Flipper is back together and ready to celebrate its 40th anniversary.
The iconic San Francisco punk/noise-rock act, best known for the 1981 single “Sex Bomb” (not to be confused with the Tom Jones tune) as well as for inspiring such notable acts as Nirvana and the Melvins, even has three local shows on the books.
And I’m giving fans plenty of advance notice, since the group hasn’t played Northern California since a 2015 date at the Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco.
So, make plans to see Flipper when it performs July 11 at the Ritz in San Jose (8 p.m.; $21.50-$25, theritzsanjose.com), July 12 at the Blue Lamp in Sacramento (8 p.m.; $20, www.bluelampsacramento.com) and July 13 at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco (9 p.m.; $20-$22, www.slimspresents.com).
I recently spoke with San Francisco native and Flipper founding member Steve DePace, who now lives in Los Angeles, about the band’s 40th anniversary plans.
Q: Hi, Steve. Nice to hear that Flipper is heading back to where it all began for the group — the Bay Area. What led to the decision to get the band back together again?
A: In the middle of January, I kind of realized that 2019 was Flipper’s 40th anniversary. So, I kind of got inspired by that. We hadn’t done anything in three years — played or toured or anything. I just thought that the 40th anniversary was a good reason and good excuse to kind of put everything back together again and try to do it bigger than ever.
Q: What’s the lineup look like for the tour?
A: We are not able to tour and play with Bruce Loose, one of our original members. He’s been suffering from a broken back for years now. That’s why we got together with David Yow (of The Jesus Lizard fame) years ago. And we don’t have a permanent bass player either. It’s Ted Falconi and myself, who are the last remaining, operational, founding and original members.
So, my thought was to reach out to people who we have worked with or been associated with — bands and/or artists who have been huge fans of ours, etc. — and put together a variety of different lineups.
David Yow was the first one I reached out to and we kind of went back and forth as to what he could do or wanted to do. And, it turned out that he kind of wanted to do everything.
Q: That’s great. Who else have you contacted?
A: I reached out to (Mike Watt) and he was thrilled to get involved. He recalled right off the bat having played with Flipper 36 years ago with the Minutemen. It was interesting that he remembered that right off the top of his head. He said he was honored to be asked and he held Flipper in very high regard.
Also, we are working with Rachel Thoele, who is famous for being in the Mudwimin and Frightwig, both old San Francisco bands. Back in the day, Frightwig — one of the things they were called was the “Female Flipper.” Rachel is an old friend of ours and she has played with us before, so she has joined the ranks to do a number of the U.S. dates with us.
We reached out to Krist Novoselic, formerly of Nirvana, who worked with us for two years, back around 2008. He is interested in working with us whenever he can, whenever schedules permit, so we will probably be looking at doing some shows with him.
(Note: The band lineup for the Northern California shows consists of Falconi on guitar, DePace on drums, Thoele on bass and Yow on vocals.)
Q: How’s the fan reaction been to the comeback news?
A: The reaction has been great. It’s been amazing. People are begging for shows in their region of the country and Europe. People are looking at the tour itinerary and saying, “Please come here, please come there.” It’s really exciting.
Q: What else have you got cooking to celebrate the 40th anniversary?
A: Along with touring and playing around the states, one of the other things I wanted to do was some collaborative recording projects. So, I had this idea to partner up with other bands and do these collaborative recording projects.
One that I can tell you about, that has been confirmed, is that Ted Falconi and myself are going to be recording with Buzz and Dale from the Melvins. We’re going to be recording one or two brand new original songs that will be written by Ted, myself, Buzz and Dale. And they have already recorded three Flipper tracks — three Flipper songs that they chose.
That (project) is going to come out and be available on a 10-inch vinyl EP that will be available at both Flipper shows and Melvin shows.
Q: So, is this really a one-off, special occasion type thing here? Sounds to me like Flipper is back in business and could be around for quite some time.
A: Yeah, but it’s all kicking off with the 40th anniversary thing. If we get out there and things are going well and we can continue into next year then so be it. And there’s so much pilling on right now that it looks as though it will do that.
