Singled Out: Blooming Fire's Waterfalls

11-10-2025

Blooming Fire recently released their new single "Waterfalls" and to celebrate we asked guitarist Dryden Van Cleave, aka 'The Wizard,' to tell us about the track that comes from their forthcoming debut album 'riPPle eFFect' . Here is the story:

"Waterfalls" stands out as one of our flagship songs off our upcoming album "Ripple Effect." It was one of the earliest creations from the tracks featured on our album. What started off as a basic groovy jam, quickly began to evolve into a song that merged elements of blues, funk, R&B, reggae, hip-hop, and jazz.

Lyrically speaking, the song delves into themes of escapism, inner/societal conflict, self-reflection, empowerment, and connection to nature. "Waterfalls" culminates with a bittersweet outro that was originally its own song. Dryden along with Blooming Fire's lead singer Sierra Madre both agreed that the outro provided the ending it needed. The song was initially debuted at a live music venue known as TR!P in Santa Monica. The show fell in March 2020, which was less than a week before Covid shut everything down. We opened up with "Waterfalls" and we received a strong response from the crowd. When Sierra busted out sexy sax and seemed to cause someone of a frenzy on the dancefloor. We knew right then and there we had to take the song into the studio and release it to the world.

We started recording "Waterfalls" in February 2022 at Revolver Recording in Thousand Oaks, CA. We worked with Grammy award winning producer/engineer Mikal Blue on the single as well as the majority of the album. Mikal was incredible supportive in every way and facilitated space that allowed us to capture the vibe & energy exactly as we envisioned it. "Waterfalls" was the first song we recorded with Mikal and it really set the tone for the rest of the album. We began laying down the bones of the song by capturing the Robby Coe's drum track and Mike Bishop's bass track. We like to build the bones of our recordings by having all band members playing their instruments/singing together while being able to see one another. That facilitates a unified vibe that is palpable while listening to the finished product.

The universe conspired to provide me with the opportunity to lay down my guitar tracks on 2/22/22 at 2:22 p.m.! I could feel the magic in the air and I felt energized, vibrant, inspired, and very much alive! I projected that energy into every note and rest on the track and felt completely blissed out of my mind upon completion. Mike Bishop laid down an organ track on an old school Hammond organ along with a Leslie speaker which really gave "Waterfalls" an authentic eclectic sound. Sierra and our other vocalist Ian Nagay began laying down their powerful vocal tracks which inspired to really expand on the back vocals and I laid down some layered Boyz II Men style harmonies. We added the sexy sax which Sierra absolutely crushed. We added a few samples, a dash of auxiliary percussion, and then voila, the song was finished!

"Waterfalls" deeply resonates with every member of the band in our hearts and soul. In addition, we are releasing a music video that brings a whole new element to the visual aspect of the song. Our director/videographer Nick Jones really helped us manifest that vision and we can't wait for you to watch!

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more here