Flint's lead singer talks about life fronting the South's most buzzed about indie band
By Fisher Crawdat, S.T. State University Gazette
For those who have seen Flint live, it is a show few ever want to end. The band's sound forges an impressive vibe with audio-shrapnel qualities but is more unforgettable for the unpredictable stage antics of the verbally abusive Cody Jackson and his cohort in crime, Juwan Pilgrim. Jackson sat down with us to talk about Flint's highly anticipated debut album, the new pop-music revolution and the buzz created by his love-hate relationship with local media.
Cody Jackson agrees with the media's perception about what drives Flint. "Juwan is the band. His talents are what gets us record deals and respect as he is a [expletive]ing genius with any instrument he picks up. I contribute by getting Flint noticed. I'll open up a can of whoop-ass on a [expletive]ing loser in the crowd because that's what my people come to see."
Local media coined the phrase 'swinger-songwriter' and attached the label to Jackson as many rock critics covering the Southern indie scene believe Jackson concentrates more on getting the attention of certain females in the audience rather than the show at hand. "I think the term 'swinger-songwriter' is something rooted in the jealousy of forty-five year old fat men with bad combovers and no sex lives", says Jackson. "I guess it has got me some personal notoriety since in every town we play now, the town's media seem to pick up on it and focus on the fact I fathered and left all these children all over the South but whatever. It gets Flint some attention so I don't give a [expletive]."
A former champion motocross racer, Jackson points out "until I wrecked my Achilles tendon when I drilled a stop sign with my dirt bike", has been Flint's frontman since the band started in 1991. The topics he tackles when writing Flint's songs would not mesh with the new pop revolution spearheaded by other Florida bands Backstreet Boys and N Sync. Murder, vengeance and the psychotic tendencies of lunatic girls he's encountered don't exactly bring to mind 'As Long As You Love Me'. Jackson laughs and says "The only similarity between Flint and those two bands is we're all in all-guy bands and with the other two, I think that's still debatable. It's two different styles. [Expletive] this. This is a [expletive]ing stupid question. Flint is not like them. We're still carving out our own sound."
Jackson's last statement would make Flint's critics gush like schoolgirls. Jackson has been attacked as a 'wannabe complaint-rock superstar' and has been chastised for making Flint 'a bad Pearl Jam cover band'. "[Expletive] them." Jackson says matter-of-factly, "They'll beg to talk to me when our album comes out. They'll beg like the dirty dogs they are." That doesn't answer the wannabe complaint-rock superstar question. "It doesn't." Cody Jackson looks at me and with that wicked grin of his calmly says, "[Expletive] you". With that Jackson gets up and leaves the interview. With a new album slated for December, this may be the last time St. Titosburg gets to claim Cody Jackson as our own local asshole. If Flint's album hits 1999 like it is expected to, America may just have its newest complaint-rock superstar.