Rock’n’roll has been a cultural pillar of the Welsh valleys for more than 50 years. Take that away and you might as well ban curry sauce on chips while you’re at it. Having emerged from the industrially scarred Aberfan landscape, riff-crunchers Florence Black are an unrestrained force of skull-pounding groove that has bypassed the traditional Welsh male voice choir hymns laid down by their forefathers.
Drummer Perry Davies, vocalist/ guitarist Tristan Thomas and bassist Jordan Evans have been friends since they could crawl, and formed the band in 2012. Having learned from their peers, including local drumming legend Ray Phillips (Budgie), all their hard work has led them to their summery new single Sun & Moon - from the band's upcoming debut album - which embellishes their beefy, Temple Of The Dog-style metallic grunge rock with hints of Fleetwood Mac.
"Sun & Moon was inspired by that feeling when you wake up and you can sense it’s either going to be a really good day or a really bad one," says Thomas, fresh from the band's appearance at last weekend's Steelhouse festival, where Bullet For My Valentine's Michael Paget joined them onstage for a rousing cover of Budgie's classic Breadfan. "But either way you must tackle it with everything you've got and not waste a second of it."
Over the nine years they’ve been together, their reputation of putting on the best three-piece show around has earned them a proud place within the Welsh scene. But playing the New Crown in Merthyr is one thing; supporting Stone Sour at the Bataclan is another. For that gig in 2017 they were hand-picked by Corey Taylor.
“We tweeted him in back 2016, just like, ‘Hey, would you mind listening to our new music?’ And he quoted it back saying: ‘Badass!’, Thomas enthuses. “Then a year later their management emailed us: ‘Our support band have dropped out of the Bataclan show. Do you want to play instead?’ I think we all lost our heads at that. It went so fast.”
With spots at Merthyr Rising, Amplified, Hard Rock Hell and Winterstorm as well as Steelhouse under their belt - and over 2.1 million streams to date - the trio aren’t letting the horizon escape their sights, and there's a few more festival dates lined up before they head off on tour around the UK and Ireland in October with Norwegian stoner punks Bokassa. Full dates below.
Florence Black UK & Ireland 2021 tour dates
Jul 30: Wanlockhead Wildfire Festival, Scotland
Jul 31: Bury St Edmunds Just Push Play Festival
Sep 11: Sheffield Rockin the Bowl Festival
Oct 13: Southampton Engine Rooms*
Oct 14: Manchester Rebellion*
Oct 16: Dublin The Grand Social*
Oct 17: Belfast Voodoo*
Oct 19: Glasgow Audio*
Oct 20: Wolverhampton KK’s Steel Mill*
Oct 21: Cardiff The Globe*
Oct 22: London Underworld*
Nov 06: Southampton The 1865
Nov 12-14: Trecco Bay Planet Rockstock Festival, Wales
*with Bokassa
