Jackson gives me a wave and slinks off the stage to come chat. Flint’s lead singer is not known for his friendliness but he seems particularly juiced about his band’s blistering cover version of the 1985 Mr. Mister tune “Kyrie”. Flint is in rehearsal. They are preparing for this summer’s Hits Until Morning Party tour. I was in mid-sentence to ask him about the tour when he politely interrupted, “Where I grew up, every stupid thing had to have an acronym. It was annoying but I feel I put that skill to good use. I know Hits Until Morning Party is kind of rock and roll sounding but let’s face facts, they're just used to make the acronym for my second favorite word. Finding an acronym for funbags would have been a lot tougher.”

How many of today’s young rock stars delve into the nerdy english teacher’s realm of acronyms? One could safely argue that Cody Jackson is using acronyms for evil instead of good but no one can argue that his childish act of rebellion and low humor hasn’t been a marketer’s wet dream. H.U.M.P. ’99 concert shirts sell out by the truckload and merchandising from the seventeen city H.U.M.P. tour puts “a large chunk of change in my pocket”, says Harrison Lee Wingate, the overlord of Overlord Records and chief sponsor of the alterna-rock summer spectacle.

The tour is still a couple of weeks away but Flint feel still a little stressed they won’t be prepared to headline. They have recently been working on material for a new album that Flint’s lead guitarist Juwan Pilgrim thinks ”will hopefully be ready for Christmas.” Jackson pipes in, “Sometimes I get sick of playing the same old songs we’ve been playing for years. I want to play some of the new material we’ve got going on but we’ll see how receptive the audience is.” Pilgrim finishes his white brother’s thought by adding, “I think they’ll dig our new songs. They’ve got a blazin’ vibe and besides, the H.U.M.P. crowd loves us and we love them so it should be all good.”

The problem is Flint’s keyboardist has checked out for the second summer in a row. Doug Cherokee left Flint last May citing creative differences only to return in time for the band’s critically acclaimed first album White Trash Folklore. Pilgrim says ”This time Doug will be back probably for the last leg of the tour. He’s just had a bit of a tough time adjusting... because of things like the attention he got for beating the [poop] out of that photographer. The guy’s exhausted and needs a break.”. Rumors are circulating around Cherokee with numerous theories on why he really isn’t around. Some say that Cherokee has joined a religious cult and others say that perhaps he is in jail or looking after children he’s fathered. Official word is that ”he’s fishing where there is no way in hell anyone will find him” Wingate says and no one else in Flint seems to deviate from that line.

Bringing up what the public really wants to know about Cody Jackson is going to be tough especially since our magazine didn't give Flint's album the glowing review they were looking for. I told Jackson that I disagreed with my colleague and loved the new album (which is sort of true -- I really like it but don't consider it a classic) as I hoped to avoid a scene that many friends of mine that cover popular music have been subjected to. Anyways, it was unavoidable so I started to ask him about relationships with a certain young music phenom but again he politely interrupted me, "Please don't start with that. If I answer then the rest of my girlfriends in the industry will think it's true. Let's just talk about the tour."

So about the tour. "Last year, H.U.M.P. just kind of came out of nowhere." Jackson stated matter-of-factly. "It was the coolest summer festival and reached people through word of mouth. H.U.M.P. '99 has got some promo so it should be pretty huge. A lot of the shows have sold out so there's definitely some pressure." Pilgrim, who has been rolling his eyes during much of Jackson's speech, thinks that there's less pressure this time around. "We've got a few hits under our belt and a lot of the covers are better than the originals and every one knows it. We've worked hard and know we're established. I feel no pressure at all this time around. Last year, we were searching for an identity. This year, we've proven that Flint is special."

There is no doubt that the H.U.M.P. tour is coming to a segment of the South near you. The lineup is a diverse one but most of the fans will be there to catch as Jackson modestly says"the greatest show in music today". The bravado is definitely backed up on stage. However, there are also numerous questions. How will the band perform without Doug Cherokee? How will Cody react to the pressure from tabloids looking to 'spear' the latest? Does the fact that Flint have given their crowd something to expect hurt their live show? How will all this play out and affect the band? The reason to see Flint is the show but this summer a good sub-plot is to see if Flint can handle the pressure and survive.