“Watching Garage Flower, is like watching a bomb go off! The onstage energy is absolutely electric”
(Gig Shack, 2025)
“Garage Flower might just be the jolt the scene’s been waiting for — the sound of a band with groove, guts, and enough flair to make indie exciting again”
(This Is Norwich, 2025)
“Their music was as tight as it was melodic with an insatiable energy that captivated a hungry crowd”
(RGM Magazine, 2025)
WHO ARE GARAGE FLOWER?
Forming in 2025, the Leeds based band have quickly taken the UK’s music scene by storm. After going viral in the summer with rehearsal tracks of original songs ‘Jammy’ and self-titled track ‘Garage Flower’, the group of four boys have generated over 30,000 followers across social media platforms. With Influences from of Kula Shaker, The Stone Roses and The Charlatans, their sound merges together all the best parts of indie music. Lyricism that’s simple yet relatable, melodic bass lines that carry a major groove not just rhythm, distinctive guitar tones that are jangly and reverb soaked and the raw edge that makes the music feel human rather than over polished. Their 90s style sound and viral success found the pages of indie icons such as Oasis Guitarist Bonehead, Happy Mondays Shaun Ryder and Pigeon Detectives frontman Matt Bowman who praised them for their ‘insane musical talent’ and ‘who cares attitude’. Not only indie icons but also the interest of music industry professionals signing to Prolificia Management and 13 Artists booking agency in early September, helping them to gain spots supporting Circa Waves, Dea Matrona plus support slots on the entire Stone UK and Europe tour in 2026 and an opening slot at Two Door Cinema Club’s sold out headline at Crystal Palace Park’s 25,000 people open air venue.
Nathan Whitehead (Guitar & Lead Vocals)
Dylan Mcquade (Lead Guitar)
Joshua N’dombasi (Bass)
Toby Thornton (Drums)
BACKGROUND
The four piece have been gigging around Leeds for years, cultivating a network of industry professionals from promoters to journalists . Front Man Nathan and Guitarist Dylan met in high school, after discovering their love for music, together they formed the collective ‘The Liabilities’ alongside Garage Flower drummer Tony Thornton and Bassist Mackenzie Boylon. Their debut single ‘Blossom’ gained 10,000 streams and the band gigged in some of Leeds most sought after venues. Playing alongside major break out names in the Leeds Indie Scene such as Gravy, who signed to Record Label ‘Dance To The Radio’ in Spring of 2025, the band cultivated a network full of industry professionals and friends that would last a lifetime. As their best friends band ‘The North’ begin to take off in early 2025, MacKenzie is granted the opportunity to play alongside them on their support tour with Chloe Slater. Although it felt bittersweet, it showed an end to the band’s run as Liabilities.
In Spring, they re-grouped playing their final sold out headline at Leeds Oporto Venue and announced their newest venture as the 4 piece ‘Garage Flower’. Almost ironic, the bands success can be traced back to Social Media, as new Bassist Josh was found via Instagram live when playing his new riffs, catching the attention of Guitarist Dylan.
Josh has a Jazz background, gigging with local jazz artists in regional jazz festivals and competitions for years, only just making the change to begin creating indie music when Garage Flower came across him. His pure musical talent is the pinnacle of the musicianship in the group, his jazz technique, that’s both reliable and articulate, drastically changes the dynamics of the band’s music. It’s an intersection between a solid foundation and the front runner ; driving each track. Beyond his musicianship, he’s the band’s token ‘nice guy’ , stays out of trouble and always carries an infectious smile that he’s almost being branded with.
Whilst Josh brings the friendly energy, Dylan is the band’s ‘Leader’, he guides the band’s direction, often keeping everyone motivated, on track and you can always count on him to check the emails for important updates. That same energy is carried into stage time, it’s often him that signals the band for stops, starts and when mistakes happen it’s his levelheaded nature that sees the band through smoothly. Nathan brings the energy, whilst you can’t shy away from his musical talent, it’s not that that strikes me or many critics when you see him play, it’s the energy. He bounces back and forth barely leaving any section of the stage untouched, head banging with every string of the guitar. Audiences match it every time, his energy becomes the direction and that’s the primary focus fans take away from their live sets. Toby lays down all the foundation of the band and on and off stage is the glue to the 4 piece. He’s consistently great, never playing mechanically but always musically, you never have to worry if he’s going to pull through.
