From devoted fans to indifferent journalists, people everywhere are dubbing Flipturn one of the most exciting voices in indie rock today. The band just made their national TV debut on Jimmy Kimmel and announced an EU tour just after the release of their sophomore album Burnout Days. Is it safe to say they’re on a high?

An infectious meshing of distorted guitars, driving drum and bass, swirling synth, and intentional lyrics, the project is just as vibrant as the blazing Florida sun that informs the Southern-grown group. Still, it dives into deeply intimate topics too from damaged family dynamics, sobriety, and finding resolve in the midst of life’s many transformations.

From playing crowded garages in small-town Florida to packing fans into sold-out venues, how do you stay focused amidst such momentous changes? Lead vocalist Dillon Basse and guitarist Mitch Fountain sat down to discuss how they avoid burning out just ahead of their US tour.

Your new album just came out, so congratulations on that! How different was the process of making this one compared to the first? You guys have amassed a huge following since 2022. Did things feel different this time around? 

Dillon: We’ve always written very collaboratively. With the last album, Shadowglow, we went to a cabin in Arizona and did a two-week writing trip, and we did something similar for Burnout Days. This time we went to a cabin outside of Asheville, North Carolina. Still, this time, it was different. We’ve had a lot of time together and have gotten to know each other and how each person works. This time we had so many ideas and songs, while with Shadowglow the problem was like, ‘All right, we gotta figure out another song for the album.’ Ideas just kept coming a lot more this time through. 

Mitch: The five members of the band have been together for longer, so it was more collaborative in that sense. When we wrote Shadowglow, Devin and I literally just joined the band, so we were still figuring out how the other three wrote. Everyone knows each other very well at this point, so nobody was worried about stepping on someone else’s toes during this writing process. So I liked it a lot more. It was more comfortable. Shadowglow was too, it was just an even better writing process.

Building a camaraderie is helpful for the creative process for sure. Dillon, you just mentioned making some of the album at Sonic Ranch. I saw you recently mentioned what it was like being there on your Instagram too. You said, “It is a place that made me truly believe in magic,” which I thought was really sweet. What was your experience like playing there?

Dillon: That ranch right outside of El Paso is where we went and truly dug into the songs that we picked to be on this album. It was just the perfect place to create. When we went there with Chad [their producer], we didn’t have 12 completely finished songs. We had maybe 10 finished songs and a bunch of, ‘All right, let’s see what we come up with in the studio’, kind of things. This place really felt like where we found the tones and what really felt like the glue to the whole album. We all had a lot of ideas and a lot of songs, so each song has its own identity. Everybody’s going to have a different favorite song because there’s really no songs on the album that sound exactly like the next one. 

I think Sonic Ranch was the glue that made what we created there, as well as what we were able to do there with our producer Chad Copeland. I think it’s really where all these songs started to fit into the whole album as a whole.  

That’s great. I saw you had mentioned Chad Copeland, again, on social media. Could you speak more about his contribution to the album, and what it was like to collaborate with him?

Mitch: He’s a great producer out of Oklahoma. He produced Wilderado, who we went on tour with a few years ago. I think most of us heard of him through our drummer and were like, ‘Oh, he’s produced for some of our favorite bands.’ So we set up a meeting with him. We went to see him while we were on the “Something More” tour and recorded “Juno” with him as a trial. It went really well. We basically recorded the entire song in one day. When we left we were like, ‘Oh we’re gonna come back after the tour,’ and literally right after we went back and recorded with him. 

He’s just a really good producer and songwriter. He’s a really good package. That sounds very corporate, but he’s a great person. He changed the music in the best way possible. 

Dillon: The other thing he did really well was he caught onto our different personalities. We all have different ways of how we create in the studio. He noticed that and knew how to get the best stuff out of each one of us. We all have different ways of working and it was really cool to see how he was able to approach each person’s part and talk to each person. He was really good at that with each of us.

He sounds like a really intentional creative person. What were some other bands he’s produced that you guys like?

Mitch: Wilderado, Colony House, Sports. 

Dillon: He also worked with Sufjan Stevens. Chad’s worked in the music industry forever. He’s worked with people like Avril Lavigne and other big pop stars because he knows how to work on vocals really well. That was another reason I think people are attracted to Chad. You can hear in his work that he’s really good at getting, like, perfect vocal takes.

Wow, I need to look into him more now. Moving back to the album, I was curious if you guys had a favourite track to play off of Burnout Days right now.

Mitch: I like playing “Burnout Days”. We’ve been playing that one for the longest. There’s a lot of the songs we’re just now starting to play live. “Inner Waves” has become another favourite.  

Dillon: “Inner Waves” is super fun live. It feels like new territory for us. I also recently have been liking “Moon Rocks”. We’ve only played it once or twice live, but we were working on it a few weeks ago and Tristan wrote this really cool intro into it, so that one’s been really fun. I’m really looking forward to playing that one on the upcoming tour. 

