Q&A: G Flip rides the ’80s wave on new album ‘Dream Ride,’ tour coming to Pittsburgh

Pop rocker G Flip may have been born in the 1990s, but that hasn’t stopped the Australian from embracing the previous decade on their latest album.

G Flip, who is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, dropped “Dream Ride” on Sept. 5, and the album is awash with vibes from the 1980s, a decade they described as “powerful.”

“This album, I just went really ’80s with it. In my last album, me and (producer) Aidan (Hogg) played around with using the ’80s drum parts, and then we realized that the ’80s are a full world that we could explore,” G Flip said. “So with this third album, we explored synth textures of the ’80s, sax solos, keytar solos, the whole dramatics and sonic landscape of the ’80s. We just went heavily into that, and that’s where ‘Dream Ride’ kind of began.”

The Dream Ride tour hits Pittsburgh’s Stage AE on Oct. 11, with British singer Beth McCarthy opening. Even from the album conception stages, concerts were being taken into consideration by the “Killing My Time” and “Drink Too Much” singer.

“Even in my writing process, I always think about how the songs will translate live so I purposely put production elements and write the song with the live show in mind, so that’s always at the forefront,” G Flip said. “So now transitioning to stage, it’s been pretty simple and easy. I use so many live instruments in the song so it really translates well.”

In a call Thursday from Boston, G Flip spoke with TribLive about the appeal of the 1980s, late-night songs, her dream ride and more. Find a transcript of the conversation, edited for clarity and length, below.

What is it about that ‘80s sound that appeals to you?

I think it’s the musicality of it. Compared to a lot of decades, I feel like the musicality of the ‘80s really stands out to me. I love soloing, keyboardists, keyboard players have a big role. They were getting hired, and then the grunge era came around, and then keyboard players weren’t getting as many jobs and sax solos, they weren’t as prominent in the ‘90s. They really went hard in the ‘80s and key changes and big dramatic drum solos. So just everything about the ‘80s, I feel like, inherently, is already in my shows. I already do big drum solos and guitar solos or whatever solos instrumentally. So it felt really fitting anyway, just navigating into the ‘80s world to transition it to live.

How did you put yourself in that headspace? Were you listening to music or watching TV from back then?

Yeah, listening to lots of ‘80s music and even in the studio, I had a TV that just had ‘80s music videos going on repeat and then I watched a lot of ‘80s movies so really immersed in all the ‘80s stuff.

Did you pull a lot of that ‘80s fashion into your own wardrobe now?

Yeah, a little bit. I thought, if I was back in the ‘80s, what would I look like? What would my hairstyle be? What car would I drive? And I implemented it all into this “Dream Ride” world for album three.

What did you want to do differently this time around with this album vs. your previous releases?

This record is a little bit more dramatic and a little bit more fun and colorful compared to my last two. My first record was a lot of my bedroom production, me learning how to use Logic and all the preset sounds on Logic. Then album two is really thinking of drum parts and reproducing a lot of songs that I’ve written over the years. This album was just fun to just get dramatic and ‘80s with it.

What made “Disco Cowgirl” stand out to you as the lead single?

As soon as we wrote that song, we knew it would be the best palette cleanser to introduce people into the world, just the production elements and the drum tones in that song and the a capella moment. It was really fun to dive into all of it.

One of the tracks that stood out to me was “Exactly What I Like,” so how did that one come together?

We were listening to a lot of Devo with that one, and then I was drunk at like 1 a.m. just being silly. We wrote over 100 songs for this record, and there were a few late nights after writing like three or four songs during the day where I’d just have a little bit of wine and then I’d get a bit crazy, and that song ended up making the cut.

Did many of those late-night songs make it or just a few?

The late-night songs that made it were “Big Ol’ Hammer,” “Exactly What I Like” and then “Let’s Take This Show on the Road.” They were real late-night tracks.

How about some of them that didn’t make the cut. The next day, were you like oh, what was I thinking on that one?

Yeah, I think all of them, I think “Big Ol’ Hammer,” it was like, that song is so silly, but then it stuck in our head, so it ended up making the cut.

As a multi-instrumentalist, I was wondering which instrument you think that you’re best at?

Definitely drums. Drums have been my instrument since I was nine years old, and I was a session drummer before I went solo with it all, so drums definitely.

What would you say is the worst?

I’d probably say saxophone because I just started learning four months ago. So it’s very fresh and very new for me.

What’s the hardest part about the sax?

Getting my embouchure right, which is your mouth and feeling it closed. And then just honestly learning a whole new instrument that I’m not singing while playing. When I play drums, I’m singing. When I play guitar, I’m singing. When I’m playing piano, I’m singing as well. It’s my first instrument that I’m just straight-up playing it. So I’ve got to get out of my head sometimes.

You played the Pride on the Shore 2024 event here in Pittsburgh, so I was wondering how important it is for you to voice support for that community?

The LGBTQIA+ community is super important to me, and all my music is very queer-based, being a non-binary queer person myself. So it’s the root and it’s in everything that I do. It’s my community, and there’s a lot of queer people in my fan base. So yeah, it’s very up there.

If you could hit the rewind button on your life, is there any part of it that you would change?

You know what? No. I think the person I am comes from the experiences I’ve had in my life, and I had to go through everything to get these songs and this material out because my songs are my story. So no, I wouldn’t change a thing.

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You’re based in L.A. now, so was there any major culture shock upon moving to the United States?

I think just the driving. I think everyone drives crazy in the U.S.

Speaking of driving, with the “Dream Ride” album, what would you say your dream ride would be?

Well, I reckon the 1970s Barracuda that’s on the front of my album would be up there.

Was that just something that you borrowed or something you want to get down the road for yourself?

I rented it from this guy, and then he let me paint it pink.

He let you paint it pink?

Yeah, I know. He’s still got it pink. It was silver beforehand.

That’s a big move for somebody like that.

(laughs) Yeah, I think he’s getting more rents out of it because it’s got a doper paint job now.