To many, Naarm/Melbourne outfit Floodlights are the very epitome of what makes Australian music great. They’re hard-working, they’re dedicated to their craft, and they’ve become successful on international stages to the point where their day one fans can look back and fondly reminisce on those earliest days.

But like the best plans of any musicians, Floodlights never found themselves with any grand plans of stardom or even recognition. In fact, like a lot of bands out of Melbourne, the group were borne out of a late-night session at Collingwood venue The Tote.

“I've been playing music my whole life, always demoing and recording at home, but it was mainly just me and myself,” remembers vocalist and guitarist Louis Parsons. “It’s quite a daunting prospect to show other people your music, you have to be pretty vulnerable to do that and be okay with that. 

“I remember Ash [Kehoe, guitarist and vocalist] and I were friends and we were just at a gig one day at The Tote. I think it was just at a point in my life where I had been saying it for years and it just wasn't really crystallising, but that night we just sort of promised to ourselves that we'll have a jam the week after.

“So we got Joe [Draffen, bassist] and then our drummer started drumming lessons the next day,” he adds. “From then on we just started jamming a lot and gathering a bit of momentum.”

That origin story took place in 2018, though as is the case with most plans, there weren’t really any thoughts beyond the initial decision to jam. “I was happy just to be playing music,” Parsons admits.

“I'd been wanting to play in a band my whole life, but it had never really eventuated. I had so many ideas and songs that I wanted to play with people and show people, so I think that alone was exciting enough just to be playing the music and forming songs and just learning how to write songs with other people.”

With names like Gareth Liddiard and The Drones, Patti Smith, and Lou Reed as points of reference, the collaborative process helped Parsons’ songwriting blend with the talents of his bandmates to craft the singular sound that earmarked who Floodlights were.

Following an EP in 2019, the group unveiled From A View as their debut album in 2020, with the record arriving just in time for the global pandemic to halt widespread touring and promotional plans. Not content to sit on their hands, Floodlights found themselves working hard on album number two soon enough, and by April 2023, they’d released Painting Of My Time – a record which could be characterised as their breakthrough.

“For us as a band, in terms of writing music, where that second album took us in terms of touring around the world, having some amazing support slots, and doing our biggest headline shows to date, it was a breakthrough in that way,” Parsons notes.

“But I feel like I can't not mention just how harsh the music industry is and how it's changed so much from 10 or 20 years ago where I feel like streaming now just dictates everything, including who’s booked at festivals,” he adds. “It's just a crazy world that I've seen change a lot in the last five or six years while we've been a band, it's changed a lot. 

“So that album was a bit of a breakthrough for us as a band and people and where it took us, I loved all the touring, and it really helped form the next chapter in our careers, the next chapter in the band and helped form our new album as well.”

The impact of Painting Of My Time can’t be understated. For a band who had formed only five years earlier, the record received rave reviews from tastemakers, earned a shortlist nomination for the Australian Music Prize (losing out to RVG’s Brain Worms), and resulted in plenty of touring across the UK and Europe.

In fact, it was this last aspect which gave rise to their latest album, Underneath. With plenty of touring on the schedule (something Parsons describes as “a bit of a drag despite the big opportunity it is,” thanks to long hours in close quarters), the music for what would become their third album started to form while out on the road.

“I think it’s pretty organic how our music comes about,” Parsons says. “We're sort of always writing music, regardless of what part of the cycle we're in for an album campaign. We just like writing music. 

“We did have a few dedicated writing sessions; we went down to Kennett River on the West Coast of Victoria for a whole week and demoed five or six songs there, and I think three or four ended up on this album. Then we shot off to do a big stint in Europe and the UK last year, and we were there for three months. 

“Although we had a lot of shows and were on the road a lot, we also had quite a lot of time to book ourselves into studios and dedicate that time to writing,” he adds. “I think just being in a different place and in different surroundings and cultures really influenced our album in a unique way. I think we got stuff out of being over there that we wouldn't have got being in Australia.”

While a record written partially on the road, demoed in one part of Australia, and recorded elsewhere could end up being a little bit fractured, Parsons explains that it’s definitely part of the story that makes up the visceral feeling of the album.

“I can see how being on the road and writing the album in all different places and across a year or two could make for a rather disjointed album, but I think that in itself is a bit of a theme for the album,” he explains. 

“It's quite transient and there's a sense of not just one place but many, and I think the album lyrically has memoirs from those touring times and goes from Australia to Europe to the UK. There is no sense of true place, but there's a lot of memories about different places.”

At its core, Underneath is an album which sees Floodlights approaching their craft with a greater sense of clarity. It's intimate, it's vulnerable, and it's raw, while thematically it addresses the group's hopes, their fears, and their passions, resulting in a record that is powerful, resonant, and arguably one of their best works to date.

While Parsons and Kehoe serve as the band’s songwriters, the question then becomes whether this vulnerability has become easier to harness as time goes on, or whether such an approach is still one that needs to be grappled with.

“It's definitely become easier as time has gone on, and I've spoken to Ash about this as well, but it’s quite a cathartic process and I guess it's a good way to express what it is you're feeling inside,” Parsons notes. “I'm not always good at saying it verbally in the moment, how I'm feeling, I can get a bit bottled up and jammed up, but I feel like writing down words and poems really helps me to express, how I'm feeling – whether that's in lower times or even just trying to express pure joy in what we're doing. 

“We like to put a lot of emphasis on our lyricism because Ash and I have always loved writing and I think to pair that with music is just the sort of dream scenario for me.”

This sense of catharsis is key to understanding Underneath, with Parsons explaining that while it’s an album that he hopes resonates with audiences, it’s one that he hopes manages to say a lot about who Floodlights are in 2025.

“It sort of says that we've found our identity as a band, and over the last few years from touring, writing music together, and just living our lives we've really refined ourselves as a band and we know a lot more now,” he says. “We know what we like, we know where we want to go, and where we need to be challenged.

“I think we're just a band that are just trying to write vulnerably, to connect with people, and write lyrics and songs that are relatable to people.”

With the album now out in the world, Floodlights will be embarking upon an Australian album tour to bring the record to the people. For anyone who has managed to witness the majesty of Floodlights live, they know what to expect, but how does one define the experience of capturing the group in their element?

“We like to take people on a bit of a journey,” explains parsons. “It can be quite anathemic and high energy at times, but we also like to become really intimate with the crowd and have moments of space and vulnerability where you almost feel like there's this tension in the room.

“Over the years we've definitely lent more into a more theatrical kind of performance and that's something that we just continue to work on as we become more confident on stage. We love the dramatic, big sounds and then that just sucks into a vacuum where we really ride on the silence. I like what that can do to an audience, when you can hear a pin drop.”

At its core, the live show can be almost described as analogous to the musical experience that Floodlights aim to provide with every track they make. “It's just a big journey we like to take our friends on.”

Floodlights’ Underneath is out now. Tickets to their Australian tour are on sale now.

Floodlights – Underneath Tour 2025

Saturday, May 3th – Oxford Arts Factory, Eora/Sydney, NSW

Sunday, May 4th – The Northern Festival, Cavanbah/Byron Bay, NSW

Friday, May 9th – Freo Social, Walyalup/Fremantle, WA

Saturday, May 10th – The River, Wooditup/Margaret River, WA

Friday, May 16th – Lion Arts Factory, Tarntanya/Adelaide, SA

Saturday, May 17th – Crowbar, Meanjin/Brisbane, QLD

Friday, May 23rd – Altar, Nipaluna/Hobart, TAS

Saturday, May 24th – The Forum, Naarm/Melbourne, VIC