G Flip has barely had time to stop and take stock of the past year.
Between “Bed on Fire” finding a huge new audience through Off Campus, five ARIA nominations, a run of major festival appearances and upcoming stadium shows with Robbie Williams, the Melbourne star has found themself in near-constant motion.
Then came last weekend’s AFL Grand Final, where they returned from a vocal cord injury in about the least low-key way imaginable: performing in front of a packed MCG alongside the iconic Kylie Minogue.
“I can’t believe I performed with Kylie Minogue,” G Flip tells Rolling Stone AU/NZ in a new interview. “I’m still pinching myself.”
This weekend, they’re back on home festival turf, making their Yours & Owls debut in Wollongong – as a headliner. G Flip has also teamed up with instax for the festival, fitting for someone who admits to being an avid collector of physical memories from life on the road.
Ahead of the festival, Rolling Stone AU/NZ caught up with G Flip to talk about returning to the stage after their vocal injury, the whirlwind success of “Bed on Fire”, their fiercely loyal fanbase, sharing the MCG with Kylie, and what they hope to learn from Robbie Williams.
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Rolling Stone AU/NZ: You’re making your Yours & Owls debut this weekend. What are you most excited about?
G Flip: It feels like I haven’t done an Aussie festival in a while, so I’m excited for that because Aussie festivals, I feel, are different than any other festivals around the world.
Also, I recently had some vocal cord damage, so I haven’t done a good, long set. I did one last night – it was my first back – but that was a smaller, more intimate venue. Now doing it at a festival is something I haven’t done in a long while. So I’m very excited to get singing and get out there.
Is there anything about festival days in particular that you love?
I love just hanging out with my band and the band morale, being backstage and seeing other artists that you haven’t seen in a while that you’re friends with. The backstage environment is always fun. I also just like waking up in a new town or a new city and going out for breakfast the next morning, then running into other artists and being like, ‘Oh, hey mate. Oh, hey mate.’ The whole experience is like a little mini school camp, but in one day.
You’re teaming up with instax at the festival for celebrate the idea of actually keeping and sharing the photos we take. Are you someone who takes a lot of photos when you’re touring?
I would say a little bit of both, but I’m an avid instax user. I have a camera on every tour – I have for a long time. I even have one that just sits on my kitchen table. Everyone who comes into the house, I take photos of. In my studio, I have all the artists that come in on the wall. I’m a big physical media type of person. Even when it comes down to records or CDs, I like physical media and I like collecting memories.
I also love a photo booth. Everyone has a friend that’s like, ‘Let’s get in the photo booth.’ That’s me.
Is there one photo you’ve taken recently that instantly brings you back to a particular moment?
I’ve got so many photos. Right now, all the photos on our kitchen table [are from] my sister having a baby five days ago. We were taking photos of all the days past her due date, so that was really cool. They’re literally sitting on the kitchen table now.
I always seem to take photos when I’m out and about, and then I’ll put my leather jacket on, go into my pocket and find a photo.
One photo I recently found was me and Leandra from the band The Beaches. The Off Campus cast came to LA and me and her got invited to a lot of parties, so the latest instax I found in my leather jacket pocket was me and her at an Off Campus party in LA. That was two days ago. I was like, ‘What is in my pocket? That’s so fun.’
There are always memories that take you back to a time and a place. Normally I can guess what year it is from the clothing I’m wearing, my haircut or what sunglasses I’m wearing.
You’ve had a pretty ridiculous run of moments worth documenting lately. Are you good at stopping and appreciating them as they happen?
I definitely need to do a better job at slowing down and reflecting more. I feel like a lot of my life is so next, next, next, next, next. But when I damaged my vocal cords six weeks ago, I had to be silent for two weeks and I was on my own. So that forced me into slowing down and reflection. I think that actually gave me a lot of mental clarity.
I always like to bring my friends and family along for the ride with me, and seeing their wholesome reactions always makes me realise, ‘Wow, what a crazy life I live.’ It’s so fun to see the joy that it brings my friends and family members.
Tonight, I’m just playing one song at my football club’s best and fairest night. In the contract, I was like, ‘I’ll do it, but I have to bring all my family and we have to have our own table.’ For them, they’re going to be brushing shoulders with their favourite footy players and they’re all going to lose their goddamn minds tonight.
It’s moments like that where I sit back and watch my most precious loved ones having such a good time. I say yes to a lot of TV performances because my Nana’s in the old people’s home watching with all her granny friends, and it makes her so happy. I like to see my people smile.
