One Year Later: Indie Rock Band Flipturn chats about debut album, Shadowglow tour, and Jalapeño the Tour Chicken

One Year Later: Indie Rock Band Flipturn chats about debut album, Shadowglow tour, and Jalapeño the Tour Chicken

On Aug. 19, up and coming indie rockers, Flipturn released their debut full-length album, Shadowglow (2022). Soon after, they set off on their cross-country tour. 

I sat down with them on the twelfth stop of the tour ahead of their show at Bottom of the Hill in SF on Oct. 9 to chat about the new record and their fall tour – just one year after The Berkeley B-Side’s first ever interview with the band. 

The band’s lineup consists of: Dillon Basse (lead vocalist), Madeline Jarman (Bass), Tristan Duncan (lead guitar), Mitch Fountain (synth), and Devon VonBalson (Drums). 

— 

Anna Armstrong: Hi y’all! Great to see you again! Jumping right in, let’s talk a little bit about how this tour is different from the last one. Last year, you all embarked on your first tour ever and a lot has changed in a year. You were recently signed to a pretty awesome record label. What has this been like for you all? 

Devon VonBalson: Well, the album’s finally out and you know, we’re playing all of the new songs that we couldn’t play before. We have a lighting rig on tour with us now. So there’s a lot of new elements that we’re working into the show. Definitely a longer set.

Madeline Jarman: We have the record label, which is a new thing. It’s really exciting. Dualtone has been an amazing addition to the crew that we have built. I think we are a little bit more ragged now too. 

*Laughs* 

Dillon Basse: Yeah, we are a little more road-worn. But as far as what we have added, I think that is pretty much it.

AA: Awesome. You played a couple songs for us from the album last tour, but now the full thing is out. Talk to us a little bit about what the writing process looked like? How did it change from your earlier EPs to the full length album if it changed much at all?

MJ: I think the changes are that Devon and Mitch were both part of that writing process from the very beginning and they’ve been amazing part of the band – irreplaceable.

Mitch Fountain: She’s just saying that because we are right here. 

*Laughs* 

DB: But as for the writing process itself, I don’t think too much has changed about it. We spent more time on the details of the actual writing process. We just took our time more than we have in the past. I kind of learned from the older releases what stuff to apply and things we wanted to on the new one. 

MJ: This was our first time flying out to record. All of the other music that we’ve put out recently was all done in Florida. It was the first time we flew out to California and met with our producer, John. Working with him was really cool. It was great and really helped us bring our ideas and everything to life. We had a pretty similar writing process on our end and it hasn’t changed much.We like the jam on an idea and then it kind of comes to life like that. 

AA: Awesome. Are there any songs in particular just instrumentally that  you guys are jazzed to play tonight?

DB: I like ‘Take Care’ a lot. 

All: Oooh, yea! 

MJ: There is a cool little extension to the ending on that one. 

Tristan Duncan: That one sounds great in this venue and it did during soundcheck.

DB: It’s been really fun to play recently. I actually enjoyed that.

AA: It’s one of my favorite tracks on the album, so I’m stoked to hear it. 

AA: Have you had any fun stops along the way so far? How much time is spent just traveling and how much do you actually get to explore? Have you seen any sights?

TD: We have explored probably 2% of tour.

*Laughs*

DB: Tomorrow is going to be a big explore day. We’re driving up to Portland and Seattle, but we’re trying to see the redwoods. I’ve never seen them. 

TD: I saw them in Oregon, but I haven’t seen them in a forest before, really.

AA: Are you headed up the Northern Coast of California? 

All: Yeah!

AA: That’s really exciting.You have to do the full Avenue of the Giants drive. It’s right off of the 101, and a super pretty drive. It’s a 32 mile stretch of redwoods along a highway with various hiking stops. If you’re heading up that way, you definitely have to stop there. It’s I think better than Oregon’s, but I’m a little biased.

*Laughs*

Let the record show that the band did in fact see the redwoods and Avenue of the Giants the following day. 

DV: I am really looking forward to New York and Boston.

AA: Are there some new places you haven’t played yet that you’re playing on this tour?. 

DB: Oh yeah! We have  never played San Luis Obispo before and we played it last night.

 DV: The venues that we’re playing in New York and Boston are ones we’re super excited about. We’ve played the Bowery Ballroom in New York, opening for Wilderado before. We get to come back and headline it two nights in a row, which is exciting. And then Brighton Hall.

DB: Well, yeah. That’s where we were going to play and then we upgraded to a venue called Paradise Rock Club.

DV: Paradise Rock Club, yeah. Just watching the venues upgrade and knowing that we’re gonna play a pretty legendary venue in Boston was really exciting. 

AA: Last year saw the introduction of Jalapeño the Tour Chicken – a rubber chicken who now tours with you all. He’s been with you guys for a while now… going on a year. He is better traveled than me, wow. Have you had any fun jokes or running bits on this tour? 

MF: Cereal.

DV: People are now handing us rubber chickens. 

DB: Someone brought us a little baby version of Jalapeño and we named him Habañero. He’s like a little keychain version of Jalapeño. 

MJ: But, Jalapeño remains supreme, so I don’t know how long the other chickens will survive. The baby will survive. 

AA: I have to say that was a bit I didn’t think was gonna be as long running as it was, but here we are haha. 

*Laughs*

MF: We sale shirts!!

