The Flashing Lights were a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 alternative rock

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 band, active in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Originally a side project that primarily played as a cover band

Cover band

A cover band , is a band that plays mostly or exclusively cover songs. New or unknown bands often find the cover band format marketable for smaller gigs, and these bands may be known as a wedding band, party band and function band. A band whose covers consist mainly of songs that were chart hits is...

 when Matt Murphy

Matt Murphy (Canadian musician)

Matt Murphy is a Canadian musician and actor. He is perhaps best known as the vocalist and guitarist of 1990s band The Super Friendz.-Music career:...

 wasn't occupied with his primary band The Super Friendz

The Super Friendz

The Super Friendz are a band from Halifax, Nova Scotia, active between 1994 and 1997, reforming in 2003. Contemporaries of Sloan, their early work was on Sloan's Murderecords label.-Origins:...

, the band consisted of Murphy on guitar and lead vocals, Gavin Dianda on keyboards, tambourine and harmonica, Henri Sangalang on bass guitar and backing vocals, and Steve Pitkin on drums, and became Murphy's primary band following the Super Friendz' breakup.

The band released its debut album, Where the Change Is, in 1999 on Halifax independent label Brobdingnagian Records, scoring a hit on modern rock

Modern rock

Modern rock is a rock format commonly found on commercial radio; the format consists primarily of the alternative rock genre...

 radio stations in Canada with "Half the Time". They followed up with the EP

Extended play

An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

 Elevature in 2000; Sangalang also appeared on Neko Case

Neko Case

Neko Case is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her solo career and her contributions as a member of the Canadian indie rock group The New Pornographers....

's album Furnace Room Lullaby

Furnace Room Lullaby

Furnace Room Lullaby is an alternative country album by Neko Case and Her Boyfriends, released in February 2000, on Mint/Bloodshot Records. It was Case's second solo album....

the same year, and the band appeared at Edgefest

Edgefest

Edgefest, a yearly outdoor rock concert festival that primarily promotes Canadian rock music, began in 1987 as a thank-you gesture to the listeners of Toronto radio station 102.1 the Edge and as a birthday party to commemorate both the station's tenth birthday, and the coinciding Canada Day...

 on July 1. Their second album, Sweet Release, was released in 2001 and was produced by Thrush Hermit

Thrush Hermit

-History:Thrush Hermit was formed in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1992 by Joel Plaskett , Rob Benvie , Ian McGettigan , and Michael Catano...

's Ian McGettigan

Ian McGettigan

Ian McGettigan is a Canadian rock musician and producer.As bassist, singer and songwriter for Thrush Hermit, McGettigan gained indie rock notoriety. Thrush Hermit also included Joel Plaskett, Rob Benvie and Cliff Gibb. Touring extensively through Canada and the United States, Thrush Hermit released...

.

The band subsequently went on hiatus; Murphy reunited the Super Friendz for their 2003 album Love Energy, and then took an acting role in the film The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico

The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico

The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico is a Canadian mockumentary film, released in 2005. Written and directed by Michael Mabbott, the film stars Matt Murphy, a musician previously associated with the bands The Super Friendz and The Flashing Lights, as Guy Terrifico, a country singer releasing...

. He later joined the now-defunct Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

 band City Field, contributed a song to the soundtrack for the 2009 film Defendor

Defendor

Defendor is a 2009 Canadian superhero comedy-drama film written and directed by Peter Stebbings, and starring Woody Harrelson, Kat Dennings, Elias Koteas and Sandra Oh. The story tells of a mentally ill man who adopts the persona of a superhero named Defendor on a quest to find his arch enemy,...

, and had a small acting role in the film Leslie, My Name Is Evil

Leslie, My Name Is Evil

-Plot:Leslie is a troubled 1960s teenager who eventually becomes a follower of Charles Manson and is charged, convicted, and sentenced to death in the August, 1969, murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca...

.

Dianda currently plays with the band Saffron Sect, and Pitkin played with The Violet Archers

The Violet Archers

The Violet Archers is a Canadian indie pop band. Led by former Rheostatics bassist Tim Vesely, the band consists of Vesely on vocals, Yawd Sylvester on guitar, drummer Camille Giroux, bassist Scott Remila, Ida Nilsen on piano...

 and is currently a member of Elliott Brood

Elliott Brood

Elliott BROOD is a three-piece, alt-country band from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, consisting of Mark Sasso on lead vocals, guitar, banjo, ukulele, and harmonica, Casey Laforet on guitar, backing vocals, bass pedals, keys and ukulele and Stephen Pitkin on percussion, sampler and backing vocals...

.