Since treating us to an Exposed In Session back in 2017, Floodhounds have gone from strength to strength. Their signature sound is a mash-up of punk and indie rock with catchy, riotous riffs. Exposed’s Robyn Hewson caught up with Jack Flynn (vocals/guitar) to talk about the band’s new music and their biggest Sheff gig to date at Record Junkee on 29 November.
For readers who might not have heard your music before, how would you describe the band’s sound?
I guess we’re like a fusion of punk, blues, rock and indie all kind of smashed together. We go all in for big riffs and heavy drums but try and keep things catchy. It’s only the three of us so we try and get as much sound from as few members as possible.
We’ve heard a big show on it’s way?
Yeah, in Sheffield we have a big headline show coming up at Record Junkee on 29 November which is our biggest hometown headline show to date, so that should be good fun! The last few shows we’ve done have all sold out so we’re hoping we can carry on that trend. Before that, there’s a little one-off acoustic set at The Greystones supporting some friends of ours in a blues/funk/soul nine-piece extravaganza called Highway Child. We’ve known them for years so we thought we would come down and do an acoustic support for them and that’s sold out too.
You’ve already played lots of shows this year from the Isle of Wight Festival to Tramlines back home. What were your favourite gigs this year?
It’s probably a toss-up between Isle of Wight which was just awesome – after our gig, we got to see some great artists like Miles Kane and Noel Gallagher – and a show we did at Record Junkee supporting Blackwaters and Avalanche Party back in February. That was one of my favourite gigs because I love Blackwaters, they’re so good, and Avalanche Party as well – I would’ve gone to that gig as a fan! So to be invited to play and be a part of it was amazing. We’re always at gigs, pretty much every week we’ll go to a couple of gigs somewhere, either in Sheffield or schlepping over to Manchester or Leeds if there’s nothing much on here. There’s nothing better than a band you really like wanting you to play with them.
Last year, you got to play Supersonic in Paris. Are there any plans in motion for more international trips?
I found this promoter in Paris that kept booking English bands so I kept calling her for a long time – probably eight months – asking if she had any gigs. Eventually someone cancelled on her and I just happened to have messaged her at the right time and she asked if we wanted to do it. We supported this French band called Film Noir and had a right little adventure! We made a video which is on YouTube of us dicking about with scooters and having a laugh. There’s also talk of a festival in Lisbon in January so hopefully we’ll get to play in Portugal. Actually, we did have a Swedish guy who came to one of the gigs in London and he was like, “We have to get you guys over to Sweden!” so you never know, we might end up there next!
Love it! You’ve been working on some new music with Thomas Mitchener. Which of the new songs are you most excited for people to hear?
I think they both serve different purposes. I’m excited for people to hear our first one, ‘Out of Time’, because it’s a really good thumping, riotous, three-chord punk extravaganza. It’s good fun and people seem to respond really well to it at the live shows. I’m probably more excited about the second one, ‘Something Primeval’, because it’s different from our other stuff. It’s slow, sinister, melancholy, brooding… a bit more like Queens of the Stone Age. It’s probably the heaviest one that we’ve done. We’re just really proud of them and excited to get them all out there now.
We’re looking forward to it too. What was the recording process like for these tracks?
Pretty good. We’ve done EPs in the past where we’ve recorded six tracks in two days which was stressful. It worked out okay but if we had more time, we would’ve probably done it differently. This time, we did the opposite and took four days to finish two songs. By the end of the session, we were trying all sorts of stupid things like adding in electric violins and harmonicas, but in the end we decided to leave it how it was.
When will the new songs be released?
‘Out of Time’ is due out early November, in time for the Record Junkee gig, and the second track will be out early February. We’ll let everyone get Christmas out of the way and then we will hit them with some punk!
Are you planning on touring with the new material?
Oh yeah, definitely. I’m firing off emails every day booking in more and more gigs so we’ll be coming to a town near you soon. We’ve got Leeds, Cleethorpes, Sheffield and London coming up before Christmas and hopefully Manchester too.
If you could control your own destiny, where would you like the band to be this time next year?
This time next year, September 2020, I want to be completely destroyed from a summer of playing at a million festivals. I want to be having September off because we’ve ruined ourselves doing every single festival in the country. And hopefully some new tunes coming out too…just bigger and better really!
Floodhounds play Record Junkee on 29 November, tickets are available from Skiddle.
