Teenage Rampage 2001 Concert Review

You may have heard of them back when The Edge was in the place of 93X and "I Wish I Was A Planet" and "Schizo Boy" was often played. Maybe you just found out who they are by hearfing songs like "Rockstar" and "La De Da." Or, maybe you haven't heard of them at all; but whether you're an old fan or a new fan, you know that Flipp is possibley the best local band in Minnesota. They have gained their recognition by pulling off stunts like playing at a local post office on tax day to dumping tons of cereal from a helicopter on to the crowd at Woodstock. Note from ED; Cereal was dumped at Edgefest and Taste of Chicago, not Woodstock.

Flipp appears to be intimidating on the outside, especially with lead singer Brynn Arens' loud on-stage attitude and unusual face make-up, but they are really the most down-to-earth group of guys you can meet. They love their fans, and aren't afraid to show it. you almost never leave a show without getting a word in with these guys. After all, not many bands invite their fans to parties after concerts, or play in residential garages and high schools. You will only hear of Flipp doing such things.

Many of their shows are held in small music stores that are close to the size of you own living room; which are often free or very cheap (I haven't paid more than $10 for a show myself). They made a recent appearance at a CD Warehouse in Burnsville, which wasn't too publicized. It gave Flipp enough room to chat with their fans afterwards. In the spirit of Christmas, the band wore Santa hats and even filled the air with fake snow. (Just like the feathers, I would find that they played at the Best Buy in Richfield for a CD release show promoting their newest album, "Blow It Out Your Ass!" which came out in November of 2000, three years after their first self-titled album hit stores.

You will see the same fans at each Flipp appearance, because they have been sicked into the fun. Once you go to one show, you will do whatever you cn to make it to the one after. That is what Flipp does to you. The play the best fock shows you will ever see. Any other band you see after them will seem like nothing, once exposed to the strange powers of Flipp. This is one band that just makes you happy knowing you are a part of the fun.

One of their most popular shows is the annual Teenage Rampage; an event that allows teenage and high school bands to get the chance to open for Flipp and even headline the show. It is always a poplular event, as the place gets packed wall to wall with people of all ages.

This year's Teenage Rampage (TR IV) kicked off with a group of 14 and 15 year old kids called Maxxed Out. Their performance was quite impressice for a groupd of kids putting on a show for Flipp's wild fans. I can safely say, and I'm sure many would agree that it's pretty hard to grab the attention of Flipp's fans since we are so used to the great performances they invite us to see. Their innocent, but well played punk music fired everyone up to very high energy levels, that sparked much (painful) moshing (as well as many kicks in the head...)

Sunset Black, and With. also played; as well as Faux Jean. Faux Jean's trippy music resembled that of some Beatles tunes. They have a very different, refreshing sound. Chia also seems to enjoy their style. If anyone was watching, they would have noticed him dancing behind the curtain, peaking out of a hole. I would say that they were one of the highlights of the show. Word has it that a CD will soon be out; possibly a few months from now. Visit Faux Jean's website for updates. (www.fauxjean.com) When Faux Jean finished their set, the fans anxiously awaited Flipp. The impatience filled the air like some contagious virus, but that is most common when waiting for your favorite band to play. When eternity finally passed, Flipp came on and blew us away with their antics. The place was so packed that when Brynn instructed us to jump, you didn't even need to. The fans around you lifted you up as they jumped. The lack of oxygen was nearly fatal, but it's all worth it for Flipp. Like the band says, "somebody always get hurt," which is very true, the moshers and stage divers nearly killed me. Kilo even noticed the abusiveness of these people; the faces he made were amusing. In the end, you couldn't find anybody who left without bruises. All that is common in a Flipp concert.

The show ended with the winning band Chillakoot, a rap/rock band that reminded me of Limp Bizkit and Korn who played after the stars of the show, Flipp.

I suggest do whatever you can to make it to next year's Teenage Rampage, they always kick ass!!!

We were lucky enough to talk to lead singer Brynn in a phone interview after the show. He called eating Subway, just in case you were wondering.

BRYNN: Name that band.
Jessica and Cassie: You can hear us both? (as we attempt to get things set up)
B: Yup
C: Groovy
B: Groovy? Isn't that some kind of like, hippie-sixties term?

He continues to pester us about naming the Oasis tune, as he sings some more...

