Written and interviewed by Krysta Ayers

MAY 16, Empire Control Room—I heard somewhere (it was probably a comment on TikTok) that music is for the youth. And if that’s the case, then the youth are going to be in great hands with Flight by Nothing. Currently on their Spring + Summer Tour ‘25, the five-piece rock band (106K monthly listeners on Spotify) is calling Austin home and sweetening the talent pool.

On Friday night, ATXconcert caught up with Conner (vocals/guitar), Huey (keys/vocals), Pacco (lead guitar), Sam (drums), and Porfii (bass)—the bandmates that have been friends since elementary(!)—for a quick interview before the show. But, before you scroll on to the interview, let me wax poetic about their high-energy, blue-light-blinding, intoxicating show.

Mark my words: You’ll be hearing about Flight by Nothing if you aren’t already familiar with them. And while it may seem like an exaggeration, just take a listen for yourself, and then (because I’m telling you now), know that they sound even better live. They have created the right combination of genres and style, have boundless energy, and unquestionable talent. And the long-term friendship has paid off on stage. They easily communicate with nods, pointed instruments, or glances.

Among new and unreleased songs, they also played songs from their 2023 album, Back for More. They played the titular track near the end of the set, and followed up with the quintessential rock songs, “Analysis Paralysis” and “Cocaine is OK”—which made the dark, tight venue feel like something out of the early-aughts. Made more believable since the (mostly) young crowd was wearing the fashion trends of that era.

They played “shiver,” which has a reggae sound that could easily belong to Rebelution, and “HERE WE GO,” which was just released late last month as a single. Conner’s tenor voice and Porfii’s bass solo (yes, a bass solo!!) on that one are incredible, like they’ve been playing it for longer than a month, and the band easily gets the crowd to jump around and join in.

At one point, Conner tells the crowd, “This next song is about making sweet sweet love” before jumping into the groovy track, “soul submission,” a single released in 2024. For “Too Bummed to Dance,” a song that Huey sings the vocals for, they coax the crowd into getting low on the floor before popping up to jump on beat. And during the entire show, Pacco wields his guitar like it’s an extension of himself, channeling the guitarists he looks up to (in the interview below), head-banging with his long, sweaty hair, and expertly strumming each note with finesse. His hours of practice have made this appear easy.

Because that’s really the whole of it: Flight by Nothing has so obviously taken music and their instruments seriously, and as much as they are having a blast on stage, the hours they’ve put in do not go unnoticed. The lyrics are tight, the guys are charismatic, and the music that they’ve created is that of someone who has studied the bands of different genres that came before them. And so, if you’ve got a second to check them out, or you ever see that they’re playing at a venue near you, you would do well to watch them and take it in for yourself.

And now, an interview with Flight by Nothing. This has been edited for clarity and length.

ATXconcert: Who do y’all get music inspiration from?

Conner: Right now, in a nutshell: Bad Nerve, Turnstile, Jungle, Michael Jackson’s always in there, City and Colour, and Tash Sultana.
Pacco: Hm, the guitars that are just theatrical. Like, Jimi Hendrix was always great on stage, Van Halen, Ozzy Osborne’s guitar player, Jake E. Lee from the 80’s was one of the best—he was good technically but he could also put on a show and that’s what I try to do on stage.
Sam: As a kid, I got a lot of inspiration from Travis Barker. I like Anderson .Paak a lot; I think he’s really inspiring...My Morning Jacket is a band that’s been around for like, 25 years and it’s just cool to hear that that music is still cool 25 years later.
Huey: Flipturn is an up-and-coming band. Big fan. They’re on a new level every few months and that’s really inspiring to see.
Porfii: ‘70s and ‘80s funk and The Red Hot Chili Peppers

ATX: What band would you want to open up for?

Flight by Nothing: Young the Giant, The Arctic Monkeys, Parcels, Turnstile

ATX: You guys did SXSW this year. How was that?

Conner: Oh, it was awesome! It was so much fun. I feel like you always hear people talking about, “OH, SXSW isn’t what it used to be.” I feel like we can’t personally speak on that because we’ve only been to the past few as fans and then the first time playing this past one but I feel like we had the quintessential O.G. SX show because it felt like a house party. Everyone was stoked to be in there. It was packed. We were just on it that night. It was so much fun.

ATX: What’s the craziest story you can share from tour?

FBN: I think the craziest, we played River Fest in San Marcos and we played right before Tyga and the gate came down during our set. So, 1,000 people rushed in, it was over capacity and the whole set people were passing out, they were calling ambulances. It felt really hard to tell everyone, Ok everyone get hype!

ATX: You guys have a lot of singles out right now. Does this mean we’re going to get another album soon?

Conner: Yeah, we’re working on an album. Half of it is recorded, half of it still in our brains, but there is the scaffolding for an album. We really want to aim to put it out at the end of the year. We wanna take our time with it and really stick the landing, you know?

ATX: What do you want fans to take away from your shows?

Conner: I want them to come to the show, and I want them to have, just the best time ever. I want them to feel comfortable and free to dance and sing the wrong words and be off-key, and make friends. I want it to be a very communal experience. We’re all here together. I really want people to leave with connections, too.
Huey: I think when we used to play in Dallas, we would sit outside of the venue and ask people to come to the show and then we would play to like, 5 to 15 people, but it would be such a good time. I think we still carry that. Where, if you’re here, just to see us, then we’re here for y’all, too.