, it never would have seen the light of day. But I wrote the song down.”

For Blossoms, Gary has now become muse and mascot, spirit animal and unofficial sixth member of the group.

The song and Gary’s line that the band took on tour are fan favorites.

Some would also say it’s a gimmick, which is partly true, except that not even Ogden could have seriously calculated that the song and the story behind it would actually catch on.

“It created a connection with people,” says the singer. “I wasn’t expecting it, but I knew I wanted to have something that would move people, what is that?

“Even though people think it’s ridiculous, it’s an entry point. And people were just ready to have a little fun, I guess.

“You can feel there’s something in there that touches people of all ages. There are kids who love Gary, and then there’s our age, and then there are older people.

“If you come to our shows, you will see people of all ages jumping and singing along to this song.

“I may have underestimated people’s appetite for ridicule.”

A decade into their career and with four number one albums, Blossoms are serious enough to have the confidence to be ridiculous.

They also threw off the shackles of indie with a special edition of Gary featuring covers of songs from artists ranging from Bob Marley to Lady Gaga and Whitney Houston.

“We love doing covers and we were thinking of covering songs that we loved growing up. I’ve always loved I Wanna Dance With Somebody. It’s as simple as that,” Ogden says.

And in recent years, they’ve teamed up with 1980s star Rick Astley to tour as a Smiths tribute band.

Blossoms’ love of 80s pop was noted in a Times of the Gary album review, which said the track I Like Your Look was “Wham!-like”.

“I took that as a huge compliment, because I love Wham!” Ogden said.

Thick skin

However, the same reviewer also disdainfully described Gary as an “ultra-shallow album”.

“I think if you call an album Gary and you write a song about a fiberglass gorilla, you’re out in the open, someone is going to say something like that,” the singer responds.

“But I think there’s depth to the album, of course, because there are songs like Mothers, which are about friendship and growing up. And then Why Do I Give You The Worst Of Me ? is a very personal song.

“So I think someone just thought, yeah, there’s a song about the fiberglass gorilla, maybe that’s a bit of fun. And I Like Your Look doesn’t take itself too seriously right more.

“And you know what, you can’t please everyone so… I don’t care, to be honest.

“You have to learn to have thick skin in this (business). But I understand if they say it because we called the album Gary.

“Like, that’s fair enough, whatever, man.”

In August, Blossoms played their biggest gig to date, in front of 30,000 people at Manchester’s Wythenshawe Park.

Massive outdoor shows don’t always live up to expectations.

In 2019, the group took over Edgeley Park, home of Stockport County FC, in the Greater Manchester town where they grew up.

“We only had two albums, and maybe we felt like we weren’t as good live as we are now,” Ogden reflects.

“We feel like we’re at the peak of our abilities this year.”

Wythenshawe Park was “the best gig we’ve ever done,” he says.

“We put everything into this show, and it was in no way disappointing. It blew us away even more than we expected.”

After that, when the band decided to plan a full UK tour, they weren’t sure if they would play Manchester again.

However, they decided to do it – not once but five times, all at different venues of different sizes, and all of which they have previously played at at different stages of their careers.

Their mini city tour begins on Tuesday at the Manchester Academy before visiting the Ritz, Albert Hall, Victoria Warehouse and the Apollo.

“We thought it would be nice to play all the venues we had played at over time and make it a week, and make it a little more interesting for the fans,” Ogden said.

These are all places that hold good memories for the group.

“The Ritz was the first big show we headlined at, when we felt like, oh, something was definitely happening here. We sold it out before we had a record deal and that was the first time the fans were singing and going wild.

“I remember going to see bands at the Academy, I remember watching Jake Bugg there, and Miles Kane there when I was 15 or 16, so I always have a weak for this place.

“And then when we headlined him in 2016, when our (debut) album came out, it was like, oh yeah, we were in the big guys (club).

“The Albert Hall is just a beautiful venue, so the memories of the place are great. We supported the Charlatans at the Albert Hall in 2015 and then headlined them ourselves in 2016.

“The memories are in the walls of what you did last time,” he adds.

“You have to be grateful that we’re still here, and people care about the band so much that we can fill all these places one night after another.”

Gary, their guardian gorilla, could rightly claim some credit for his latest purple patch, and he will be watching from the back of the stage.