B: "It's my imagination. That all I want are cigarettes and alcohol..." Name that group.
J: I don't know.
C: I give up.
B: Come on, come on, come on, two brothers in the band.
J: You?
B: No, they fight way worse than we do. They just put out a double live album... two CD set... from Wembly.
J: Where?
B: Wembly arena in Europe. It's Oasis. I was just listening to it, it really fuckin' rocks.
C: Ok, this is our first interview, so I hope we don't suck too mcuh. So anyway, should we get started?
B: Absolutely
J: Alright, first question; What bands inspired you as you were growing up?
B: What bands influenced me growing up? That's so hard...there are so many. One that didn't influence me growing up, but they influenced me a lot was Oasis; which I was just singing to you, because it's like great big huge guitars and great melodies and stuff. I was lucky to have an older brother. See, when I was growing up, music was in my opinion pretty horrible and I wasn't into it. When I was growing up, the stuff that was really big was Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Poison, Ratt, Def Leppard. That crap. But, I had an older brother who turned me on to the good stuff; The Sex Pistols, The New York Dolls; a really cool group called Mott the Hoople...
J: Never heard of them.
B: But you have heard a song by them. Have you ever heard "all the young dudes carry the news".
C: Yeah, I've heard that.
B: Yep, "All the young dudes" that's Mott the Hoople. It's very kinda David Bowie. Then of course I was pretty into KISS. I'd say that's pretty much a wrap right there.
C: Ok, next question. I hate this question but I'm going to ask it anyway. Have any of your songs that you've done been influenced by other artists?
B: You mean has anybody else stolen my songs, or have I stolen my songs from other people?
C: Well, no not neccessarily that, just...
B: Yeah, absolutely. I mean Bleed off the first album...oh another group that really, really influenced me a lot was a groupd called the Replacements from Minneapolis. I would suggest anybody pick up a copy of "Don't Tell A Soul" or "Please to Meet Me" by the Replacements. We do a Replacements song every once in a while and throw it in the set in the middle of "Hairdo" or something called "Can't Hardly Wait." If you listne to "Bleed" on the first album' that's very kind of like Sex Pistol-ish. "I Don't Care" is reminiscent of the Replacements. Another group I forgot to mention is "I Wish I Was A Planet" which is very reminiscent of Cheap Trick. Off the new record of course; "Wow" is kinda influenced a little bit by the great big drum sounds from the glam rock stuff. "Zoom" is kind of like Beatle-y. It has a Beatles thing to it. "Mr. Potato Head" even has a very twisted sort of Beatles thing to it. But your just kind of influenced by what you listen to. That's why right now it's easy for me to say things about the first record than it is this new one because it's not so fresh. Now I listen to it and I can hear the stuff that I listened to that kind of turn those songs on; things that kind of leaked into those songs; not consciously but they just kinda do it by mistake. It's a lot easier to hear it in the older material than the stuff that's really fresh; now I can notice it. I guess that would be that.
J: What were you like in high school?
B: You're doing very good girls.
J & C: Thank you.
B: I was shy. I got beat up a lot. I got called "fag" a lot.
C: Did high school greatly effect who you are today?
B: Absolutely. It made me pissed off.
C: Did you go to a public school?
B: Yes.
J: What was it like growing up with Chia?
B: I don't know, we're still finding out aren't we? (laughs) He was always telling people "My big brother Brynn is gonna beat you up," but of course you know I can't beat up anybody, I'm weak.
J: What kind of jobs did you have before Flipp?
B: Before Flipp I lived in New York; in Manhattan for five years. And...nothing. When I was in sixth grade I started my first band, and I had to basically quit sports at that point. When I was in sixth grade I didn't exactly know what it was that I wanted to do, I mean, I didn't like say "This is what I want to do" all I knew is I really liked it and did it a lot, and I started a band and we would rehearse everyday after school so I could never do sports after school and stuff. By the time I was in seventh grade we we're playing all the schools in our area and stuff. So I mean, I was playing full time, so there's really nothing I've ever done outside of having a band or being involved with bands. The only other thing that I'm doing is starting to get more into producing other bands. That's the closest thing you can even call a job outside of Flipp, which really isn't that far removed. It's pretty much kind of the same thing. I usually try to get Kilo to hang out with us as much as possible.
