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Florence Road Are Headed for Stardom and Having Fun While They're At It
Florence Road Are Headed for Stardom and Having Fun While They're At It

Yahoo

time25-06-2025

  • Entertainment
  • Yahoo

Florence Road Are Headed for Stardom and Having Fun While They're At It

In the charming coastal town of Bray in County Wicklow, Ireland, there's a stretch of pavement called Florence Road. It's pretty average, as far as roads go, with quaint houses, a library, a vet, a dollar store, and several coffee shops scattered across it. 'It's not that cute,' jokes drummer Hannah Kelly. 'You wouldn't know walking past that it's remarkable by any means,' says bassist Ailbhe Barry. 'But it's meaningful to us.' Florence Road carries so much significance that Kelly, Barry, lead singer Lily Aron, and guitarist Emma Brandon named their indie rock band after it. They all met there at grade school, when they were 12 years old. Aron was already writing songs in her bedroom then ('the most dramatic songs of all time,' she says), but the band didn't form until four years later. By 2023, their covers of their favorite songs went viral on TikTok. More from Rolling Stone Trump Delays TikTok Ban Another 90 Days Karen Read Found Not Guilty of Murder in Retrial Nezza Says She Sang National Anthem in Spanish at Dodger Stadium Against Team's Request Now, Florence Road are releasing their debut EP, Fall Back, via Warner, featuring credits from big-name producers like Dan Nigro, Dan Wilson, and John Hill. They'll bring these five tracks — including the raging opener 'Hand Me Downs' and the dazzling, anthemic 'Heavy' — to London's Hyde Park next week, where they'll open for Olivia Rodrigo to a crowd of 65,000. And they aren't even a little bit nervous. 'I find it more nerve-racking when there's less people, and you can see their faces,' Aron admits. 'Honestly, being onstage with the three of them, I'm immediately at ease. I'm like, 'OK, I'm with my friends and this is the biggest thing ever, but it's also very chill.'' Adds Barry: 'I find it fun to try to get Emma to crack onstage by doing silly faces. I'm willing to mortify myself.' Even if they don't have stage fright, Hyde Park is a far cry from their school, Coláiste Ráithín, where Aron, Kelly, and Barry would perform at monthly lunchtime concerts put on by their music teacher. Performing in front of other students, they'd cover Hozier and Declan McKenna. 'It was the toughest crowd possibly ever: your peers trying to eat lunch, and you're singing to them,' Aron says. 'I think that helped our general comfort on stage. Because off the bat, we were just right in the deep end.' Brandon joined later, after she discovered a guitar in her attic during the pandemic and decided to learn the instrument. 'I was a late bloomer,' she says. 'I didn't even know what music theory was until Covid, to be perfectly honest.' Aron, ever the supportive friend (the two met first, in primary school), chimes in: 'It was drawn to you. One with the guitar, she is.' Kelly, originally on guitar, switched to drums, and when the quartet performed their first concert at the school's Christmas show that year, everything fell into place. 'We did 'Happier Than Ever' by Billie Eilish,' Brandon says. 'And never looked back.' Right before they finished school, they found a poster in the hall advertising a music competition, where the winner would get to record a song and shoot a video for it. They won, and released their debut single, 'Another Seventeen,' in October 2022. With lines like 'I'm such a hypocrite/And I'm scared of all the things I wanna be,' it's an angsty teenage banger that shines with thrashing guitar riffs, like an Irish version of Letters to Cleo. (Fitting, considering they posted the song on TikTok to a clip of 10 Things I Hate About You, with the caption 'If our debut single 'Another Seventeen' was in a coming of age movie.') Their manager discovered them after hearing 'Another Seventeen' on a Spotify playlist, and they got a gig that fall opening for Irish rockers the Academic. 'I was in a different maths class and I went to grab the girls,' Brandon recalls. 'I literally walked straight past the teacher and I was like, 'I need them right now.' And we just screamed in the bathroom for a long time.' The band started performing gigs in Dublin, writing and practicing at Aron's house. They meet there three times a week, inside a shed her mom used in the pandemic to host a children's puppet show. Her dad, also a musician, converted it into a rehearsal space. 'My dad is over the moon,' Aron says. 'He was like, 'You're doing exactly what I wanted to do when I was your age.'' Hunkered down in the shed, each member brings their own influences to the table, creating, as Aron says, 'this big pot of everything.' She loves Wolf Alice, Beabadoobee, and the Kinks; Barry grew up listening to the Beatles and Nineties alternative; Brandon has a current obsession with Sam Fender; and Kelly lists U2 and the Cranberries as major inspirations. 