Flipper was a band from San Francisco, CA. They formed in 1979 with the original members Bruce Lose (bass+vocals), Will Shatter (bass+vocals), Steve DePace (drums) and Ted Falconi (guitar).
They released their first song, Earthworm, on the SF Underground EP in 1979 on Subterranean Records which released most of their albums. Following the single "Love Canal/ Ha Ha" they released their debut and best-known album, Generic Flipper, in 1982.
In general their music can be described as being droning, noisy, trashy, slow and loud. It can´t really be called punk rock, but as they said, pet rock. One member said in an interview back in ´86 "yeah, when I take off my shoes and my socks we sound pretty good."
Among their first gigs were several shows at a venue called "The Deaf Club". It was kind of incredible, because it was a club for deaf people, so the audience couldn´t actually hear the music, but feel the vibrations through the dancefloor.
The band was very funny in their own way, using social commentary in nearly all their songs. At their best they were totally outrageous, original and hilarious, while at their worst they basically rumbled into town and onto stage in a messed up incohearant state, leaving the audience dissed that the band even bothered to show up.
In 1983 Flipper appeared in Rick Schmidt´s movie "Emerald Cities" and Shine found its way on the soundtrack.
They´ve influenced many other bands including Mudhoney (Mark Arm wrote the liner notes for their album Sex Bomb Baby), Nirvana and the Melvins who covered Way of the World, Love Canal and Sacrifice.
But they were also notorious drug abusers and Will eventually died in ´87 of an accidental heroin overdose. The band broke up after that.
In 1990 the three remaining members re-formed, recorded two songs and released their album American Grafishy. It was the first official release on the new label founded by Henry Rollins and Rick Rubin. They toured with Gwar and the Melvins with a new bass player, John Dougherty. Bruce Lose sang all the songs.
In 1993 Bruce had a car accident which forced Flipper to break up again, because of injuries at his spine he wasn´t quite able to perform live anymore. Later, in 1997 John overdosed on heroin as well.
