FLIPP
Volume
Popularity / Artemis

You might have heard the Minneapolis-based band Flipp play live at an arena, bar or garage near you. Maybe you've seen the video for their cover of "My Generation" on MTV, or even bought and listened to their independently produced CDs. Now Flipp is back rocking harder than ever on Volume, their first major label release.

Volume was released this past August on Popularity Records, a subsidiary of Everclear lead singer and guitarist Art Alexakis' Artemis Records. Art was so impressed with the band that he invited them on tour with Everclear last year and signed them to his record label. Art also co-produced the CD (along with Flipp frontman Brynn Arens), and his influence can be heard on some of the pop-rock tracks like "Freak," "Clone Me," "Whole World's Sick," "Rock Star," "Hairdo" (where Art and Brynn take turns tossing lyrics back and forth at each other), and "I Still Love Rock-N-Roll."

I would describe Volume as a throwback to the hard rocking bands of the late 1970s like Kiss, Alice Cooper, AC/DC and Cheap Trick, and the early 1980s glam rock/hair metal bands like Poison, Whitesnake, and Cinderella, with a bit of 80's punk band swagger thrown in to create Flipp's unique signature sound. From the beginning song "Clone Me" to the closing track "Psycho Babble," this album is filled with good old-fashioned rock anthems, powered by driving guitar and drum beats and catchy lyrics (with a lull in the middle for the obligatory ballad "Zoom") from lead singer/guitarist Brynn Arens, multi-instrumentalist Chia Karaoke, bassist (and St. Cloud native) Freaky Useless, and drummer Kilo Bale.

Having seen Flipp perform live in concert before, I expected Volume to pack the same type of raw energy from their shows, and I was not disappointed! Although the CD is a little shorter than I expected (it clocks in at just over 37 minutes), its infectious, hook-laden songs will keep the disc in heavy rotation in your CD changer. I strongly recommend that any who loves rock music deviate from the "same old" rock bands by picking up Volume and becoming a Flipp "freak" (because you don't wanna be like everybody else)!