Fans get ‘Flipp’ed

Excited faces lit up the room and the energy was ubiquitous. Behind a black curtain the stage hid, waiting to unveil what would be a high-voltage rock show.

Flipp took the stage of The Red Carpet Friday night, opening with riffs of the first single of its recent album Volume, “Clone Me,” * which lead straight into the ear-deafening “Psycho Babble.” *

Crazed fans saluted Flipp with the earned middle-finger salute and an occasional belted beer at lead singer Brynn “Schizo Boy” Arens.

Flipp fans continued to rock to the sounds of Flipp, which can be described as Kiss meets Iggy Pop. Fans tried to body surf, mosh and just plain rock out, but security made sure no one went home injured.

Freaky Useless, bassist for the nationally known band Flipp, points to the packed crowd at The Red Carpet Night Club Friday night. Photo: Jason Risberg

Flipp is no stranger to the stage. The band has been around since the late 1990s and recently toured the country opening for national acts like Cheap Trick and Everclear. The band has released several independent albums and has recently become the first band on Everclear frontman Art Alexakis’ label, Artemis records.

But Flipp is best known for their general mayhem and chaos. The band is currently on tour in support of its latest release, an album co-produced by Arens and Alexakis.

“St. Cloud! Good to see you!” Arens said to the sea of fans in the main room of the Red Carpet.

Fans responded with a retort of middle fingers and screams. Worked into a frenzy, Arens lit up the stage with Flipp’s newest release “If I was a Rock N Roll Star.”

Flipp, composed of members Freaky Useless, Chia Karaoke, Kilo Bale and Schizo Boy, are four guys dedicated to the fans and the love of music. At one point, Arens pulled a long-time fan on stage to play part of “Hair Do.”

Those fans who have seen the legendary guitar Arens uses will agree that it looks as though it could peel the skin from your frame, or worse yet, behead you in one fell swoop. The guitars were actually custom-made for the lead guitarist of ZZ Top. He didn’t like them and decided to get rid of them. That’s where Arens stepped in and bought them. He has three, in red, black and green.

The body of the guitar is the best-known symbol for Arens’ look — it resembles a fat lightning bolt. Arens also teased fans by standing over the crowd with the axe-like instrument, barely out of reach of anxious fingers.

Arens wasn’t the only one pulling fans on stage. Chia brought a musically inclined fan on stage to play his guitar. Crash, with spiked pink hair and leather pants, broke out into a rendition of Van Halen’s “You Got Me.” *

At this point, one fan worked into a lather, chucked beer onstage, which hit Arens. The fan was promptly removed and the crowd sent him off with a one-fingered salute.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had more fun than I’m having at this concert now,” said fan Mike Robideau. “If you even remotely like rock n’ roll, you haven’t seen a rock show until you’ve seen Flipp.”

Chia broke out the famed Flipp cereal and tossed it into the crowd as the band played The Who’s “My Generation.”

Arens, having riled up the crowd, announced that the band had a mission.

“(Chia) needs to body surf to the bar, get four beers and body surf back!” Arens said.

So, despite the previous action of security to stop any body surfing, Chia jumped into the crowd and surfed all the way to the bar. He got four beers, then surfed back to the stage with the beverages open and did not spill a drop.

“They made it back too!” Robideau said. “How cool!”

After two more songs, Flipp grabbed feather pillows, ripping them open and chucking them into the crowd, sending feathers everywhere and the fans went crazy.

“On behalf of the Red Carpet and chickens everywhere, thanks for having us,” Arens said.

After running off stage, the crowd rallied up and chanted “Flipp” until the band came back on stage for one last song, playing past closing time.

“This was the most amazing concert. No band I have ever seen has done a better job at pulling the crowd into their show as Flipp did,” Robideau said. “This is a true rock show.”

* A couple of notes from Unky.
- “Clone Me” is not the first single from Volume, “Freak” is.
- The band's second song was “Cock Rock, not Psycho Babble.”
- The Van Halen song referred to is actually titled, “You Really Got Me” and is actually a Kinks song. (But that would be nit picking wouldn't it?)

I think maybe this writer had too much to drink. Is that possible, to drink too much???