C: I've seen you play three different instruments now, what instruments do you play?
B: Pretty much all of them. I play piano, like on "Mr. Potato Head", "Zoom", and songs where you hear keyboard and stuff, that's usually me. I play drums, guitar, you know basically all the rock and roll instruments. I don't play violin or anything. I've never tried, I probably could. Can't be that much different from the guitar, once you get used to using the bow.
C: If you were 15 again, is there anything you'd like to do differently?
B: When I was 15, what would I like to do again?...Get laid (laughs) No, what would I do if I were 15 again...No I really can't say I would do anything differently. It would be impossible for me to say anything because I was doing the same thing I'm doing now. It's all good. I guess maybe I would have tried to get around more. When I was 15 I hung out a lot with kids that were older than me because I was kind of like the hot shot kid guitar player, so I started playing in bars and stuff when I was really young and they'd put me up on stage and say " Look at this kid play" and I would play guitar. I wish I could have traveled more as opposed to being in this area, but at the same time, I don't know. I didn't suck either.
J: Where would you like to go with Flipp? How big do you want to get? Do you want to stay local?
B: No. That's kind of a double-edged questions. I don't have any super-great aspirations. You have to understand that my motivation for doing this is not to be the biggest or to be the smallest or to really be anything. It's just to do it. As long as I can keep doing it, I'm happy. That's fairly obvious in what we do. Have you guys ever come to see us play in a garage?
J & C: No.
B: Dude garage shows, those are a blast! I mean there's probably like 50 kids there and it's just great. That can be just as awesome as playing Woodstock or Edgefest or XFest or anything; Taste of Chicago, I mean God, I don't know how many people we played for-like a hundred thousand people or something...I just like to play the guitar so much, that one way or another whether there is 5 people there or even if there is nobody and I'm just sitting here in my living room, I'll still be playing guitar. So my aspirations are simply just to enjoy playing as opposed to focusing in on what it is I can do to become the biggest and baddest rock star in the whole wide world, and have a million videos on MTV and ultimately become really boring.
J: Yeah, well that's good because it seems like a lot of bands are focusing more on that.
B: Right. I agree.
C: If you could choose one word to describe yourself, what would it be and why?
B: (Laughs) Schizo. And why? Simply because I am. You guys caught me at a good moment.
C: Have you guys started planning for a new album yet, or is it too soon after "Blow It Out Your Ass!"?
B: Well the funny thing is, it took a little bit of time for all sorts of boring legal reasons between the Hollywood Records first Flipp album to come out and this one, that I was writing songs everyday. I have oogles and googles and shklubleakles and shklublaggles of songs. We are not preparing to do a new album right now, but at same time I certainly don't want that same amount of time to lapse between B.I.O.Y.A. and the next. I talked to the president of Rock Steady Records the other day and said "hey, let's get the second record out on your company right away," Flipp's third record, because the material is there. But of course we have to wait a little while; that wouldn't be fair to "Blow It Out Your Ass!" to put out another record right away, but at the same time, I have the material to do it. Like I said, we're writing songs everyday. I have songs right now that I think are better than anything we've ever done. The idea of putting out another record is definitely super exciting. We have really great material. Another fun thing about that always is you get to put more songs on the song list.
C: Are there any hidden meanings behind any of your songs that only you and the band know about?
B: Yeah. (Laughs) Yes.
C: You don't need to be anymore specific if you don't want to.
B: Ok.
C: If rock and roll was outlawed, what kind of music would you be playing or listening to?
B: Great question. If rock and roll were outlawed...I think I would just be in jail playing rock and roll.
C: Do you guys have any upcoming tours?
B: Yup. I actually got a call today about something called the Midwest Music Fest in Atlanta which is a big Woodstock kind of X-Fest music festival. Stone Temple Pilots are playing on it, Green Day, and Bob Dylan if you can believe that. It's really wierd he said "and Bob Dylan," and I went "what does that have to do with anything?" What, am I suppose to tell my dad?

