Sue Isseide, Scene Reporter
Craze!
Fall '99
“Have you ever seen The Karate Kid?” asks Doug Cherokee, Flint’s intensely temperamental sex symbol/keyboard player. “At the end when Danny is in the Crane position – arms raised, balancing his entire chi on one leg – he’s in a position that’s very vulnerable but also as Danny proves, a position of raw, extreme power. After our first album, that’s where we are. Flint can either go way up or come crashing down.”
Eighties parables should not be unexpected from Flint. Unlike many of their contemporaries, Flint embrace the Reagan years. Singer Cody Jackson calls it “the real golden age of music” and if you ever have a chance to catch Flint perform live, you undoubtedly will hear a dazzlingly distorted rendition of a familiar Duran Duran or Kim Carnes tune placed among Flint’s own New Wave-flavored sound. Guitarist Juwan Pilgrim describes his band's sound as “not rock, not pop but a heavy mix of whatever sounds good.” So far, in their young recording career, ‘whatever sounds good’ has not translated into popular success.
Flint are often cited as a ‘band’s band’. Overlord Record sources say Michael Stipe of R.E.M. wants them to contribute songs to the soundtrack of his first-produced film. Courtney Love of Hole reportedly listens to Flint’s debut album White Trash Folklore constantly and has a crush on Doug. Rumors like these fuel Flint’s ultrahip reputation and their model-dating, tabloid-making lifestyles (there’s the Eighties influence again) has only added to the Florida band’s mystique.
More than a few music industry prognosticators were proved wrong when Flint did not rise from the post-Nirvana ash heap to ascend to the long-empty American rock throne. Acts like Ricky Martin, Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys have owned 1999 and porn-rock bands like Blink 182 and Lit proved to be the jesters of popular music on their way to financial fruition. 1999 has not been unkind to Flint as their debut album recently went gold (on the strength of near exclusive touring and promotion in the Gulf of Mexico region) and three videos have hit airwaves and gained the band some attention and recognition. It would seem to be quite an achievement for Flint, a small-market band signed to a relatively small label, Overlord Records. However, pre-album hype may have dampened the band’s accomplishments. Humanity was supposed to enter the new millenium worshipping Flint, a band with a sound that would capture music’s collective imagination. This is not going to be the case.
To use Doug Cherokee’s parable, Flint remain in a highly vicarious position. Despite record chairman Harrison Lee Wingate’s recent claims that their next album will be “Flint’s Joshua Tree”, one false move and Flint could go the way of critically praised, publicly ignored bands past. The industry is littered with their graves. However, Flint also have the potential – especially in this age of the cult of personality - to use their Southern beachhead and kick their way into national prominence. Their sound has convinced musicians and critics. With their next album, Flint must convince the masses that they are indeed worthy of previous hype.