Sheffield-based trio Floodhounds have been tearing up the UK’s rock scene with their high-energy blend of indie, punk, and blues-infused riffs. With their latest single One Horse Race out now and a big London headline show on the horizon, we caught up with frontman Jack Flynn to talk about the band’s evolution, DIY ethics, and the unexpected role Noel Gallagher played in shaping their latest release.
‘We’re a three-piece – I’m Jack, I play guitar and do vocals, and then I’ve got Lauren on drums and Anna on bass’, Jack says. ‘Our sound is basically indie rock at its core, with Britpop-style melodies and song structures, but everything’s heavier, more intense. It’s fuzzy guitars, big riffs – somewhere between Rage Against the Machine and the Humbug era of Arctic Monkeys. A bit of Jack White, a bit of Royal Blood, and a lot of punk energy’.
Floodhounds have been through several lineup changes, but the band as it is now has really found its feet. ‘Technically, I’ve been going for about ten years, but every couple of years there’d be a new lineup’, Jack explains. ‘Lauren’s been with me since 2015, and when Anna joined, everything stepped up a level. We got into a new studio, the music got heavier, the gigs got bigger – it was like night and day’.
Floodhounds latest single One Horse Race, out at the end if this week is a fast, punchy, riff-driven track that perfectly captures their high-energy style. ‘All our songs start with a big riff’, Jack says. ‘This one’s about those moments where you’re standing at a crossroads, debating whether to take a risk or play it safe. Sometimes it backfires, but it’s better to give it a go than do nothing at all’, he says.
Lyrically, it’s personal, but also universal. I feel like I’m constantly at some crossroads – should I focus on music or take a day job? Should I stay in Sheffield or move? No idea what the hell I’m doing’, he laughs. ‘But that’s the point – nobody does’.
Musically, the song pulls from some of Jack’s favourite current bands. ‘I hear a lot of Kid Kapichi and a band called Snayx in it. And weirdly, the working title on my phone was Nothing But Riffs, because something in the melody reminded me of a Nothing But Thieves song – even though it sounds nothing like them’.
One unexpected influence on One Horse Race? Noel Gallagher.
‘There’s this podcast, The Pat Morgan Podcast, and they do this thing where Noel listens to unsigned bands’ songs and gives his feedback’, Jack explains. ‘So I sent one in, and he actually listened to it. He said, It needs more attitude, and then – and I still have no idea what he meant by this, he said, It needs more tit in the attitude’.
Jack took it as a challenge. ‘Noel’s one of my heroes, so hearing him be completely ambivalent to my music was brutal’, he admits. ‘But it did light a fire under me. I went back into the studio thinking, Alright, let’s see how this one goes down’.
Despite their heavy sound, Floodhounds’ songs all start in a surprisingly quiet setting. ‘I write everything on an acoustic guitar’, Jack says. ‘All my gear is in Derby because we rehearse there, so I just have my acoustic in Sheffield. It makes no sense, writing loud, angry punk songs on an acoustic, but that’s how it starts.
Once the structure, lyrics, and melody are in place, Jack brings the songs to the band. ‘That’s when Lauren and Anna really shape it into something huge. Like, in One Horse Race, there’s this crazy drum section near the end – I didn’t come up with that, that’s all them. It’s cool to watch a song transform’.
Their sound has naturally evolved over time. ‘Early on, we were way more indie, but we’ve just gotten heavier’, Jack says. ‘Partly because of what we listen to – Soft Play, Amyl and the Sniffers, Bob Vylan, and partly because rowdy gigs are just more fun. No ballads anymore. Those days are long gone’, he smiles.
Floodhounds are very much an independent band, but they’ve found ways to get high-quality recordings while staying self-sufficient. ‘We record at Magic Garden Studio in Wolverhampton with Gavin Monaghan and Liam Radburn, and it’s the best stuff we’ve done’, Jack says. ‘We barely have any notes when we get the mixes back, it’s just, Yep, that’s it! After that, it’s all DIY. We get help from Kicker, a Sheffield-based label, but we’re not technically signed. They distribute our stuff, but all the press, all the radio – that’s just us emailing people, hustling.
One of Floodhounds’ recent videos was made by Grain Freeze, the filmmaker behind visual work for bands like Sickjoy and even Oasis’ official lyric videos. ‘I was trying to learn motion graphics, and I kept watching his stuff thinking, ‘This is so good – how the hell do I do this?’’, Jack says. ‘Then I just messaged him and asked if he’d do a video for us. He said, I’ve got one day, I’ll do what I can in that time, and he absolutely smashed it’.
Even more surreal was the video for their song Quicksand, made by a Japanese director who discovered them online. ‘This guy in Japan sent us a message, just saying he loved our music’, Jack recalls. ‘Then he was like, I want to make a music video for you. We were like, ‘Why?’ But he just went ahead and did it. Found a cast, crew, location – the whole thing. It’s mad watching actors lip-syncing to my vocals in Japanese. But they did a great job’.
Floodhounds have a big London show at The Waiting Room (Stoke Newington) on March 15. ‘We haven’t played London since before lockdown, so people have been asking’, Jack says. ‘The venue flooded last time, ironically, given our band name, but this time we’re on. It’s a small 120-cap room, so hopefully it’ll sell out. People don’t buy tickets until the last minute anymore, so I’m like, ‘Prove it, buy the ticket!’’
They’re also heading back into the studio to record two new tracks. ‘One’s this Hives-inspired super-fast punk thing, and the other has a swaggering, bluesy monster of a riff we’ve been playing live for ages’, Jack says. ‘We kept getting asked about it after gigs, so we figured, ‘Why haven’t we recorded this yet?’’ As for a full album? ‘We’ve got enough songs, but recording 10 tracks is expensive’, Jack admits. ‘So we’re doing singles for now, keeping the momentum up. But long-term, yeah, an album’s definitely on the cards’.
And festivals? ‘We’ve done Tramlines, Y Not, Isle of Wight – we usually get one big one and a bunch of smaller ones. But without a booking agent, it’s tricky. You have to know the right people. We’ll see what comes up’.
Floodhounds new single One Horse Race is this Friday (21st February) . Catch them live in London at The Waiting Room on March 15.
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