'I love looking back on the Irish bands that have come before, you know?' she says. 'There's a lot to learn.' You can see renditions of these favorites on their TikTok, where they have nearly one million followers. They're often shot on the iPhone's 0.5 lens, with the flash shining in Aron's crystal blue eyes, like a tractor beam is about to scoop her up, far away from Ireland's greenery. The band nail each cover while basking in their goofiness and friendship, like when they performed Olivia Rodrigo's 'Obsessed' while hiding in a closet and 'holding Ailbhe hostage.' Rodrigo ended up commenting on that video, while another user wrote, 'I'm tired of ya'll teasing me with these and not having full versions available anywhere. I've been holding this grudge since 'Stick Season.'' Their cover of Paramore's 'Hard Times,' which has nearly 50 million views, was thrown together in five minutes. 'It's always the ones that I find sound the worst, do the best,' says Brandon. Adds Aron: 'The very first time we decided to do the 0.5 type of thing, it was genuinely a piss-take. It was really just like, 'This is gas. This is so bizarre, no one's going to get it.'' Last year, the band took three trips to Los Angeles, their first time on the West Coast. Spending two weeks there at a time, they hung out on Santa Monica Beach, tried all kinds of food via Uber Eats, and survived some painful sunburns. All the while they were recording Fall Back, doing a 'speed run' of meeting different producers every day. They were jet-lagged when they cut 'Heavy,' produced by Hill, but Aron says the experience was cathartic: 'The chorus literally leapt out of my body,' she says. Hill, who's produced Charli XCX, Cage the Elephant, and others, also co-wrote with them, alongside Marshall Vore, known for his work with Phoebe Bridgers — a 'big time' favorite of the band's. 'We were like, 'Don't think about it too much, because then you'll freak out a bit,'' Aron says. The same goes for working with Nigro, the star producer and co-writer of Rodrigo's and Chappell Roan's hits. He assisted the band with the devastating, anxiety-ridden 'Caterpillar,' which they bolstered with comforting violin. 'Know that I'll feel better with the tap on/Something 'bout the water running down my side,' Aron sings. 'It just means, 'Once I just cry and once I let it out, I will feel better,'' she says. 'It felt like there was something hatching in my chest — that really uncomfortable tension.' The band sat with each producer and discussed each song with them, describing the meaning and how they wanted to tackle it. 'It was really amazing to go in with Dan Wilson, who was such a sweetheart,' Aron says of the producer, who's worked with everyone from Adele to Taylor Swift and helped Florence Road make 'Hand Me Downs.' 'His studio had very peaceful, calming vibes. It was really nice to get that outer perspective of someone who's not a teenage girl. Do you know what I mean?' After Aron, Barry, and Kelly worked on the track, Brandon was called in to record her guitar part the following day. 'He had about 150 pedals and I was just mesmerized,' she says. 'Like, 'Can I just stay here forever?'' The band tinkered with the track list for the EP, shelving gems like 'Miss' and 'Break the Girl' — they describe the latter as having an 'Alanis Morissette vibe' — for the future. For now, they're focused on releasing these five songs to capture a 'time capsule,' as Barry puts it. Kelly agrees: 'Between 'Another Seventeen' and 'Heavy,' it was three years,' she says. 'We just wanted to get the music out in the quickest way possible, for our own sake, because the demos have been burning holes in their pockets since last January.' With the release of the EP, they're also hoping to move away from being known as a viral TikTok band. 'We're definitely trying to slide away from that,' says Aron. 'That was something we were nervous about when first releasing 'Heavy.' It was like, 'Are people going to take it seriously and really see us as musicians?' Because that's who I feel we are.' For the band, the title Fall Back is about their experience over the last few years — becoming a band, getting signed by a major label, recording with dream producers. 'There's that feeling of leaving your teenagehood,' Aron says. 'Sometimes you're falling backwards and you don't know what is going on. The songs go through the joys and the anxiety and confusion that comes with becoming an adult, and how terrifying that is.'But Aron says the title also represents their childhood friendship that started all those years ago, back on that beloved road. 'If you ever see the four of us in person, we are genuinely laughing all the time. We don't shut up,' she says. 'We just have the best times. We are each other's fallback.' Best of Rolling Stone Sly and the Family Stone: 20 Essential Songs The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked

