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.

While still teenagers, they formed in 2000 after guitarist Cole Alexander and bassist Jared Swilley left the Renegades, and guitarist Ben Eberbaugh left the Reruns. Drummer Joe Bradley joined a few months later. They released their first 7" in late 2001/early 2002 on their own Die Slaughterhauslabel.

Just days before a tour was to begin in December 2002, Ben Eberbaugh was driving a car that was struck by a drunk driver going the wrong way on a highway. He was killed but the band carried on, believing that Eberbaugh would want them to continue [1].

The band's debut full length album, Black Lips! was released on Bomp! Records in 2003. Eberbaugh was replaced by Jack Hines, a friend of the band members, and they recorded their second studio album, We Did Not Know The Forest Spirit Made The Flowers Grow, with him. Hines too was eventually replaced by current guitarist, and former Renegades member, Ian Saint Pé, in 2004.

The Black Lips have a reputation for crazy live shows that have included vomiting, urinating, nudity, band members kissing, fireworks, and a chicken. The frequency of the group's outrageous stage antics has declined, as they claim to have matured "a little bit". They have slowly built a fanbase that appreciates their energy and style that is a rough mishmash of blues, rock, doo-wop, country, and punk.

They gained national attention in 2006 with features in Spin and Rolling Stone magazines. The band got exposure in the New York Times for being the hardest working band during the 2007 South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas, in which they played a dozen shows over a three-day period.

Their debut for Vice Records, Los Valientes Del Mundo Nuevo, was released in February 2007. It is supposed to have been recorded at a bar in Tijuana, Mexico, but fans, musicians, and journalists have speculated that some or most of it was recorded in a studio with John Reis. The band has denied these claims, but critics cite noticeable differences in reverb and tape and crowd noise.

In September 2007 their most recent album entitled Good Bad Not Evil was released. The Black Lips made their American national television debut in October 2007 on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and played "O Katrina".

Charles Wright headed one of the great funk groups of the late '60s and early '70s, the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band. Wright, who was born in Clarksdale, MS, was a singer, pianist, guitarist, and leader of the eight-member band, which had been recruited from Watts in Los Angeles. They were originally known as the Soul Runners. Bill Cosby helped get the band off the ground by giving them appearances at his gigs. They began recording for Keyman in 1967, then moved to Warner Bros. in 1969. While "Do Your Thing" and "Till You Get Enough" were Top 20 R&B hits, their finest selection was "Express Yourself," a song that expressed the urge for freedom as adroitly as the Isley Brothers' "It's Your Thing" had in the '60s. It has also been among the most sampled funk tracks for hip-hop and rap groups. "Your Love (Means Everything to Me)" was their final R&B hit in 1971, peaking at number nine R&B and number 12 pop. The group's best ballad, "Love Land," did better among pop fans than R&B ones, many of whom saw it as a bit soft. They continued recording for Dunhill in 1973 before disbanding. Drummer James Gadson and guitarist Al McKay, who later joined Earth, Wind & Fire, were among the instrumental corps of the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band.

John P. Strohm played in a number of indie pop projects during the '80s and '90s, from his roots in playing drums in an Bloomington, IN, punk band to guitarist in Boston's legendary Blake Babies. After their demise, Strohm went on to play guitar in a number of acts, including his own Antenna, Velo Deluxe, Hello Strangers, and even backup for Polara and the Lemonheads while on the road. Strohm released his first solo album, Caledonia, in 1996. Vestavia (a reference to the small Alabama city in which he made his home) followed three years later. Strohm took a break from music in order to focus on his studies after the album was released, graduating from University of Alabama in 2001 and earning a law degree from Samford University three years after that. He released his third studio album, Everyday Life, in 2007.