First of all, I'm very geographically inept. I have toured the country many times, and on the way back from one of our last tours I asked the driver which part of Michigan Wisconsin was in. (laughs) I can look out the window of the bus and I can tell you exactly what state I'm in but I can't tell you how to get there.
C: What's your favorite city to play in?
B: Probably right here. Right now it's here, although I love playing in New York. New York is so great, there is so much to do; from all of the great restraurants to all of the great clubs. It's just great. You can walk down the street with your pants at your ankles and no one notices. It's fun.
C: Is Minneapolis still a big city for music, because I know it used to be.
B: Yeah, it was for a while. It's a tough thing right now. No where is really a big city for music right now, because we have such an onslaught of Backstreet Boys, N Synch, Brittany Spears, Christina Aqulara, that the music industry is so swallowed up by pop music that the rock and roll music isn't really thriving a lot. You have to put Korn and Limp Bizkit on the same tour to sell enough tickets to pay to have a concert, you know what I mean? But from the way it looks, and it always happens; it will swing back. I think the world just needs to be more exposed to Flipp. More people just need to have some fuckin' cereal dumped on their heads. That's what I'm thinkin'. If I have anything to say about it, Minneapolis will soon be another of the great music towns.
J: What is the one thing that you appreciate most about your fans?
B: About my fans? You know what I appreciate-and it's not just the fans, it's the band too. Just the fact, like you guys are a shining example. You're not initimidated to talk to us. Like at the Teenage Rampage people were jumping up on stage. Even though we put on a big show, us being four very strong characters we put on a show kind of...I mean I don't want to compare us to KISS...but it's a performance, you know what I mean? It's not four guys staring at their shoes saying "we're cooler than you, we're not even gonna look at you." What I appreciate about people coming to see Flipp is that even though we're whacky and I'm demented and I have to take pills sometimes to settle me down, they're not afraid to approach us. We're not asshole people and I think that comes through in our music, I think it comes through in our shows, and in the same way the fans pick up on that and they feel like they can talk to us or whatever, so I appreciate that. I appreciate that our fans understand that, yeah we're the band at the party, but you know what? We're all at the same party and I know you're coming there to see our band, but believe it or not, we're coming out to hang out with everybody. We don't come there just to play and be the big shots. We come out and play because we like to hang with everybody. I think from the shows that I go to, that a lot of the people that come to see us are a lot cooler. I don't necessarily think that our band is way better than other bands, but I think that our fans are way better than other band's fans.
J: What advice do you have for aspiring musicians?
B: The best advice for a rock person who wants to get into a band is to first and foremost; decide if you really want to go at it whole heartedly; or if you just want it to be a hobby. No matter what, if you enjoy it; it's all good. On whatever level you do it on, enjoying it is more important than being on the cover of Rolling Stone. There are musicians on the cover of Rolling Stone whose lives to them are a living, breathing hell. There's a guy sitting in his garage, playing by himself who has got a smile across his face and he's loving life. At some point really decide what it is you want to do and at that one point you decide you really want to do this seriously and this is really what you want to do for a living, this is what you want to do for your life; do it and it only. Don't go get another job. Don't only do it at night. Don't only do it in the morning or when you can. Make it have to work for you. I actually was in the studio the other day and somebody came up to me and asked me that same question. He said "Brynn I just want to do this so bad, I want to be in the studio all the time, I want to play live," and I said "Well what do you do?" He said "Well, I work at Target" and I said "Well quit" he goes "I can't quit, I'll loose my car..." and the thing I said was "Well, no because you're gonna have to work at your music and everything else, and at some point it will take care of your car." You really have to put yourself on the line, and you really have to make it your number one priority. Kinda long winded, I'm drinking coffee now.
C: This next question is kinda wierd. If you were driving down the freeway at 55 mph...
B: And Sammy Hagar came up to me and said "You can't drive 55?" No, I'm sorry. What?
C: (laughs)... And a cat crossed in front of you; would you swerve to avoid it, risking your own life, or would you let him have it?
B: Oh, no way. Come here Stanley. (little kissing noises)
C: I take it you have a cat?
B: Yup. I once lived in a one bedroom apartment by myself and had 15 cats and me. I really only had one cat, but I was watching a friend's cat who was out of town for two weeks, and both our cats had kittens at the same time. It was so wierd. So I would come into my apartment and I would lay on the floor and all thes little kitties, you know how before they can run they do that little jump thing? They would jump all over me. It was so fun. I'm kind of an animal wuss. I like animals. So I would probably swerve. I ran over a dog once and had to pull over because I started crying.
C: Do you have any other pets?
B: Nope.
J: Ok, this question is kinda screwed up but we have to ask everybody just to see their reaction.
B: I like it.
J: If you had to choose between being a spoon or a fork, which one would you be?
B: Between what?
J: A spoon or a fork...
B: Yup. What would I pick? I'd pick a spork.
J: (laughs) Everyone says that.
B: Or a foon...Nope, if I had to give an answer to that really dumb question, it would be a fork. I eat my ice cream with a fork...(laughs) That's good.
J: If you were interviewing yourself, what is the one thing you'd like your fans to know?
B: What is one thing I would like the fans to know? Something bothered me the other day. It was actually after the party after Teenage Rampage. Somebody came up to me and they said "What's with all these goth people here, there shouldn't be goth people at a Flipp concert." And I said "What are you talking about? Anybody can go anywhere they want." If I had anything to say to anybody, it would be fitter to be more open and tolerable to people who outwardly don't appear to be the same as you. That goes right back to the question you asked me in high school. I would carry my guitar around, and I would have my long hair and everybody would be "Oh, Brynn's a fag with his guitar" and they would beat me up. But they didn't know me. I was like a nice guy. The only thing that worked actually in my favor in the whole scenario was the fact that girls started to feel sorry for me and then I kinda started getting dates and stuff. So I think it would just be too be more open to the people around you. Be more aware of the people around you. It's like with stage divers too. When you dive off the stage, don't kick anybody in the fuckin' head.
C: Is there anything we left out that you'd want to say?
B: Get it through your head, rock and roll ain't dead; I got catatonic, panasonic blasting through my head, and I ain't about to shut the fuckin' thing off.

That concludes our interview with Brynn. What joyous fun we had.