Hailing from Fernandina Beach, a small island up the coast north of Jacksonville, Flipturn have grown out of playing local shows and are currently venturing out on a lengthy tour across North America and Europe.
See, this “indie sweat rock” band is no longer Florida’s little secret. Flipturn have made waves nationally, the former high-school garage band now playing for large crowds at music festivals all over.
And now Flipturn comes to Orlando to play two nights at the House of Blues on Friday and Saturday, April 18-19, as part of the Burnout Days spring tour.
“It’s going to be the best that we’ve ever brought to Florida, in my opinion, and I’m very excited. Florida crowds are just so special too, because it’s like that hometown, home state energy,” says Flipturn drummer Devon VonBalson to Orlando Weekly.
Flipturn are now accustomed to life on the road, often settling in new places to workshop new songs and ideas. “Putting ourselves in a new atmosphere has always been really inspiring to us. We’ve done writing trips to, like, Arizona, and then Asheville, North Carolina, in the mountains. You know, that’s kind of where most of the new Burnout-based stuff was born,” VonBalson says.
Their sophomore album, Burnout Days, is an homage to that road-dog life and the evolving camaraderie among the band. At the heart of it, Burnout Days is both sonically and emotionally distinct from Flipturn’s prior releases.
“We change as people, every single record. Therefore Dillon’s [Basse, vocalist] writing lyrics that are portraying him in this moment or us in that moment. ‘Juno,’ it’s about us being on tour during the van tour years and there’s some that are more about personal things that he goes through. All that ties back to what we were going through and what he’s going through,” Mitch Fountain, synth player and one of Flipturn’s guitarists, says.
Burnout Days is a hard look at how outward appearances often do not accurately reflect internal struggles. Through wistful melodies and vibrant lyricism, Flipturn open their hearts out to their fans, and allow fans to do the same in return.
“We’re always leaving room for interpretation, you know, like the songs might be specifically inspired by our personal experiences but it’s always up to the listener to interpret it however they want to. It can be part of their story and speak to them in a different way,” Fountain says.
Outside of the music, one of the most beloved aspects of this album by fans is the striking album cover art by New York artist Micah Lomel, who also did the art for Flipturn’s first album, Shadowglow.
“For this album, when we finished the songs and we sent them to her, we were like ‘Whatever you’re feeling, here’s kind of what we’re thinking as far as imagery, but just run with what you’re hearing from this album and do your thing.’ And she sent some drafts and the one with the guy with the stars shooting out of him, that just spoke to us and the imagery looked really sick,” VonBalson says.
Collectively, VonBalson explains, the figure on Burnout Days’ album art has been nicknamed “Burnout Bobbi.”
Now, in these immediate post-Burnout Days days, Flipturn get to focus on the production of their shows and ensuring a proper show for fans coming out to see them, new and old.
“What keeps me motivated and helps me get up in the morning is just knowing I can constantly be working towards a better show and how to create really fun moments and meaningful moments for our fans. That’s all really exciting to me,” says VonBalson.
Some of the sounds off Burnout Days are more technically mature than their previous work, a fun challenge when familiarizing the setlist for the tour.
“‘Moon Rocks’ every night has been such a blast to play. At the top of the tour, it was a bit more intimidating. It’s more difficult as far as the parts go for these songs. But now that we’re towards the end of this tour, we feel super confident and really tight and it’s kind of second nature,” VonBalson says.
Despite roughly a decade of playing together, the members are constantly seeking ways to improve and grow musically and creatively. Flipturn are not satisfied with settling. After all, the road beckons.
House of Blues
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This article appears in Apr 16-22, 2025.