Georgia Flipo, the Australian drummer/singer/songwriter/producer describes making her debut song "About You" as a casual affair. She told triple j that she woke up, ate a couple of eggs, sat down at her little production station, and started listening to synth sounds. She landed on the one that would end up being the intro to her song, and the rest of the track fell into place that day.
"About You" turned out to be one of the best debuts we've heard in 2018 so far. At its core, it's a full-blown pop song with an impossible-to-forget chorus, but nothing about the song is generic. The drum-centric focus gives it a non-traditional edge, the verses are free and unpredictable, and the four-minute song erupts into an incredible finale. Listen to "About You" and read our interview with G Flip below.
First off, can you introduce yourself?
Well hello there. My name Is G Flip and I am from Melbourne, Australia.
Are you planning on staying in Australia? What's the music scene like out there?
Australia will always be my home, but I definitely want to explore places. The dream is that I can live between Melbourne and L.A. and follow the sun to escape winter! I literally have zero dollars to be in L.A. but I will get there. I also want to live on tour buses. I’m obsessed with tour buses. The Aussie music scene is totally small compared to the big wide world but hey, there is so much good shit coming out of here.
Where did you get the name G Flip? When I saw the name I was expecting a totally different style of music. Do you get that a lot?
Haha yeah, I’m not a rapper! My birth name is Georgia Flipo, and my whole life everyone has called me G Flip so that was always gonna be what I released my music under. Not gonna lie, people wanted me to change my name because yeah, it’s wack and it might deter you from listening, but I couldn’t be someone else or take on a name out of nowhere that I had made up. I’ve always been G Flip, I didn’t want to change even if it’s a stupid AF name.
Can you tell us a little about "About You"?
After giving up being a session/touring drummer I decided to pursue this crazy dream I had of being a solo artist. I locked myself in my room for a year and wrote and produced a ton of music. "About You" was one of the very first songs I created. I wrote it in a couple hours. I heard that first “BAWWW” synth and the song came together very quickly. It was strange and exciting. I recorded it with super cheap gear in my bedroom, too.
How important is it to you to write/produce your own music? Was that more out of necessity, or is that something you want to maintain control over?
Self-producing was definitely not planned. I studied music at university and majored in drums, so I’ve always been a drummer who can also play a little keys and guitar but I had never tried producing before. I basically learned to shape my songs a little better in hopes of getting a real producer on board later when I had the money, but I really started digging how rough it was. Pop music can be pretty shiny sometimes and this was not shiny, just like me. I’m far from shiny. I’m messy, I don’t know what make-up is, I wear boy’s clothes and I drink too much. I felt it represented me. Although I self-produce, I’m totally open to working with other writers and producers. I’ve been locked away in my bedroom for a whole year by myself, I’m ready to GTFO.
I basically learned to shape my songs a little better in hopes of getting a real producer on board later when I had the money, but I really started digging how rough it was.
Why did you decide to make "About You" your debut single—was that just your first completed song, or your favorite, or the one that you thought would be the best intro?
It totally was one of the first songs I completed, but I sat with that song and a bunch of others for a whole year thinking what should be first. "About You" was always the song that I thought best introduced me. I wanted to enter with a drum fill too. Also it started with the letter “A” so it made sense.
With a lot of new artists, we see them release some music before they've got everything else in place. It seems like you've already got a plan in place. Your debut single has been picked up by media, added to playlists, you've got a team around you and great momentum early on. How did that happen? Have you been planning for this moment for a while?
I can not tell you the time, energy and heart I have put into this project. I’ll give you the inside scoop on what happened. I locked myself in my bedroom for a whole year and just wrote and produced my ass off. I went crazy in the process and built JEROMO, my alive drum kit. I had no one helping me, I had no management, no contacts, all I had was this product of myself, G Flip, bedroom producer drummer/singer/songwriter with a crazy drumkit and this drive of not wanting to be a teacher or a session drummer for the rest of my life.
What do you do next? Who do I talk to? I went to every music seminar in Australia. I learned everything I could. With whatever money I had, I flew myself to Sydney and Brisbane just to attend music seminars. I made sure I talked to everyone, I’d literally follow and chase people in the music industry down after seminars and try get them to listen to my demos. Nothing was happening for me so I was prepared to release with no team. I was just gonna put my track online, release my homemade clip, and email every contact I had accumulated online in hope of finding management to help me.
Then I rocked up to a seminar in August 2017 and I watched an awesome manager in Australia speak about the industry. He finished speaking and I walked straight up to him, looked him dead in the eyes and said, “Hi, I’m G Flip.” I told him what I’m about and what I do, he was intrigued and wanted to hear some of my demos. I nearly shat my pants. He wanted to f***ing hear my demos! I raced home, sent him my demos, and to my surprise he loved them. I then reached out to all the management companies I knew and people listened and again, to my surprise, people were actually digging my demos!
Then I made the most badass presentation to present at all my management meetings. I sold myself so hardcore, I tried so damn hard. After all of this I got to choose my own management team. I worked my ass off and went insane in the process, and I missed out on a lot of fun things during 2017. Finally when it came to release my first song, we stuck to my original plan and uploaded my DIY film clip the way I originally had it planned out.
So you're a drummer, and drums play a big part in "About You." Is that something that will be present in all your music?
I think rhythm is always going to be present in my music. Even my melody ideas are somewhat rhythmic because my brain thinks like a drummer. I have some songs where live kit isn’t present, but you can definitely hear percussion and percussive elements all over it.
Will you play drums during your live performances? Can you sing and play drums at the same time?
Hells yeah I’ll be playing drums live! And I can sing behind the kit 100%. I’m probably more comfortable singing behind the kit then anywhere else. But let me tell you, I’ve sat behind a drum kit my whole life so I am more than excited to get up and run around.
What music did you grow up listening to, and what are you listening to now?
Growing up my dad would pump tunes from Rancid, The Clash, and Green Day and as a 4-year-old I’d head bang in the lounge room and jump everywhere to it. But the music I naturally gravitated towards without parental input was the Jackson 5 and Michael Jackson. Right now I’m digging Tom Misch, those silky guitar licks man are so damn sexy its ridiculous.
What are you into outside of music?
Look, to be honest, not much. I’m a very strange human. I don’t watch TV or movies; I don’t do much other than music. I like drinking with my friends and going for a skate now and then.
I’m a very strange human. I don’t watch TV or movies; I don’t do much other than music. I like drinking with my friends and going for a skate now and then.
What's your spirit animal and why?
When I was confused and thought I was straight, I tried to get fake eyelashes and it was the worst experience ever. I wriggled around so much and was so uncomfortable that the beauticians called me monkey. They literally would yell monkey at me when I walked past. So monkey it is.
Genres seem more meaningless than ever before, but if you had to make up a genre to label your music, what would you call it?
Gosh this is hard. Definitely on the pop spectrum. Maybe something like garage pop. If garage rock is defined as raw and simplistic and derives from the perception that young amateurs are making music in their garage, then I guess I’m kinda doing that with pop music possibly? I don’t think about genre too much, I just like making catchy tunes.
What's next for you? What do you want to accomplish by the end of 2018 and what can new fans expect from you?
WHATS NEXT!? Every week shit is changing for me, the last few weeks have been wild!! So who knows! But by the end of 2018 I’d love to play a festival, I’d love to share more of my music and I’d love to inspire other chicks to pick up the sticks!
