Flipper started in April 1979, its name was 'Five White Guys with Dicks Bigger than Niggers.' That was the name proposed by its orignal founder, 'Jim.' That's all I know about him. Oh yeah, he was a very tall Hungarian man, taller than Joey Ramone. He had a large enough truck that it had 1) an electrical generator 2) a complete setup for a band, stacks of Marshall amps for both guitar and bass, drum kit, P.A. system and 3) the fucking idea of what Flipper was.
The band would practice jamming until we could just play together instantly, be spontanious. Drive around the country and 'crash' County Fairs. Pull up out side the gates and set up, and start playing. He met Ted, Ted talked to Will, Will talked to me, Bruce Lose, and Tim Mooney (Sleepers drummer). We did about five rehershals and I left, due to a young heart in love, follow that girl. Also, Jim wanted my stage name to be "Nazi Dog," that really turned me off.
So Jim's idea was to pratice jammin' a Jimmy Hendrix song, "Night Train" or something like that. Tim never showed up to rehersal at all when I was around. We never acually jammed, just fought through what we were trying to do. So I left in end of May '79. September '79 I returned, maybe August. I went to a show at the Deaf Club to see this band Flipper and Avengers (I think), and some other halfway-on-the-rise at the time bands. Flipper had a reputation for playing every time with Ricky, and he'd be completely messed out of his mind (when was he not?), rolled in on dollys, handtrucks etc. So he didn't show Flipper was freaking out "What we do no singer." "What we do? What do we do?"
It turned out to be a competetion between Vince Deranged and Bruce Loose, Bruce reconized Ted, Bruce recognized Will, Bruce knew about Steve a little from exposure to Negative Trend. Bruce performed his ass off and won his RIGHTFUL place in the band that he was AN ORIGINAL member from in the first place. I really need to get that out. NO ONE EVER MENTIONS THAT in any press I've ever seen.
I might have an article on that show, or an anomious review of another performance at the same place pre-White Guys Flipper. Vince went on to an interesting life, to say the least, and was involved in the band Animal Things, who played with Flipper a lot and even did an mini-tour with Flipper, to Arizona. A very crazy adventure, FUN. They where a P.E.T. Rock Band, too.
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 1987 from an accidental heroin overdose. The band broke up after that.
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