How the San Francisco group survived death, drugs, and disaster… Steve DePace is reflecting on the way journalists used to refer to Flipper in their early days. “They started calling us The Grateful Dead Of The 80s, because of how long we were jamming out our songs,” he chuckles. “Then when hardcore happened, journalists started calling us The Hated Flipper, or The Band That Everyone Loves To Hate.” Again, he pauses to laugh at the memory. “A lot of the kids were frustrated ‘cause they couldn’t slamdance – they were used to hardcore, and when we came on stage and played super-slow, they just couldn’t figure out what to do.”
By this stage you may be wondering exactly how Flipper managed to transcend this vitriol and bewilderment – because what’s the point in a punk band you can’t mosh to? And how exactly did they become recognized as one of the most important bands to emerge from the US punk underground in its most fertile period? Luckily, DePace suspects he may have the answer… read more >
