Interview
Interview
Florence Road: “I hope fans feel how powerful live music is and how it can really make you feel alive”
The Ticketmaster FRESH Listers talk about life on the road and their whirlwind rise to fame
To say Irish indie rockers Florence Road have accomplished a lot in the past twelve months would be an understatement. The Ticketmaster FRESH List artists released their debut mixtape Fall Back in June 2025, following it up with their EP Spring Forward this March. But their touring history is even more impressive: in the last year alone, they’ve opened for Wolf Alice in Europe, toured with Royel Otis in Australia and have recently supported The Last Dinner Party across North America.
“We’ve been taking it every day as it comes and trying to keep our feet on the ground and not get too stressed out about stuff, and get used to this new routine that we’re having,” vocalist Lily Aron tells us over Zoom, two days into the UK leg of a sold-out run of the UK and Europe.
Originally from Bray, County Wicklow, Florence Road will be wrapping up this set of shows in Ireland. “Hearing that we sold out the Olympia, our dream venue in Dublin, that was a big moment,” guitarist Emma Brandon says.
The band – rounded out by bassist Ailbhe Barry and drummer Hannah Kelly – formed in school. “We met on the Florence Road, which is where the name came from,” Aron recalls. “We were just a cover band. We played for lunchtime concerts, and it was very chill in the beginning. It was something we did because we just loved playing music.”
Florence Road uploaded covers on TikTok and gained traction last year with a cover of Paramore’s ‘Hard Times’ which now has over 50 million views. Since then, the band has skyrocketed to stardom, and have been touring non–stop, including support slots for Olivia Rodrigo’s shows at Dublin’s Marlay Park and BST Hyde Park. “Playing in Marlay Park… was a huge moment,” Aron reflects. “Because we obviously had posted a lot of covers of her music and I used to cycle around that park when I was younger, so to play there, and opening for her was definitely a moment where I was like, ‘Oh, wow.’”
They’ve got a packed summer ahead of them, including appearances at BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend, Latitude, Primavera Sound, Reading and Leeds, and Summer Sonic in Japan. “Japan is a huge one for us,” Aron says. “To get to go to Japan, let alone play there, is insanely exciting.”
What do you think about your music is causing people all over the world to connect to it so strongly?
Lily Aron: I think maybe it has something there for a wide range of people. We have fans that are 13-year-old girls, but also 40-year-old men. There’s bits in there, and I think that comes from our inspirations, they’re far and wide. We have a lot of different inspirations: old music, new music… We write lyrics that I feel are relatable to people growing up our age, maybe even older, younger. And it’s nice to see people resonating with what we are going through and what we’re feeling, and that it is a universal thing.
Emma Brandon: I also think it’s unpredictable as well. Sometimes we write a big rock song, and then other times we’d be like crying with a little acoustic guitar. So it’s got something for everyone.
Can you tell me a little bit about the process of writing and recording Spring Forward?
Lily Aron: Spring Forward’s a really fun one, because we had ‘Miss’ and ‘Storm Warnings’ – we’ve been playing them live for two years, so they had been in our pockets… The songs had changed a little bit over the course of those two years. We just knew who the songs were by the time we went to record them. So it was amazing to get to go in and know exactly what we wanted from the songs.
‘Rabbits Can Swim,’ that was also a song that we had written two years ago, and it was sitting in the vault somewhere, gathering dust. And we like to always take a look back at the songs we’ve written, because we’ve written a lot of music, so it’s good to lay it all out on the table. That was one that stuck out to us as being right for this project. ‘Hanging Out To Dry’ is a new one, which is fun and it feels very fresh to us. We wrote it in a session and then brought it back to the shed and jammed it and rewrote bits and then recorded it two weeks later, and then it came out… I like that there’s a balance of new and old on Spring Forward.
What do you want fans to take away from your live shows?
Lily Aron: I hope they have a great time. I hope they feel how powerful live music is and how it can really make you feel alive. I remember when I went to my first concert [Half Alive] when I was 14, I sobbed, crying, because hearing live music was so transcendent. I was like, ‘Wow, this is the best thing ever.’ So I hope that even if people get a piece of that, or a little spark of joy, that’s what I’d love.
How’s bus life?
Lily Aron: Oh, I love it.
Emma Brandon: I do. It’s like sensory deprivation, when you’re in your bunk.
Do you have a routine when you’re on tour?
Lily Aron: It changes. But we’re very chill… After a set, I’ll do a vocal cool down, we’ll have a shower, and then we’ll go to the bus, and we’ll play Mario Kart.
Emma Brandon: We’re very old souls… but it’s good. It keeps us fresh for the next day.
Is there anything else that you’ve been doing to chill out on tour?
Emma Brandon: We play cards a lot.
Lily Aron: Which is very fun. I’ve been crocheting a scarf for like two months, and it’s taking me long because I don’t actually know how to crochet… I think I will probably have a scarf in the next month or two.
I feel like crochet is having a moment right now.
Lily Aron: It’s like a worldwide crocheting epidemic.
Were there any places you visited on tour that really stood out to you?
Lily Aron: We loved Texas… It was really warm, and we got Texas barbecue.
@florence.road coming back to texas asap #yummy #texasbbq #florenceroad #mukbang ♬ Dancing With Myself – 7" Version – Generation X & Billy Idol
Emma Brandon: I think that is what sold it, the Texas barbecue.
Lily Aron: We waited like, an hour and a half, and it was so worth it. I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Emma Brandon: And we had a few days off in New York, and that was a dream. That was so cool.
Lily Aron: We just ran around New York and shot a music video [for ‘Hanging Out To Dry’], which was also really fun. And we had a great time doing that. We got tattoos.
You’ve already accomplished so much in your career before even releasing an album. Do you have any specific goals or things you really want to tick off the bucket list?
Lily Aron: I would love to do Tiny Desk… and then also Glastonbury’s [a] huge bucket list thing for us.