MARKET APPEAL
The band’s overall sound, a merge between indie rock ‘guitar music’ and the 90s Classic Britpop, sits just where the modern music scene’s trend lies. With bands like Fontaines Dc and Wunderhorse hitting streams in masses, selling out headline shows and sweeping the festival line ups, Oasis, one of the most defining bands of the Britpop era, reuniting for the first time in 16 years, guitar music and Britpop have dominated headlines, fashion trends and the music culture all year. And it just doesn’t seem to be slowing down, with major festivals releasing line ups centred around the UK’s best guitar driven bands, tour announcements from indie legends making global impact and the sound of grassroots music being dominated and influenced by the likes of Keo and Radio Free Alice. 2026 is set to see an even bigger revival. As Frontman Alex Turner once quoted, “That’s rock ‘n’ roll, it just won’t go away”
So Garage Flower, blending the likes of both appeals, is the best of both worlds indie fanatics are searching for. Having already built a strong community on their social media, numbers and data will make them prime candidates for support and festival slots in summer, performing live where they strive most.
Their market appeal goes much further than what’s trending musically, but also what’s trending culturally. With the cost of living crisis and economic pressure pushing rising rents, low wages and unstable work for so many people across the UK, audiences feel disconnected from hyper polished pop stars and are more likely to connect with bands that feel working class and authentic because they reflect the lived reality of their listeners. Garage Flower wear their working class roots openly, capturing their world through lofi visuals on social media and writing songs that map real streets, real places and everyday moments that define everyday life. Not only has economic pressure changed how we view music, but also how we engage with it. Less disposable income means people have less money to spend on gig tickets, bands that appear to be polished and manufactured risk feeling transactional and supporting bands that foster community feels less like consumption and more like collective participation. Garage Flower acknowledges this well by keeping gig ticket prices as low as feasibly possible and bringing fans together on their WhatsApp Channel chats, where they can talk to fans alike. They are well placed to connect with major audiences and grow sustainably through live performances, word of mouth and community driven support, already showing signs to be actively doing so.
Commercially speaking, the band have already begun to attract the attention of key indie demographic gatekeepers such as editors from the music magazine DIY. Gatekeepers play a pivotal role in shaping audience perception, their support can often accelerate their breakthrough in the market. These can be anything from Radio Stations to Venue Bookers, major examples for the indie scene is BBC Radio 1, SXSW and Line Of Best Fit Magazine. Already gaining attention from Gatekeepers, establishes them as a very marketable act. Linking back to cultural relevance, gatekeepers in the indie scene are naturally drawn to this authentically championing working class music.
All this in mind, their target audience sits between 18-25 years old not only reflecting the bands own age, but the themes the songs take us through. Fostering friendship and love is relatable for younger listeners who typically are navigating these stages of life for the first time.
VENUE HIGHLIGHTS 2025
ONLINE CONTROVERSY AND VIRAL VIDEOS
Whilst overnight viral success brought its fair share of positives for the band, it didn’t come without its problems. When an ongoing issue with promoters and sound technicians throughout the day at an all day festival came to a head during the band’s 30 minute set, frontman Nathan lost his fuse and threw his guitar into the audience barricade. Social Media managers clipped together a 2 minute video reel taking fans through the day, highlight the lead up, the moment Nathan lost his cool and the aftermath argument with venue owners that ultimately led to the band been removed from the venue. The video racked up 1.1M views online, on Instagram alone, whilst garnering the band over 5.3k followers, they left the internet with divisive opinions. Many musicians and artists themselves shamed the band for improper conduct and highlighted the danger of romanticising this kind of ‘anti social’ behaviour for new up and coming artists, whereas many indie fanatics and artist alike praised the band for sticking up for themselves especially in a climate where bands are so easy to become the subject of exploitation by industry professionals. Essentially, the video subjected the band to the internet’s famous ‘cancel culture’ with many parody videos, public statements and hate comments being sent their way.
Although people stated the video would end the band’s career, it did the very opposite. The moment played into the long standing indie playbook, using public outrage as a way to boost visibility rapidly, driving traffic to the band’s original music content in winter as social media platforms favour the videos with high engagement in the long run. Ticket sales surged as people were drawn to the buzz, eager to see if the band’s intensity would translate in person, a clear conversion of attention into followers, attendance, and cultural relevance.
