Flipsyde destroys its musical borders in more ways than one. They’re not a typical pop band, they certainly aren’t a rock group, but they also can’t be slid into the hip-hop genre. They are a group of four guys from all over the world who have gotten together to fuse cultural musical styles together with passionate lyrics and a different sound than the world is used to. Think Kanye West meets Sublime meets Santana.

The band has two lead vocalists; Jinho “Piper” Ferreira, who spits the tongue-twisting raps and Steve Knight who supplies whiskey soaked croons and plucks away at an acoustic guitar. Guitarist Dave Lopez, who is from Chile, provides intricate guitar solos on nearly every song, while D-Sharp provides the chest-pounding beats that act as Flipsyde’s backbone.

Popular Underground had an opportunity to chat with guitarist / vocalist Steve Knight in Chicago during a recent stop on their tour with the Pussycat Dolls and the Black Eyed Peas. Yes, I said Black Eyed Peas. In talking to Knight, it’s obvious that Flipsyde is passionate and they are not a product of a major label trying to generate big sales and big dollars.

The story of Flipsyde really begins with just Knight and Piper, who according to Knight had gotten signed as separate solo artists to an independent record label. Says Knight, “The first night we met we were going to a club and I couldn’t get in so [Piper] said ‘Fuck it, I ain’t going if you ain’t going.’” So the two ended up back at the studio and wrote a song together. “We kind of looked at each other, but it didn’t click,” explains Knight.

The two kept in touch for three years doing a little collaborating here and there, but it wasn’t until they met Dave Lopez that things really started to develop. “The best way to describe [Flipsyde] is like a conversation,” Knight explains. “Dave comes from a different background, he’s from Chile, a dictatorship. He didn’t even speak English when he came to America, so me learning from his culture and the way he plays guitar; when he’s playing, I’m listening and when we’re jamming, Piper’s freestyling,” he says. At 16 Knight was into Sublime, Pearl Jam and Dave Matthews. He was born and raised in Alabama and wasn’t brought up on hip-hop and he says the band would just go in a circle, listening to each other’s abilities and build off what comes out.

Knight, Piper and Lopez spent four months simply “jamming” at Soundwave Studios in Oakland, CA, but it only took one demo and three months for Interscope to sign the band. “Soundwave Studios is the coolest place in the Bay area,” says Knight. “It’s like an old car plant.” Knight explains that at any one time, there could be around 150 bands there, bands that represent musical styles from all over the spectrum. “You have hip-hop bands, jazz bands, thrash bands and they have a bar there so you’ll see this guy with green dyed hair hanging out with the thug dude that’s doing some gangster shit,” he says.

Flipsyde’s debut record for Interscope We the People was written during the election and according to Knight the album is a “life” album. Knight has been greatly influenced by Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder because Knight was 16 when the Ten album came out, an album which night describes as “massive.” “The passion he had, you don’t know what he really believed in, but the passion [was there] and I was like, ‘I want to be like that,’” he says. In fact the name Flipsyde came from a Pearl Jam lyric.

Ultimately, Knight says Flipsyde simply strive to be honest. “We want to fucking write real music that means something to us and travel and experience new things and just keep going as a band,” he says. Obviously a band signed to a major record company is expected to sell records, but Knight doesn’t approach his writing thinking, “I’ve gotta write this song for the radio.”

There’s no doubt that Flipsyde has already seen their fair share of the world. This particular Black Eyed Peas tour was Flipsyde’s third tour with BEP, but their first in America. The other two were in Europe. Flipsyde has also shared the stage with Snoop Dogg and the Game, appeared on Jay Leno and are planning on touring with Busta Rhymes. Knight describes the Leno appearance as being “very weird.” “It’s a lot smaller than you think,” Knight explains. “There’s like 200-300 people, the curtains go up and Jay Leno is like three feet away. I’m sitting there playing “Someday” and I look and Leno is [right there] and I’m like ‘whoa!’ So I just kind of closed my eyes and zoned out.”

Knight says he’s having a good time in Flipsyde and why not, they’re touring with BEP, they have a bus, they have a band and “Someday” was picked out of 2,500 song entries to be the official theme song of the Winter Olympics. “I’m grateful for what I do have,” Knight says. “Life is pretty good.” Overall, Flipsyde has probably seen more success overseas. “Happy Birthday,” perhaps one of the band’s most powerful songs, which discusses abortion, was number one in Germany, Sweden and Austria for around 15 weeks. “Radio in America is more segregated,” says Knight. “The rap stations aren’t playing Linkin Park, the alternative stations are, then they may go to Top 40. We can’t go into rap because I’m playing acoustic guitar and we can’t go into alternative because Pipe is really spitting,” he says.

Overall, Flipsyde has the talent and while American corporate domination may be keeping Flipsyde from taking over radio waves the band will do what they can to change it. Knight sums up Flipsyde and their outlook like this: “When you look at [Flipsyde], there’s a Latin guy, a black dude, there’s a white dude. I’m from the south, one’s from the West Coast, one is from Chile and one is from Brazil, but music brings us together and music is an international language. When we play in Japan or we play in India, the audiences react the same way. I would say, educate yourself on the world because with the Internet and technology, Japan, they’re our neighbors now. Don’t look at people by race, religion, color or what country your from. Educate yourself with what’s really going on, with types of people and fucking make your own decisions. Try to show love. If you don’t educate yourself, you’re going to be ignorant.”