What makes “Inner Waves” a new direction for you guys?  

Dillon: I think it’s a little more jammy. Mitch, you can talk on this one if you want. Mitch had a big part in writing “Inner waves”.

Mitch: There’s a lot of ties back to old soul and Motown rhythms. When I think of Motown or soul, I think of very specific jangly upper guitar stuff. When we were writing it I was like, ‘Oh, this kind of sounds like an old Motown song.’ Tristan started this song and he came in with this idea that felt like a backbeat, but Devin always kind of drives his drums. So there’s this backbeat, but in essence it was still just like a Motown song. I immediately started playing stuff like that and it went that route. 

With the jammy aspects, it’s very much a build too. Jam bands play by building to a point. It could take 15 minutes, it’s just however long they want to do it for. Everyone is moving like a machine. They’re all grooving together. So we thought, let’s take from that genre where everyone is moving and it’s syncopated and has funky rhythms going on. I think it’s really cool. It’s a very unique song on the album because of that, and I think a lot of festival-goers are gonna really like that song. 

I love that idea, especially because I feel like jam bands can be pretty divisive. I saw Frankie and the Witch Fingers at Shaky Knees a few years ago and I loved them, but some people left early because they didn’t like the jamming.

Mitch: You have to find your band. 

Dillon: That’s true. I think another thing that led to “Inner Waves” too is that before we wrote Burnout Days, we’d been playing so many festivals, so we’d seen a lot of jam bands. We’ve also been touring with Mt. Joy who’s been going in that kind of jam band direction. Just witnessing the way that these bands would build a song. We would love going to some sets and we’d all be like, ‘Damn. This is sick’. We played three or four festivals where Goose was also on the same day. We saw Dogs In A Pile too. Who else have we seen? 

Mitch: String Cheese Incident, and all of their side bands. We’ve seen Cory Wong too. There are so many good bands in that realm.  

Yeah, definitely. And you’re becoming one of them! Going back to your album, “Sunlight” is a really personal track off the album for you, Dillon, and I know you wrote “Poppies” about your mom too. I was curious, who were some role models that continue to inspire you guys to make music?  

Dillon: My mom’s always been a big influence on my writing. Sometimes I subconsciously write about her without realizing it, but she was such a big influence on me when I was starting music. It takes a bit of stupidity and motivation to keep touring and chasing a dream at times, and my mom was a huge reason for that. From a very young age, I just kept trying to do this, and she’s the reason I’m still trying to do this. Growing up she would always bring me to her jam sessions and she instilled this great false sense of confidence.

I feel like that’s how we all secretly start out. 

Dillon: Yeah, nobody starts out amazing, and she would just keep telling me that I’m doing good, and eventually, I actually got good at some stuff. I feel like everything I have I owe to her just pushing me. 

That’s a good answer. Like you said, it does take a bit of stupidity to achieve your dreams. That’s how I feel about pursuing a career in the arts, at times.

Dillon: Yeah I think a lot of artists can understand that, whether they had a mom trying to push them or not. I think you gotta be a little dumb to keep doing it. To be in a van for years and all your friends are getting real jobs and you’re just like, yeah, we’re doing it. 

You love it.

Dillon: Yeah, because you love it.

Obviously you just mentioned traveling for tour, but you guys are both based out of Florida. I always see articles about you guys from Florida publications. How has growing up there has influenced you both and what do you love most about home? 

Mitch: I love animals. Southern Florida, Orlando down, is like Australia. They’ve got reptiles and just all these cool animals. When you go to South Florida, there are no squirrels. It’s just iguanas. So it’s like the iguanas take over and that’s just really cool. I’m a huge fan of alligators too, which most people are scared of for some reason. I always like going to Florida Springs and seeing nature too. So I’ve always been a huge fan of Florida because of all that. 

People think of Disney World when they come down here, but there’s all this great nature. Some of the coolest hidden natural springs are in Central Florida that nobody knows about. You can just drink the water. It’s literally that cool of a place. 

Dillon: I love having the beach nearby too. I’m not even a huge beach-goer, but recently I have become one. Sunshine is a huge healer just in general, and Vitamin D is very important for mental health. Just going to the beach and seeing the ocean is always a really good place to come back to, especially when you’ve been touring for a long time. One of my favourite things to do is just sit and look out. It’s very good at putting everything in perspective, being able to look at something so vast. 

That’s what I love about the South too is the nature. 

Getting back to music, I was curious, are there any songs that you guys go back to all the time that you really love? 

Mitch: I’ve been listening to a lot of house music. There’s a really good artist called Mild Minds. He has really cool sound design and synthesizer stuff. It sounds very organic and natural, so I’ve been listening to a lot of him. I also listen to a bunch of country guitarists. Not really modern country, but older stuff. Also Steely Dan I’ve been listening to a lot.

It always goes back to Steely Dan.