What really turns Hollywood stars into screen-shy hermits, as reclusive A-lister spotted on holiday
What really turns Hollywood stars into screen-shy hermits, as reclusive A-lister spotted on holiday

News.com.au

time12-06-2025

  • Entertainment
  • News.com.au

What really turns Hollywood stars into screen-shy hermits, as reclusive A-lister spotted on holiday

Making it in Hollywood is a dream for most actors, but a rare few choose to leave it all behind for a life in the shadows. This week, reclusive star Daniel Day-Lewis, 66, was spotted enjoying a holiday in Mallorca with his rarely seen wife Rebecca Miller. The Gangs Of New York star is understood to be travelling via speedboat to join a yacht with legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg. Throughout the actor's career he regularly chose quietness and solitude over the glitz and glamour Hollywood had to offer. In a 2008 Daily Mail article, journalist Paul Scott said Daniel's 'most customary role' was 'as Hollywood's most reluctant – and increasingly strange – star'. He noted that the actor would drink alone in pubs, avoided eye contact and for the preceding 10 years lived a 'relatively reclusive existence locked away on a 50-acre estate' in County Wicklow, Ireland. In 2012 Daniel announced he was taking a break from acting – and after five years he returned for his final film Phantom Thread. That same year the actor announced his retirement; while he did not pinpoint one specific reason, he listed problems including work not seeming 'vital' or 'irresistible'. Since then dad-of-two Daniel's rarely been seen – but has noticeably ditched the wild, long hair he sported in 2023 in favour of a cropped do. Though he was encouraged by son Ronan to dip his toe back into the game last year, starring in his directorial debut Anemone, which the pair co-wrote. He's far from the only star to trade Tinseltown for a quieter life – and according to behavioural psychologist Emma Kenny, this can be due to them 'living an amplified life'. She told The Sun: 'Celebrities face the same challenges, emotions, and existential questions we all do, but under the relentless scrutiny of the public eye. 'While many relish the spotlight, some inevitably retreat from it, becoming recluses.' From the actor branded 'Hollywood's most reluctant star' to an 80s actor dubbed the 'next Jim Carrey', we look at the lives of some of the most reclusive living celebrities. Angus T Jones Two And A Half Men star Angus T Jones is unrecognisable from his role as Jake Harper on the hit US comedy. He's made a handful of rare public outings in Los Angeles over the past couple of years, now sporting a bushy beard and shaved head. It's been over a decade since the actor, who was paid up to $585,000 per episode, quit the show and swore off fame after being baptised by a Christian ministry called Forerunner Chronicles. Now 31, Angus has since urged fans 'stop watching' and 'filling your head with filth', claiming the show, which starred Charlie Sheen, was 'contributing to the enemy's plan'. Yasmine Bleeth Yasmine Bleeth was only meant to have a guest appearance on Baywatch – but she proved so popular with fans that producers kept her on for five years. She played Caroline Holden on the show and the exposure led her to be named in FHM 's 100 Sexiest Women in the World every year from 1996 until 2001. But at the same time, Yasmine's drug use was spiralling out of control and by 2000, she had checked into rehab for cocaine dependence. A year later she was sentenced to two years probation and 100 hours of community service after syringes filled with cocaine were found in her car after a near-fatal accident. Yasmine was fired from Baywatch and according to screenwriter Douglas Schwartz it was because she was 'not showing up' and had 'difficulties, again with men' due to her drug use. In 2012, he told Esquire: 'That's why we let Yasmine go off the show because it was too difficult to deal with her after a while.' Yasmine's final TV appearance was on Howard Stern On Demand 2006 and since then she has shunned the spotlight. The actress, now 56, has been pictured a few times since, usually while walking her dog in her pyjamas. Bridget Fonda Nineties star Bridget Fonda was a highly sought after actress thanks to impressive performances in Jackie Brown, The Godfather Part III and Scandal. She earned two Golden Globes and an Emmy for her scene-stealing portrayals before making her final acting appearance in the 2002 film Snow Queen. The following year, Bridget suffered a serious car crash that fractured her vertebrae, and has since largely stayed out of the spotlight. She got engaged in 2003 and two years later decided to quit Hollywood to become a full-time mum to her son with legendary composer Danny Elfman. Bridget has rarely been seen out since and in April 2023, when she was photographed at LAX airport, she cast doubt on any plans to return to acting. When asked if she wanted to be famous again, the now 61-year-old told paparazzi: 'No. I don't think so. It's too nice being a civilian.' Jack Nicholson Award-winning actor Jack Nicholson has starred in scores of Hollywood hits including The Shining, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and The Departed. In his heyday, he was labelled 'a man no woman could resist' and allegedly bedded 20,000 women including stars Sandra Knight, Joni Mitchell and Angelica Huston. But since his last film How Do You Know came out in 2010, Jack has led a considerably quieter life and insiders claim he has quit acting for good. A source told Radar: 'There is a simple reason behind his decision – it's memory loss, quite frankly… Jack has memory issues and can no longer remember the lines being asked of him.' They claimed the megastar, now 88, had no intention of 'retiring from the limelight or public life' – but in recent years, he's rarely been seen outside of his home. Until April 2023 – when Jack was pictured on the balcony of his Beverly Hills compound – he hadn't been seen publicly in 18 months. A friend told Radar: 'He's made it clear, his home is his castle. But people just wish he'd come out of the house and pop up to tell them how... or at least reassure folks he's OK.' They claimed Jack was 'in touch with certain relatives', including his 'protege' son Ray, but said 'his socialising days are long gone'. Jack, who used to be a regular at Los Angeles Lakers basketball games, now only shows up occasionally – including once in May 2023. Despite this, friends expressed their concern that he would 'die alone'. Greg Pead (aka Yahoo Serious) He was dubbed the 'next Jim Carrey' thanks to his comedy roles in 80s flick Young Einstein and his 1993 film Reckless Kelly, and appeared on the front cover of Time Magazine. But Australian actor Greg Pead, who's better known as Yahoo Serious, disappeared from the spotlight in the early Noughties, around the time he tried to sue the search engine Yahoo! for trademark infringement – and lost. Despite appearing in a short documentary film called In the Cannes in 2007, he continued to fade into obscurity. In 2007 he divorced his wife of 20 years, Lulu Pinkus. Now 71, Serious was evicted from his rental property in Sydney's Avalon Beach in 2020 for failing to pay rent for five months and was ordered to pay his landlords $15,000. It was then reported that he moved into the granny flat behind a home in Palm Beach belonging to a man called Charles Phillip Porter, who has dementia and is now living in a nursing home. Mr Porter allegedly let the former actor move in because he was living rough in his battered BMW Sedan, and when he was put into care, Serious moved into the main home. A tribunal heard how Serious then refused to leave when it emerged the three-bedroom property was to be sold to pay for Mr Porter's nursing home costs. He denied squatting, telling the Daily Telegraph in March: 'It will be a very complex thing, there's been advice by – he goes by Phillip – Phillip's lawyer has advised that I should stay in the property and be the caretaker.' He also revealed he had been 'very close to death' recently but is 'coming good' despite having trouble with 'recall of day to day things'. In an application filed to the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT), Mr Porter's power of attorney, landlord Margaret Charlton, said he risks being removed from his current care facility if the home is unable to be sold.

