The Flip Side: flippin' good

By: Elise Hugus, September 2, 2011

- The Flip Side rocks the house at a recent show at the Woods Hole Community Hall.

Over the past decade, pianist Christo LoCascio and bassist Melissa Roberts Weidman have been singing and writing songs together, drawing on their extensive musical backgrounds and their love of the blues to create a sound that's all their own.

The pair struck a balance between Melissa's songwriting skills and Christo's arrangement expertise while playing with late-1990s band, Joe Sutton & the Safe Sextet. Later, they formed Is We Ain't with fellow sextet member Todd Johnson on harmonica and vocals.

Full-time jobs and family obligations made it hard for the band to play regularly, so Christo and Melissa turned to playing as the Flipside duo, hosting open mic sessions at local coffeeshops and concentrating on producing albums, while also playing with the Shirley Lewis Experience and the George Gritzbach Band.

With the addition last winter of Drew Buckley on drums, Jeff Brown on guitar, and Will Harrigan on sax, The Flip Side now features a full complement to its high-energy rock and blues sound—and a new, legally-approved name.

The Flip Side transforms the Moonakis Cafe in Waquoit from a popular breakfast place to a regular roadhouse cafe on the first Saturday of each month, inviting all ages to come on down for a free show over coffee and dessert from 7:30 to 9:30 PM. The group also plays a more traditional gig at the Cape's only blues club, the House of Bud's in Hyannis, on the second Saturday of each month.

InsideOUT's Elise Hugus caught up with the dynamic duo between gigs.

InsideOUT: I hear influences from Muddy Waters to Bonnie Raitt in your music, but your sound is definitely unique. Where does that come from?

Christo: All blues originated with an idea and improvised on it. Even if we're playing a cover, we don't stick within the confines of a song. It's all about expression, emotion, and not playing the same thing twice. I plan on playing music for a long time, so I want to have fun with it.

Melissa: Improv is what the blues is all about. There's infinite possibility within the 12-bar structure. We really enjoy the spontaneity of what happens in the particular moment, in a particular place, with a particular audience. I think of it as we're jumping off a cliff together and we're flying. It's one of the most enjoyable things about playing music together.

I/O: Why is playing or listening to live music important?

Melissa: My concept of community is one that has variety, not just the generic stuff, no matter where you are in the entire country. What is specific to the people that live here, that consider it home, that gives it its specific character, is what makes this place special? That's what makes a place have a memorable connection to people's souls. "American Idol" shows that there's this natural human interest in hearing music, but we've limited the ways in which we access it. When we have venues like Moonakis or Coffee-O, people come out and thank us for playing in such a welcoming, safe environment. No one is making a penny, but we're doing it because we believe it enhances the community.

Christo: This community can be wonderful for playing music. It's a family of musicians, and we go out and support each other. The culture that's on TV, you'd think that's all there is. I'm afraid people are used to hearing things that are so polished and perfect that they don't know how to listen to music. It's not about being rich and famous. Appreciating music is like learning to walk.

I/O: What led you to play your particular instruments?

Melissa: I grew up at the height of Motown and soul, and when I looked at any of Aretha's or The Supremes' or The Temptations' records, all the bass lines were by James Jameson of The Funk Brothers, the house band for Motown. A lot of people don't pay attention to the bass. They don't realize it's what inspires them to move.

Christo: The biggest influence for any blues musician has to be Robert Johnson. For songwriting, for me, it's Bob Dylan and John Lennon. As a pianist, Otis Spann, Pinetop Perkins, Thelonious Monk, Dr. John from New Orleans, and Professor Longhair. These are all great musicians that taught us and we're passing it down.

I/O: How do you write songs together?

Christo: I'll get e-mails from Melissa with lyrics, so many of them we probably have five more albums worth. Then we'll sit down and do the arranging, jamming until it comes out the way we want it. We've been huge influences on each other.

Melissa: I ran a community dispute resolution center for five years, so I hold a lot of personal value in the concept of collaborating with people. I've also written poetry my entire life, and music is poetry. A lot hits me while I'm driving to work or doing something else. Our song "Disposable Income" came from walking down the street in Chatham and seeing this ridiculous car that obviously cost way too much money. "Bag of Bones" came after I had a minor operation. Sometimes I won't hear a song for a while and then hear a recording and think, "where did that come from?" It's like having children in some ways: their life is their life. That's how I feel about writing songs.

I/O: Why play the blues?

Melissa: Blues is transformational. It takes the everyday crises and expresses them in whatever way, sometimes even funny and joyous. There's tons of funny, sarcastic blues songs out there. Blues to me celebrates the essence of life, transcending class, race, gender, and time to endure. This is a form that started in the South and keeps changing and morphing.