Mitch: I know, it does! That’s actually like a whole rabbit hole. But yeah, it’s very broad, but I would say mostly house and country, even though they’re completely different.  

I was gonna say, Mitch, I saw that you have a bit of a side project where you make house music. I was gonna ask if you had any underrated SoundCloud picks. 

Dillon: He does for sure.  

Mitch: Yeah, I love finding new artists. That’s why I love house music. In the sense of music history, a lot of the people who created that genre are literally still alive, which is pretty rare for a music genre. Some of them are much older than me, but it’s still a new genre. You see things being pushed all the time in that genre, so it’s really cool to see.

That’s a cool perspective on it. I never thought about it like that.  You talked about older country too. Do you have any examples?

Dillon: Sturgill Simpson has a really good classic country sound. 

Mitch: Sturgill rips.

Dillon: Yeah, that’s a good one. He’s insane. 

Dillon, are you into country as well?  

Dillon: Yeah, definitely, I think in the same way that Mitch is. I love Johnny Cash, I grew up on a lot of Johnny Cash. A lot of bluegrass stuff too. I love like Billy Strings. Anything in between that country and bluegrass jam. I think some of the best songwriting comes from country music, because it’s so tongue-in-cheek, which is one of my favorite styles of songwriting. Just some of the one-liners that you’ll get out of country music. I think it’s fantastic.

Mitch: Yeah, I love the humour in it. 

Dillon: Actually somebody that I’ve been listening to a lot recently, like literally in the last week, is Lord Huron. I know he’s been around for a long time, but my girlfriend showed me a song and it’s so fucking good. It’s called “Your Other Life”. I know that I’m behind the curve on this one, but this song has this amazing opening string section. “I Lied” is also such a good song. These guys have hundreds of millions of listens on Spotify, so when I found these I was like, ‘Damn, where the hell have I been and why have I not been on the Lord Huron train?’ So I’m on it now.  

I’ve definitely heard of Lord Huron, but I honestly haven’t listened to him much either, so you’re not alone, Dillon. I’m sure you guys get this one a lot, but I feel like it’s an important one. Is there any advice you’d give to independent musicians starting out in house shows like you guys did that are looking to make it in music? 

Dillon: There are so many cliches when people ask for advice, but they are cliches for a reason. Be persistent. Always try to make your next project better than the last. Don’t settle and really hone in on your craft. If you just keep doing that, it’s going to get better. I think if people understood that or tried to practice that, they’ll see that there’s proof of it.

I’ve always wanted to take our old music off of Spotify just because it’s the 18-year-old version of us writing music. The production’s not great, and the songwriting’s sort of meh, you know? But now I’m not so much on the train of wanting to take it down, because it’s kind of cool to look at it compared now, you know? It’s good to see that progress, you know? So just be persistent.

Yeah, I definitely have a similar feeling. I started writing when I was young and my digital footprint is enormous. The other day I was like, ‘I wonder if there’s a way I can email this website and ask, can you please take my name off of this?’ But like you said, it’s good to see your progress, and people don’t become excellent out of nowhere. Plus, some people love that “old stuff” as well. But Mitch, go ahead.

Mitch: I always kind of say the same thing, but it’s true, at least for me. When you’re starting out, you can always tell when people really want to go that extra distance. Surround yourself with people who are also trying to succeed in music. There are a lot of people who will be very good at music, but they don’t want to do it. They just like doing it as a hobby. For me, I was always trying to find people that were trying to do it very seriously. 

But there are so many different paths to music. You could be a session player and that’s a completely different route, so my advice could be completely different for someone’s goals. But to be in a band, you really have to find people. Get into a band, get the connections. If you know that band’s not going to stick around, don’t waste your time. Get into another band. Climb that ladder. That’s how I did it. But it’s very specific advice. I feel like with music everyone’s path is so different. This might be good advice, but it’s completely stupid advice to other people. 

Dillon: I think you’re right about that.

And that goes back to what Dillon was saying about being persistent too. But obviously everyone’s path is different. Is there anything else you guys wanted to add?

Dillon: Come see us on tour! This tour is gonna be a big step up from the last one we went on, so come see the new music live. We’re working on the show right now and I’m very excited to play all these new ones live. Come listen.

Burnout Days is out now. Flipturn’s UK tour begins November 1st, ticket information below.

Interview Camryn Teder
Photography Amanda Laferriere

November 1- London Calling – Amsterdam, NL
November 3 – Gretchen – Berlin, DE (link)
November 4 – Luxor – Cologne, DE (link)
November 5 – La Maroquinerle – Paris, FR (link)
November 7 – Academy 2 – Manchester, UK (link)
November 8 – Classic Grand – Glasgow, UK (link)
November 10 – Empire Music Hall – Belfast. UK (link)
November 11 – Button Factory – Dublin, IE (link)
November 13 – The Fleece – Bristol, UK (link)
November 14 – O2 Forum Kentish Town – London, UK (link)