I’d advise the band to continue taking steps as they are, engaging only with fans that are actively taking part in the community not fans spreading hate across the page. Use Instagram’s filter blocking to filter certain words or phrases ; this way it doesn’t feed the algorithm, encouraging people to engage with hate more. Making sure real fans and dedicated active users are being rewarded is essential , replying to comments and commenting on their pages.
UPCOMING GIGS IN 2026
DEMOS AND REHEARSAL TRACKS
Jammy (Garage Flower) – Exclusive Demo (DO NOT SHARE)
Garage Flower (Garage Flower) – Live From Headrow House
Bee’s & Honey (Garage Flower) – Live From London
Garage Flower are currently an unreleased band, meaning no songs or tracks can be found anywhere on online sites. The band are using what many modern day music fans are calling ‘The Keo Method’. This refers to London based alt rock band, Keo, who are best known for building a large collective of fans without being released, the method whilst not new is being called ‘one of the best music rolls out in modern day indie’. Staying unreleased promotes a range of word of mouth anticipation, ticket sale demands and also a higher amount of streams once tracks are available due to momentum building.
‘Jammy’ is one of the band best received songs, not only live but also online, comments flooding their live and rehearsal footage with praise like “sensational”, comparing the band to 90s indie rockstars ‘The Stone Roses’ saying they’ve seen “nothing like it since the Roses left”. Instrumentally at times it feels loose, untrained and slightly out of control but it’s the imperfection of the track that makes it so appealing. It feels fun rather than over polished, encompassing freedom and that sense of youth culture. Ultimately the uncontrolled feel will help it to keep timeless, it doesn’t age with trend driven music as it was never written to fit it anyway. Lines like “I was lost but now I’m found” help the lyrics to stay within familiar boundaries, simple and catchy, but acts as a blank canvas for listeners to find their own meaning, story’s and feelings. Whilst keeping it widely relatable, it also allows it to feel human rather than forced, aligning perfectly with their image of authenticity, valuing feel over perfection.
Live, it’s the perfect song to get the crowd going and it’s done just that. With crowds building with the instrumental, ascending into mosh pits as the beat drops. Their self titled track ‘Garage Flower’ is also a showstopper live with audiences singing the lyrics back to the band at each show. It follows similar structure, using loose structure to present their key themes. In all their originals, the bass is infectious, leading the track to create a groove driven instrumental that invites audiences to dance. It echoes classic funk players in the way it grooves, but also hints at subtle jazz influences through its emphasis on improvisational feel in the rhythm section. Blending a varied style of genres gives them their distinctive swing you can’t pin point to many other bands in the scene right now.
NEXT STEPS
The next phase for the band is focusing on controlled growth and timing, turning their growing visibility by converting short time momentum into long term streams. To avoid risking Spotify algorithm performance, the plan would be to use SoundCloud to test and trail demos and perhaps even studio level produced tracks. Focusing on fan engagement, live reactions and short form content to pull people in to listening to the tracks online, tracking data and metrics here would allow the band to gauge which track resonates with audiences. Many artists are questioning Spotify’s economic and ethics for artists, especially for low income upcoming artists, therefore in the current climate positioning tracks on SoundCloud would align with the community driven, indie aesthetic the band are striving for, the platform choice becomes part of the band’s wider story and message.
Alongside their track placement, maximising their live show appearance is critical for the next year. Whilst the band have already announced support slots with major names in the coming months, ensuring their community and local scene continue to benefit from opportunities is essential. Right on trend with modern craze and Garage Flower’s strengths is DIY House Party gigs. Unpredictability and rawness shines through in the high energy environments, strategically keeping capacity limited increases demand and allows the word of mouth growth to continue to spread. The events would also generate highly shareable content, helping them to continue to boost their social media following, reinforcing the band’s credibility.
Further, there are opportunities for the band to have special quest supports, feasibly touring bands that are only in the local area for a limited time only or other upcoming bands, helping to boost their grassroots credibility. Exclusive merch drops and limited run CD’s could be available, using scarcity and exclusivity, turning the intimate shows in to must attend events.
Alongside the music, building the band as not just a live act but as a personality led project. Media outreach, exclusive interviews with local and indie magazines, podcast and YouTube channels slots would allow the boy’s disposition to shine through beyond their music. There is a clear gap in the market for the boys to profit of their own online YouTube Channel, documentary-style tour content approach inspired by early-era creator collectives such as The Sidemen, focusing on real life dynamics, friendships, tour chaos and unfiltered moments on the road. Fans and audiences alike could really invest in the on going narrative daily across socials and weekly on YouTube, allowing fans to connect more deeply with the four piece.