Greystones students to represent Wicklow at finals of Young Environmentalist Awards
Greystones students to represent Wicklow at finals of Young Environmentalist Awards

Irish Independent

time29-04-2025

  • General
  • Irish Independent

Greystones students to represent Wicklow at finals of Young Environmentalist Awards

The three students from Greystones Community College – Anna Dillane, Pola Kedziora and Lucy Tyndall – were chosen on the strength of their own project, which aims to raise awareness about waste management. The County Wicklow students are among 102 finalists from across the island of Ireland to have succeeded at the semi-final stages in March, and will now go on to showcase their shortlisted eco-projects at the finals next month. Their project, titled 'What a Waste!', focuses on raising awareness about waste management and encouraging better waste disposal practices and it has made it through to the 'Waste' category of the awards. The project addresses the issue of incorrect waste sorting and aims to engage students in finding solutions. They created a website, designed lessons for first and second year students, held assemblies, and organised a fundraising day to raise awareness about the impact of waste at school, local, national, and global levels. Remarking on their achievements, the principals of Greystones Community College, Ruairí Farrell said: 'It is a remarkable achievement for Greystones Community College students Anna, Pola and Lucy to be the only students from County Wicklow to reach the national final showcase of the Irish Young Environmentalist Awards, having successfully made it through the provincial rounds and semi-finals. "The students have left no stone unturned in raising awareness and reducing waste, having created a website, delivering lessons to junior students and hosting an awareness event. We are very proud of the positive environmental impact these impressive young change makers are having on the wider community'. The awards are an all-island programme that recognises the work of young people who are tackling key issues in relation to climate and biodiversity loss, taking environmental action in their school or community and coming up with creative solutions to solve environmental issues. Now in its 26th year, the YEA programme has reached people in every county of Ireland, with a total of over 65,000 young people participating and 6,000 projects entered down through the years. ECO-UNESCO is Ireland's environmental education and youth organisation and that works to conserve the environment and empower young people. Commenting on this year's YEA finalists, the national director of ECO-UNESCO, Elaine Nevin, said: 'The projects that have made it through to this year's Young Environmentalist Awards reflect the mission of Earth Day, the theme of which this year is 'Our Power, Our Planet' – a call to action highlighting the transformative power of young people and their role in creating a more sustainable and equitable future. "Earth Day 2025 encourages individuals, communities, and governments to take action by adopting renewable energy solutions, advocating for supportive policies, and participating in local and global initiatives. Through their projects, young people have taken the lead in raising awareness of critical environmental issues, inspiring change in their communities, and championing more sustainable lifestyles.'

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