DV: That’s kinda what we do. Wealways take a joke and we run with it way too long.

DV and MF: Wayyyy too long. 

*Laughs* 

DB: We were like wouldn’t it be funny if we had shirts? And now we do. It also became a kind of a spoof on the album, too.

MJ: The artist who did our album art drew Jalapeño on the raft on our album cover.

AA: That’s pretty awesome. Aside from that, do you all have any fun memories from this tour?

DB: It was cool playing LA. That has been my favorite show so far. Also, just playing that venue, Teragram Ballroom. I had never heard of it before, but it was a beautiful, beautiful venue. It looked like an airport hangar, honestly. That was really cool.

DV: The audiences and the people that we’re meeting have been super sweet and their energy has been incredible. It’s like we’re pulling right from it as we play, so that’s been really cool

MJ:We have been getting to Know, Juice, the opener. There was one day we stopped for dinner off of Route 66 and we got there at a restaurant that was open and we were like, “Let’s just go!” The food ended up being questionable, but you know the band is amazing. It took forever to get the food out, but it gave us an opportunity to get to know them better and make new friends and everything, which has been really cool.

MJ: Oh yeah, we also stopped at a National Park. 

TD: That was cool! 

MF: The Forbidden Forest? 

DV: No, dude! The Petrified Forest. 

*Laughs*

MF: Same thing.

MJ: There were segments of trees and stuff that are over 200 million years old or something, so that was really cool. Days off are when we actually get to see cool things. 

AA: Yeah, I know it is a lot of travel time. You guys are gonna be blown away, though when you go through Humboldt County up into Northern California and Oregon. It’s stunning. 

DB: Yeah, we are really excited! That should be super fun. 

AA: Ok, I have a bit of a hypothetical for you guys: So, dream tour – You guys are headlining, you can choose any opener no matter the size, who would it be for each of you? Or who would you like to tour with? 

DV: I think because of where we’re at all the people that I like did that dream of. It’s like “Well, who do we open for?” I would love to do a co-headlining situation with an artist called Lewis Del Mar one day. I think they’re awesome.

DB: As far as an opener, I would choose Jungle Giants from Australia. We could hop on some shows with them in Australia or the US. Going on tour with a band that’s from a different country would be really, really cool.

MJ: I just pulled up my Spotify.

DV: I know that if we were to open for like a dream artist, I feel like we’d all say Phoenix. 

DB: YEAH! We just saw them in Nashville and they were so good. We were all looking at each other the whole time like “OH my god!”

MF:  They pointed at us!

DB: They did! They had no idea who we were! They were like, “look at those stupid Americans.”

 DV: That’s like a dream tour.

MJ: I would love to play with the band, Alvvays. They just put out a new album. I haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet. 

AA: Oh, it’s a banger for sure. 

MJ:  Maybe I’ll play it on my next driving shift. 

TD: Tomorrow!

DB: Congratulations, you have just been awarded the first shift tomorrow.

*Laughs* 

AA: Alright, who takes aux most of the time when you guys are on the road?

TD: I would say everyone has a chance to get the aux, but the one to plug in his phone and play music is Devon.

DV: Every time I’m in the front seat, I plug in my phone for sure. 

AA: What do you play on aux these days?

DB: I find a lot of music through Devon. 

DV: We just went through the new Death Cab for Cutie record. And then, God Save The Animals (2022) by Alex G.

MF: And Turnstile!

DV: We saw them at Lollapalooza. It was so cool.

AA: What’s next for you guys? Are you writing? What are your upcoming plans? 

DB: I think we are still focusing on this tour since we are only a third of the way through. 

MJ: We might start writing in December when we have some time off and if the creative juices start flowing. 

DV: Maybe some fun little extra projects on the side too. Other content besides music and stuff. Nothing’s set in stone yet.

DB: Wait, just remembered. One of my favorite days off was when we went to laser tag!

AA: Now that you’re signed to Dualtone – one of my favorite labels by the way –  what will your writing process look like? Will you be traveling more as you write or will you still be in Florida? 

DB: We don’t know for sure, but I know we all really like our retreats for writing. We’ve done a few in the past, but we haven’t really decided where we want to go yet. We will probably try and go somewhere, I think. Doing that really set the vibe and tone for Shadowglow (2022). Even if we don’t write the whole album somewhere, it would maybe be something to set a new tone or bring a new idea.

AA: Anything else you want to add or any stories you want to share before I let you all go?

MJ: We are really excited to be in San Francisco. This was a show that I was personally looking forward to big time. Last time we played here with Wilderado, the energy was just insane. We are excited to be back and bring our whole set. I wish we had more time to explore. We are going over the Golden Gate Bridge tonight, though.

TD: We will see Alcatraz in the dark.

MF: I’ll swim to it!

AA: You know, I have lived here going on three years now and I’ve never once made it out to Alcatraz. 

*Laughs* 

MF: I would love it if there was like a spooky stay overnight. One of my friends went to a haunted prison and stayed the night. She  was in a room and there was something like scraping a chair. She was terrified. But I want to see that.

DB: That’s dope! 

AA: Well, it has been great to be back with you all and I am looking forward to an exciting set. Thank you guys. I will let you all go and I will catch the opener. Thanks so much! 

All: Thank you! 

Interview by Anna Armstrong

Photo by Amanda Laferriere – @ajpgphoto