Catch 'em on the Flipsyde
Courtesy of F. Scott Shafer
From left to right: D-Sharp, Piper, Dave Lopez and Steve Knight make up the band Flipsyde, they open for the Pussycat Dolls and the Black Eyed Peas Thursday in the Save Mart Center. |
By Kirstie Hettinga
The Collegian
The creation of the band Flipsyde had a lot to do with luck. Piper, the band’s MC, said he and fellow band member Steve Knight were working independently in the Bay Area when they first met and began to collaborate.
“We made some music neither of us had ever made before,” Piper said.
A literal collision with guitarist Dave Lopez and the addition of DJ D-Sharp created Flipsyde.
The band may be best known for their single “Someday,” which NBC used to promote the Turin Olympic Games, but Piper recognizes the group’s modest beginning.
“Someone taped one of our sessions and it got into the right hands,” he said.
Fipsyde will begin its first U.S. tour Thursday at the Save Mart Center with the Black Eyed Peas and the Pussycat Dolls. The group has traveled in Europe with Snoop Dogg.
Piper said all three groups get along and “it’s going to be great tour.”
It’s the fans Piper credits in part for the group’s success, “we take our hats off to our fans, they’re our extended family.” Piper said Flipsyde is a group whose popularity arose from word of mouth. “Someone always happened to know about us,” he said.
The band’s unique flavor comes the varied backgrounds of the band members. Piper is from Oakland with the influence of a Brazilian father. Vocalist and guitarist Knight comes from a Southern background and Lopez was born in Chile.
Their different upbringings also led to each band member listening to different music including blues, Chilean protest music and country, all of which have had an influence on the band’s style, which Piper said comes out in the studio and onstage.
“Our music is a description of the soul, no soul is one way,” Piper said.
Piper said group’s mutual respect for each other comes their open minds and willingness to listen.
‘We all respect each other in our day-to-day lives and onstage,” Piper said. “Our music gets real because it is based on our casual conversations.”
Piper said the group creates music based on how they feel and what they think. “We just feel certain ways about certain things,” he said.
“If we’re in a good mood, we make a good mood song,” he said.
Piper said Flipsyde is looking forward to hanging out in Fresno, “It’s a college town,” Piper said with a laugh.
“We’re a high energy kind of band, the crowd gives energy and we give it back to them,” he said.
Flipsyde will be onstage in the Save Mart Center Thursday with the Pussycat Dolls and the Black Eyed Peas at 7 p.m.
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