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That vocal injury makes your AFL Grand Final performance even more remarkable. It was your first performance back, and you were doing it at the MCG with Kylie Minogue. What was going through your head?
That was my very first sing back from my injury. I didn’t know what was going to happen because it was a tight timeline. Me and my vocal therapist – every day was counting down to the AFL Grand Final. Having your first thing back being to [a huge crowd] with Kylie Minogue is not exactly the most chill experience.
There was also a level of pressure on me because I was like, ‘I’ve got to get my voice back and relearn how to sing by this day.’ Every day I was doing therapy twice a week, doing all these exercises three times a day. I was only talking 10 minutes per hour. I was very, very disciplined.
I did the full two weeks of no speaking, no laughing, no coughing. I was only eating porridge – no spicy foods, no garlic. It was very strict, but it meant that I performed the Grand Final and I was really happy with how everything went. I’m still pinching myself. I can’t believe I performed with Kylie Minogue.
Your fans really showed up for you around the Grand Final, too. What does it mean having that level of support behind you?
My fanbase and my core – they call themselves the Flippers – they’re ride or die with me. They spend so much time and energy and money travelling the world and being front row. They’ve built a really beautiful community of people all around the world who are part of it, and they’re all friends with each other. It’s really beautiful and loving and accepting. I’m so fortunate that they back me.
A lot of this career comes down to fans and engagement and people selling tickets and getting votes for ARIAs and stuff. I’m so grateful for the energy and the amount of time that they pour into me.
I talk to them a lot on social media, so I’m engaged with them. My mum talks to them every day. She’s like the head of the fan club. I feel very lucky and supported to have them, and I try to be as engaged as I can with them.
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Speaking of the ARIAs, you picked up five nominations this year. Where were you when you found out?
When it got announced, I was doing a press conference with Kylie Minogue, so I was very busy with important things. I went to the green room after and I told everyone not to tell me the results or if I got nominated for anything. Then me and my brother-in-law watched it together.
My brother-in-law lives with me in Melbourne and we made the “Bed on Fire” music video together. He packed his cameras in a suitcase when they came to visit me in LA, and we rented the pink car that’s on my album cover and everything.
He’s never been up for an ARIA, and he’s been in the music industry a while and made quite a few music videos. It meant so much to him getting nominated, so we had our fingers crossed that we might get a nomination.
He came to the MCG after the press conference and we watched it together, and we got a nomination. We had a happy cry together. Our family just feels so proud of us for getting a family ARIA nomination, which is pretty cool. Now me and him have to work out what kind of suits we’re going to wear for the ARIAs!
“Bed on Fire” is up for Song of the Year, which caps off a pretty wild few months for the song after Off Campus. What does the response look like from your side now that you’ve had some time to process it?
It’s still a bit of a whirlwind. I just feel booked and blessed because the books are filled. I’m busy as fuck. That’s what I love. I love being busy. I’m a workaholic. It’s given me so many opportunities and gotten me in so many different people’s ears around the globe, so I’m very fortunate for that opportunity and so thankful.
All the crew and cast and everyone behind the music supervision are so lovely and awesome, and I adore them all. I feel very lucky to be part of that big moment and that show blowing up. I’m so grateful for it.
And next up you’re joining Robbie Williams for his Australian stadium shows. You’ve never done a stadium support slot before – what are you most looking forward to?
I’ve never done a support slot in stadiums before, so that’ll be a new experience. Besides those AFL performances, I’ve never been on a stage [that size] for a long period of time, rocking a whole set. I can’t wait for that. Robbie’s a pretty inspiring frontman and he’s got such a stage presence that I look up to.
Have you met him before?
Yeah, I’ve met him twice. He said to me, ‘I like your tattoos.’ And I said, ‘I like your tattoos, Robbie.’
Between Robbie and Kylie, you’re now getting to work alongside artists who have had incredibly long careers. What do you take away from watching people like that operate?
I think just watching how they operate – not on the stage. You see the performance, but then it was really awesome to see how engaged Kylie is and how she’s across everything. Being behind the scenes of all the rehearsals and stuff was really inspiring, watching her. Even after the AFL performance was done, she’s running in with all the dancers and all of us and thanking all of us.
Just watching how these big artists and idols – people that I look up to – operate, not only in the performance, is really inspiring. Seeing their work ethic, how involved they are and their creativity. I think that was really cool.
