flor's Future Shine proves that true growth happens in the dark

When flor stepped out onstage at the Bowery Ballroom last fall, the quaint New York venue rattled with energy. The band’s fans, most of them in their early 20s, screamed along to every word as if it were gospel, like every syllable uttered by the band’s lead singer Zach Grace perfectly encapsulated their own human condition. 

This palpable connection is the basis for flor’s effervescent rock music, which has established the Oregon quartet as one of the last remaining happy-go-luck rock acts in an industry that continues to cater to the ongoing pop-punk resurgence. They’re the bright ray of sunshine splintering through the clouds, and watching Grace sing with a cheek-to-cheek smile plastered across his face shows just how intentional the band are with their optimism.

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“There used to be a real fear of intimacy in my life prior to flor,” Grace explains in the back of the band’s Sprinter van. “flor was really just an exercise in breaking that barrier down and allowing myself to be completely vulnerable. I think that’s been an open invitation to our fans to really experience whatever they want to experience at a flor show.”

The band originally began as a trio formed by Grace, guitarist McKinley Kitts and bassist Dylan Bauld. They recruited their drummer Kyle Hill off Craigslist and started putzing around their hometown of Hood River looking for a big break. But that was over a decade ago, and the band have garnered a substantial following since then. They began touring with Halsey in 2015, then with the Band CAMINO a few years later, before the pandemic brought all that buzz to a screeching halt. 

The band’s third album, Future Shine, serves as a testament to that time spent anchored and isolated at home. There are dark ruminations on apocalyptic catastrophes (“24”), nostalgic yearnings for childhood (“Skate”) and pleading cries for help (“Gotta Do Something”). While flor’s previous record, come out. you’re hiding, sought to be a lantern lighting up a darkened room, Future Shine basks in the reality that growth happens in the dark.

“I think that if I hadn’t been in exactly the place I was I would have been very overwhelmed,” Grace says. “That growth had a lot to do with my partner urging me to be open, telling me, ‘It’s gonna be crazy. It’s gonna be unlike anything you’ve ever felt, so sink into this feeling.’”

On Future Shine’s opener “24,” you sound like you’re teetering on the edge of a mental breakdown. Is that accurate to say?

The first half of the pandemic, all of it sucked. It was exceptionally brutal. The news cycle was just a constant barrage of darkness, so when we wrote “24,” it was a bit behind that, but I really wanted to make sure we didn’t just skip over that part of life. I felt like it was really important to nod to it, and so for “24,” yes, it was very much that we’re on the edge of this mental breakdown. But when we wrote it, we were in a bit of a safer, healthier place.

“Big Shot” seems like a pivotal moment on the record. You sing about the expectations and assumptions that come with being in a popular rock band, and I’m curious how people’s perceptions of who you are hold up against the reality of what Flor are. Especially considering the euphoric connection fans have to your music.

I think what you get from us is a pretty accurate view of what we look like, but that whole “Big Shot” persona, obviously there’s this pressure to tap into this larger-than-life energy, and so that song is basically just giving us permission to be that. You’re allowed to be that larger than life, but I think the view that people have is pretty accurate. We try not to fake it too much.

Has your relationship with fame and that larger-than-life persona changed since the pandemic?

Again, I just had to give myself permission. I’ve always been this quiet and reserved person who’s pretty overwhelmed by large personalities, but always kind of jealous of it. So the shift within myself has been just giving myself permission to be that vision on the stage that I always dreamed of being. To be that light of pure excitement and joy. Not like a fantastical thing, but tapping into that otherworldy, beautiful energy. When I see myself when I look in the mirror, that’s what I want to give off. I just wanna give off this rock star energy, you know?

Your fans seem to really view you as that. I noticed not a lot of people had their phones up. They were just basking in your glow.

It’s pretty funny: We’ve had some people comment on that before. Like, “Yeah I can’t find any live videos of you guys.”

There feels like a heavy nostalgic aspect to your albums that fans really connect to.

For Future Shine, it was front and center. It was the focus. We wrote this album saying we want to write the album that 15-year-old us would have lost our minds over. Especially with songs like “Play Along,” it’s more of a looking back. It’s about chasing the energy that you had as this unfiltered, unapologetic — I guess shithead most of the time is really what it comes down to — being a kid. But there is a beauty and innocence that you lose as time goes on.

What does Future Shine mean then?

It’s the idea that as long as you’re constantly putting your best foot forward and trying to be the truest and realest version of yourself, there’s a bright future waiting for you.

What was the most fulfilling song to make on Future Shine?

I feel like we’re putting a lot of emphasis on “Big Shot”’ but we’ve been talking about it all tour. Every night it’s like this one is what people are here to hear, and that feels really cool because it was a total joke of a song.

What do you mean?

It just started out as a joke. We’d always call each other “big-shot hot guys” whenever someone would be getting too big of an ego. So we just made those huge jump chords, and as soon as I screamed it out, everyone just cracked up, and I jumped out of the vocal booth, and everyone was like, “Wait a minute, this is actually working.” I’ve never just goofed around to start a song before, but it brought a really cool, interesting energy.

How do you keep each other’s egos in check?

I imagine it gets harder and harder as time goes on, but for now, it’s all about just remembering our humanity. We’re completely in this together. The moment you start losing track of other people’s humanity is when things can start to get a little dicey. So basically whenever that’s happening, just remind people to realign. Remind people why we’re here doing this and that this is an incredible gift that we’ve been given to be able to do this.

That reminds me of “The Way We Talk About A Song” where you say, “In the mess, we won’t come undone if we’re all about chasing the song.” 

That song was a love song to the band. It was the last song we wrote on the album, and we were like, “This album is something special. Let’s write how we’re feeling about this now,” and it’s just a testament to all the growth we’ve done and all the roots that we’ve come from. Just a reminder that as long as our music is at the forefront, the fans will be there, and that’s what it’s all about.