With their target audience in mind, utilising Social Media is the cheapest and most effective way Garage Flower can continue to boost their community especially when Social Media platforms are already favouring their content online.
Fashion is something so tailored to the bands aesthetic and luckily for them 2025 reports showed a 913% surge in Brit Pop related fashion searches including brands like Fred Perry and Stone Island. Fred Perry in particular has a long standing connection with the music industry with many major industry names flooding festivals and live music events wearing their pieces. Additionally, the company has further engaged with innovations like The Subculture Project, which hosted music events, playlists, artists spotlights and even offering music grants to support emerging artists. A partnership with the company could showcase the band to their potential demographic through a fashion lens, wearing the brand’s clothes across their festival season. Whilst the piece could be traditional Fred Perry Items, small customisations could be made to make the piece exclusive e.g. embroidered flowers on collars of polo shirts. Once festival seasons are over, the two could collaborate on a giveaway so a fan can enjoy the exclusive merchandise line. Indie fans often value sub culture ties and seeing a Fred Perry reinforces this connection. Whilst Fred Perry is a major company, it is feasible due to their connections historically to the music industry and recent collaborations with Leeds Band ‘The North’.
On the other hand, a route using small clothing brands is also feasible and perhaps more efficient with their working class branding. The same structure applies, although with a smaller business there is a bigger chance of an ongoing relationship, DIY in-store gigs could be arranged in order to announce the two’s collaboration, emphasising modern grassroot culture.
Patenting with a clothes brand could benefit Garage Flower in so many ways, especially with the indie culture being so driven by the 90s style outfits in the modern era. Not only does it boost visibility by putting the band in front of a brand’s audience that may not have discovered them otherwise, it signals professionalism and relevance to the rest of the world giving them credibility to be picked up by the next industry professional.
PERSONAL APPEAL
From my first listen to their tracks, I felt immediately struck by the capability to capture grit, groove, emotionally honesty and balancing simplicity all in one package, especially in such a short time span. With the growing rate of Nepotism and Ai manufactured acts flooding the music scene, finding something so raw is rare. Everything from their outfits to their social media doesn’t rely on overproduction to connect and trend instead lies with what’s true and real. Garage flower feels not only relevant but necessary.
It’s very rare I listen to a band and feel a personal connection. Whilst I definitely lack the musical ability, their vibe, their background, the environment is so prevalent to my life. That authenticity creates a strong bond to their music that feels almost immediate. Their music speaks directly to and for so many working class people across the board, their music could be an inspiration for many young boys, acting as a beacon of hope especially when times are tough.
Garage Flower is more than just another indie group in the UK, as it is truly the embodiment of a new era in this musical genre. The musical journey, the core messages and themes of this group is linked to moments that 18 to 25-year-old listeners understand and feel, which is making it their biggest fan base. The group needs to work on its visual statement to reach a wider number of followers, outside of indie fanatics. Use of social networks and collaborations with brands or artists are strategies that result in increased relevance of this group in their genre without compromising on their authenticity. When mixed with some careful marketing and performance skills, Garage Flower is ready to capture more of its share in this market and make its mark in this industry.
In the time I have spent writing this, the collective have gained over 2,000 more followers on social media platforms, it’s clear that the world feels the same too. Garage Flower have the power not only emerge as front runners for UK’s Best Indie Band but also to become cultural touchstones, the type of band that never gets old. In 30 years time your kids will be playing their records and we’ll laugh knowing we were there from the very start.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Instagram.com. (2017a). Garage Flower (@garageflower.band) • Instagram photos and videos. [online] Available at: https://www.instagram.com/garageflower.band/ [Accessed 18 Dec. 2025].
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MAGAZINE, R. (2025). THE SLATES LIVE IN LEEDS – WAS IT A GIG TO REMEMBER? | RGM : REYT GOOD MAGAZINE DISCOVER THE LATEST MUSIC NEWS, REVIEWS, AND INTERVIEWS FROM THE BEST NEW ARTISTS. [online] RGM – Discover the latest music news, reviews, and interviews from the best new artists. Available at: https://rgm.press/the-slates-live-in-leeds-was-it-a-gig-to-remember/review/ [Accessed 8 Jan. 2026].
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