Countless bands toil in obscurity for years, hoping for one big
break. But for some, that break comes a lot more quickly.
Case in point: Flipsyde, a hip-hop quartet that exploded out of
Oakland, California last year thanks to their We the People album and its powerful single, "Someday." Within three
months of forming, multiple labels were courting the group.
They ultimately signed with Interscope after auditioning in the
office of label head Jimmy Iovine with a drum machine and
acoustic guitars.
That's right: acoustic guitars. Blending beats with nylon and
steel-string guitars has been a Flipsyde signature since day
one, when guitarist Dave Lopez met rapper Piper and vocalist/
guitarist Steve Knight at an Oakland rehearsal studio.
"I'd been working there for 13 years," says Lopez, speaking
during a break from Flipsyde's current tour supporting Black
Eyed Peas. "I'd been in and out of bands forever. But one day
Steve walked in and played me 'Someday,' and we started
jamming, and we've been doing it ever since." That was the
song that caught Iovine's ear, among others. It was also used
as theme music for several European television shows, and
NBC chose it to promote the recent Winter Olympics.
Lopez says it was almost an accident that "Someday" featured
a nylon-string solo: "It was just a temporary part,
because I couldn't find the right tone on electric. But it ended
up sounding so nice that we kept it. And now acoustic guitar
is such a big part of Flipsyde. We've learned that heavily distorted
guitar parts tend to get lost in the mix, while acoustic
guitars sit real nice in there."
Another cornerstone of the group's sound is Lopez's Latin
tinge. "I've always thought of myself as a rock player," he
explains. "I just do lots of Latin licks. I was born in Chile,
though I came to the States when I was seven. In Chile,
everyone plays guitar. You go to a party, and the guitar gets
passed to everyone, even Grandma. It's just part of the culture.
My brother, Livio, is a serious classical guitar nut.
Anyway, whenever I jam on something, that Latin feel just
comes out."
Lately Lopez has been picking Yamaha acoustics. "Before I
got the Yamahas," he recalls, "I always had problems with
feedback, or even just getting the tone I wanted. But then I
talked to George Pajon, Jr., from the Black Eyed Peas, who
always had great acoustic guitar tones. He told me to check
out the Yamahas, so I did." Dave wound up getting a jumbobodied
LJX6C steel-string—the same model the Black Eyed
Peas use—and a CGX171CCA nylon-string. "I couldn't be
happier with them," says Dave. "They sound great—though
I'm not really surprised. I've had an old '70s Yamaha acoustic
forever. It was originally a cheap guitar, but it's aged so nicely
that it wound up being my best-sounding guitar. And even
my brother Livio gives me the love for the Yamaha nylonstring,
and he's hated every other guitar I've ever had!"
Lopez just scratches his head when listeners equate
Flipsyde to recent bands that blend hip-hop and rock guitars.
"Back in the early days of hip-hop, all the groups I listened to
the most, like Run DMC and the Beastie Boys, used lots of
guitars. You'd see a Run DMC video, and there would be two
guys on the mics, a turntable, and a guitarist, and that's exactly what we do. So it's funny to me when people compare
us to Linkin Park or Limp Bizkit, because the stuff I used to
listen to had such a rock/blues edge." He pauses. "But then,
I used to break-dance to Van Halen, so I guess I was flipping
it even back then."
While touring, Flipsyde are writing their next album on their
tour bus. "I think the album will be a little more raw-sounding,"
says Lopez, "and it's definitely going to have more guitar.
We're writing about the things in our lives right now, the things
we've seen in the last year. We've been around the world,
and have seen so many things that moved us. In the end, our
music is really all about the words. But to me, a guitar solo is
just like another verse. It's another way of talking, but without
words. When we played in India last year, lots of people in the
audience didn't know the words to the songs or understand
everything we were saying. But when I played the solo to
'Someday,' everyone sang along with it!"
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