Running in Flip-Flops is an alternative Scranton, PA-based duo and “your favorite band you don’t know.” We sat down with members Dane and Tyler to discuss their new EP, functioning without a drummer, and what the future holds for the Flip-Flops.
The duo recently released a three-song EP, “Tropical Comatose", which came to fruition due to the loss of a drummer and desire to not find another. “We didn't really want to get another drummer just to have the same shit happen–forming bonds and then suddenly they're gone–so we're like, ‘Fuck it, let's try to figure it out by ourselves…’” Looking into the future, it seems likely that Running in Flip-Flops will remain a duo, at least for a little while. “We don't think we need a drummer for everything we want to do, and to have somebody tag along to venues for four hours to play four songs, it doesn't seem worth it. So we're just trying to figure out ourselves,” says Dane.
“It was really just us trying to figure out the equipment that we already had but had never been utilizing.” said Dane in regards to how the new EP came together. He had previously been writing hip-hop lyrics but started to step away from it, wanting to focus on guitar instead. However, when they started looping, the three concepts began to come together. “...and we produce this ourselves,” said Tyler, “we mix and master, and we don't really have any formal education on that, but throughout the years, we've gathered a bunch of tips and tricks and tried to figure it out by ourselves.” They displayed these talents on the song “Sameness” which you can find on their new EP along with some new skills, like mixing clarinet. “It’s weird because the student clarinet that Tyler got in a fucking Goodwill for 50 bucks four years ago… I just fucked around till I found something, and I really like that. It's the only thing I could play on the clarinet. A lot of that song was just figuring out what we wanted to do with it because we had no idea going into it,” says Dane.
If you’re familiar with Running in Flip-Flops prior to the Tropical Comatose EP, there’s a very solid chance you know about “Pickles,” which they will soon be redoing, and their “punk rock surfer jam band thing,” as they both described it. The duo now has taken a turn towards “indie, sort of synth, hip hop inspired looping,” or, as Tyler called it, “patchwork.”
So what’s next for the Flip-Flops? “I'm still in the process of working on a music lyric video for ‘Droptop Rocket.’ There have been unofficial teasers kind of released on our Instagram and stuff, any of the videos where it's the second verse and it shows the lyrics. That's all part of the big grand video that I have planned. I’m like 70 percent through it,” says Dane. “We’re still trying to figure out what kind of songs we’d want to put on an album,” says Tyler. “Tentatively, next year, but there’s no firm date” says Dane.
You can find Running in Flip-Flops at Porkiez in Throop on May 25th, with NEPA Scene at an Outdoor Concert in Scranton on June 14th from 6pm to 8pm, on July 6th at Cheapshots in Olyphant, and on July 19th at Waldo’s in Scranton.
Running in Flip-Flops 10 Song Playlist:
The Expert - Sure Sure
Smile - Portugal. The Man
barcelona boots - Arlie
Bambi - Hippocampus
Rockstar - Nickelback
Rockstar (Live from Red Rocks) - Nickelback
My Name is Human - Highly Suspect
Get this Dick - Snoop Dogg
Overthinker - INZO
HEAD - Devon Again
Spotify:
Instagram:
I 🖤 the Flip-Flops!!!