Quick-fire Questions: 10 minutes with Flip Top Head
Prior to the five-year stint I spent living in the city, I was told that Brighton was an incredibly febrile music scene with plenty to shout about.
This was, by no means, a false statement, but boy, was it only just getting going around a decade ago. Acts like Porridge Radio and Penelope Isles successfully established cult followings in the city and beyond as a result of their incessant support slot acquisitions before eventually ebbing away after time, and while Squid have maintained their status on the circuit, it didn’t take them long to abscond from the city in which they formed.
There was plenty else going on there in terms of there being places to see music, vibrant micro-scenes happening in smaller pockets, and of course, the annual celebration of The Great Escape, the UK’s premier new music festival. Now, however, there’s a whole host of acts who are turning it up another notch, with Brighton seemingly becoming an even greater force to be reckoned with in terms of producing cutting-edge music.
Flip Top Head are just one of the many groups with a stake in the matter, and having formed only four years ago, they’ve rapidly asserted themselves as one of the most forward-thinking and spectacular prospects to have emerged from the south coast in the 2020s.
Frenetically hopping between ornate post-rock and bursts of furious cataclysmic noise, their pool of influences is perhaps indicative of how genres continue to mutate in modern times, and how the younger generations are pivoting towards an amalgamation of sounds rather than settling on finding a single niche they can sink their teeth into.
With six members in their ranks, Flip Top Head also find themselves within a wave of acts who aren’t afraid to utilise a greater range of textures and instrument groups, with walls of guitar being bolstered by synths, percussion and in their earliest offerings, a bonus trombone for good measure. While they’re hardly alone in this, they’re happy to embrace the growing trend by contributing to the amount of inventiveness coming from this subsection of British music.
Having evolved into something more refined over their first few years, with their second EP for Blitzcat Records, Trilateral Machine, they’re considerably more assured of where they’re heading, and in amongst the moments of chaos are outpourings of divine beauty, Sylvia Plath-inspired musings and explorations of what it means to be alive in the modern world. After briefly chatting with the band, it appears they’re also big fans of lighters, Paddington Bear, and a certain over-the-counter cold remedy.
Quick-fire Questions with Flip Top Head:
What song would you like played at your funeral?
Marie: ‘Just Like U Said It Would B’ by Sinéad O’Connor.
Ollie: ‘I Live For You’ by George Harrison.
Bertie: ‘Rusty’ by Le Volume Courbe.
Who is the best band in your local scene right now?
Goodbye, the band; we’re not saying bye to you.
What was your favourite album of 2025?
Fun’s Over by Keg, Getting Killed by Geese, and The Making of Five Leaves Left by Nick Drake.
What’s the most unusual record in your collection?
Ollie: I have Hawaiian renditions of Beatles songs.
Marie: Also a Hawaiian record called Hawaiian Paradise. Not Beatles though.
What’s the best venue you’ve ever played at?
Arminius in Rotterdam. It’s a massive church, and we had the best time of our lives.
If you could remove one genre from existence, what would it be and why?
Electro-swing, because I don’t want to feel like a man in a top hat and a hoodie.
What’s the most under-appreciated invention of all time?
Night Nurse.
If you could add a new instrument to the band, what would it be?
Another guitar. You can never have too many guitars.
What film do you think you could quote the most of?
School of Rock without a doubt. That goes for all of us. Also, Marie can perfectly quote Barbie and the Three Musketeers.
What do you think will be ‘in’ in 2026?
Paddington: The Musical and Night Nurse. Maybe watching Paddington: The Musical on Night Nurse. Also, having a lighter in every pocket.
And what do you think will be ‘out’ in 2026?
Having to ask people to borrow a lighter.
Can you describe your music as though it were a menu item in a restaurant?
The hot little towel you get after a curry.
What’s the most backhanded compliment you’ve ever received as a band?
A guy in Reading started by saying he loved the band, but by the end of the conversation, he only really liked the drums and bass.
If you were to become a tribute act, whose music would you be covering?
Abba.
Are The Beatles overrated?
No way.
