Maybe it’s just that time of year, but this might just be the moment for darkwave.

Channeling the gloomy, post-punk sound of bands like Joy Division and Front 242, a new generation of bands loosely identified as darkwave has been bubbling under the surface for several years now. And even if you haven’t heard of acts like French Police, Blood Club, Actors or Ultra Sunn, their songs fill dance floors in Southern California and their shows are often selling out.

So who are these bands? Read on:

French Police

We caught up with French Police just after the Chicago-based band arrived in Milwaukee to kick off its fall tour. With 28 gigs across the U.S. and Canada, including sold-out shows this month at Santa Ana’s Constellation Room and The Belasco in L.A., this might be their biggest trek yet.

Singer and rhythm guitarist Brian Flores formed French Police in 2019, but the original incarnation was short-lived.

“After the pandemic happened, (French Police) kind of broke up,” he explains. Flores reformed the group with a new lineup in 2021 and the band’s do-it-yourself shows began generating some buzz.

“It started getting progressively bigger,” lead guitarist Manny Herrera says of their following.

“I think definitely the anticipation from getting out of the lockdown and stuff like that really helped push us forward,” adds bassist Rolando Donjuan. “People really started coming out to a lot of shows.”

Now, songs like “Club de Vampiros” and “Her,” the latter from this year’s full-length album, “Bully,” can be heard at Southern California darkwave clubs. Earlier in the year, French Police appeared on the bill with Interpol, one of Flores’ influences, and the Jesus and Mary Chain at the music festival Cruel World.

While the bandmates, who are planning their first South American tour for next year, admit to being bad at social media, their music has gotten a good amount of traction on Spotify and TikTok as well.

“I feel like there are two types of bands out nowadays: There are TikTok bands and people who make music,” says Flores.

As for French Police, Flores adds, “We don’t do TikTok, so I guess we fall into the other category.”

Ultra Sunn

In the midst of the pandemic, Brussels-based Ultra Sunn released what would become its signature song, “Keep Your Eyes Peeled,” a banger with its roots in EBM, industrial music’s dance floor-friendly sibling popularized in the late 1980s by groups like Front 242 and Nitzer Ebb. Once nightclubs reopened, the song became a hit.

Now, club kids are hitting the dance floor for “Broken Monsters” from Ultra Sunn’s debut full-length, “US.” The band also released a single, “Stories,” in early October. DJs, singer and synthesizer player Sam Huge says, have had a significant role in bringing new fans to the band. “I think this is one of the best ways to discover our music, when people go dancing or to a club,” he says, adding that Spotify and TikTok have also been helpful.

The band’s extensive touring has been beneficial, too. “When we play live, it’s always the best way to meet your crowd and your fan base and to share something real with everybody,” says Huge. “It’s something that we build together during the set.”

In the live setting, Ultra Sunn’s songs can transform. Take “You and Me,” from “US,” which is the first love song Huge and Ultra Sunn co-founder Gaelle Souflet wrote together.

“It’s kind of strange because it was a love song for the both of us,” says Huge, “and in the end, when we play it live it sounds or it feels like a love song between us and the crowd.”

The band’s appearance Saturday at Substance Festival will be its second L.A. date this year.

Actors

“The goth/dark DJs have been great supporters in helping the bands grow over the years,” says Jason Corbett of Vancouver, British Columbia-based Actors, who will be playing Highland Park’s Lodge Room on Nov. 23. With an emotional yet dance floor-friendly sound that harks back to early ’80s New Romantic and synthpop groups, Actors has scored club hits with songs like “Face Meets Glass” and “Cold Eyes.”

“When we first started out, I didn’t see a lot of newer bands getting embraced by DJs,” says Corbett. “I think that the audiences really wanted the old school goth, but those doors, now, have just been blown wide open.”

Corbett released the first Actors single, “Post-Traumatic Love,” 12 years ago. “I put that song up on Bandcamp and slowly but surely, starting in Europe, the song started to gain traction and people slowly became fans of Actors,” he says on a recent Zoom call. Still, it wasn’t until 2018 that Actors were signed to Artoffact Records; released their debut full-length, “It Will Come to You”; and began touring.

Since then, Actors released their second full-length album, “Acts of Worship.” The band is preparing fans for a third album with the release of several singles, the most recent of which, “Object of Desire,” was released this month. Actors was also just announced to play Cruel World in Pasadena this May, part of a lineup headlined by New Order, and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

Blood Club

When Blood Club played The Paramount in Boyle Heights in June, the Chicago-based band sold out the venue. “It was probably the biggest show that we’ve done and it’s crazy to see how loyal fans are,” says Jesse Flores on a recent call. “Everyone is singing every word and they’re all moshing the whole time, even though I wouldn’t say that we have moshing kind of music.”

Flores, who previously played in French Police, started Blood Club just a couple of years ago. He isn’t quite sure how people are learning about his band.

“It feels like we just got lucky, to be honest,” he says. Flores’ first Blood Club song, “Gastado,” was released in 2022 and quickly caught listeners’ ears. Subsequent releases, including this year’s full-length album, “lovesick,” have continued to attract new fans. “It hasn’t been a super-fast growth, but it’s been steady and I think that shows that we are actually building up a fan base as opposed to 10 seconds of fame,” he adds.

That’s important for Blood Club, which prioritizes growing a “proper fan base” over numbers online. “We do this for the music and to play live. We love doing that,” says Flores. “We care more about that than our numbers online, but the numbers are nice online too.”

With songs like “No Quiero Bailar” and “Kiss and Tell,” both off “lovesick,” harking back to the sound of New Order’s earliest singles, Blood Club’s post-punk vibe resonates with fans in Southern California. The band also had successful shows in Riverside and San Diego on its previous tour. However, a Dec. 1 gig at the downtown L.A. venue 1720 will be its only Southern California date for the rest of the year.