Alternative band Flipturn sells out Grey Eagle

Flipturn is an alternative/indie band from Fernandina Beach, Florida. The band consists of five members. Dillon Basse does most of the band’s singing and plays guitar, Mitch Fountain plays synthesizer and guitar, Tristan Duncan plays lead guitar, Madeline Jarman plays bass and sings, and Devon VonBalson plays drums.

The band formed when Basse, Jarman and Duncan were in high school, Fountain and VonBalson were added afterward. Jarman stated that the band named themselves after the action of flipturning, a move professional swimmers perform to turn off of a pool wall faster.

Jarman swam competitively for most of her schooling years. According to Jarman, her parents actually suggested the name and they just went with it.

When asked about their influences, Basse got excited and responded with “Phoenix, Big Thief, early Coldplay, Vampire Weekend, and MGMT is an important one.” All of these influences and more are included in Flipturn’s new debut album, “Shadowglow,” which hit streaming platforms on Aug. 19.

The band member’s ambitions for the near future were all similar, despite a bit of joking around from Fountain, yelling “Play Red Rocks!” loudly in response to the question. Jarman responded that she wanted to “keep venues growing and selling out shows, like this one.” Duncan and Fountain agreed. Basse stated, “within the next five years I’d like to become somewhat of a household name, just keep it growing.”

The band’s favorite songs to play live differ depending on who you’re speaking to, but “Sad Disco” is the most popular amongst the five with a vote from Jarman, Basse and Fountain, while VonBalson’s favorite to play live is their song “Playground”.

Fountain and Basse explained their pre-show ritual to me before our time together wrapped up. According to Basse, Flipturn was “playing in Gainesville for three nights in a row, and it was raining every night. We wanted, obviously, to stop the rain so we stopped and thought of something or someone to pray to. And the first idea that came to mind was Prince cause of “Purple Rain.” So we prayed to Prince for the rain to stop and it worked, now we do it before every show.” According to Fountain, “it’s like Prince is watching over us.”