Fleure is a grunge-punk band based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, made up of guitarist and vocalist Kylie Rusk, bassist and vocalist Sarah Frick, and drummer Michael Davis.
Influenced by the 1990’s grunge and punk rock scenes, Fleure creates original music while evoking nostalgia through their melodies and lyrics. Pulling from iconic 80s and 90s bands like The Smiths and The Smashing Pumpkins, listeners are met with powerful ballads intertwined with meaningful lyricism.
“Music for me is very therapeutic. It’s a form of therapy for me and it’s an outlet.” Frick said. “I just hope people are able to resonate with our songs and realize, and understand how vulnerable and honest they are. That’s my favorite kind of music. The songs that are like, ‘I am so glad they said that, they put what I’m feeling or thinking into words and sound.’”
The band’s name was inspired by the French word for flower, “fleur”. According to the band’s biography on the Norman Music Festival website, this name Fleure was chosen due to the members’ love of French culture and language.
Rusk and Frick met almost ten years ago and quickly began playing music together during their brief time spent at the University of Oklahoma after high school. In March of 2022 Davis joined the group, completing the trio and bringing percussion to the band's sound.
“It was a perfect fit,” Rusk said.
While Frick was influenced by having a musician as a father, Rusk and Davis found an outlet through music on their own. Davis was first introduced to drumming from his neighbor after moving to Tulsa at the age of 11, and Rusk asked for her first guitar when she was around 8 years old.
“My love for music and my love for hitting things with sticks kind of molded together, and I classically trained, and I’ve been playing drums now since I was 11 so about 17 years,” Davis said. “I’m teaching it now, so I’m going to be doing it for the rest of my life.”
With two singles already released, the band is in the early stages of producing an album. A few songs that are regularly sung at the band’s gigs will be included, in addition to some new material. While they don't have a solid time frame on when the album will be released the band said they have an album's worth of songs ready to record, it’s just a matter of finding the right place.
Although Rusk has performed at the festival with other groups, this will be Fleure’s debut performance as a band.
Fans of Fleure will have another opportunity to see the band play soon after the Norman Music Festival. Fleure will be playing with other local bands at the Vanguard in Tulsa on May 13 at 8 p.m.
They will be performing on Friday evening at Norman Music Festival on the Country Cannabis Alley Stage at 6:30 p.m. Fleure's music is available on Spotify. More information on upcoming shows and new releases can be found on Fleure’s Instagram.
This story was edited by Emma Blakley and Silas Bales. Nikkie Aisha and Mary Ann Livingood copy edited this story.
