Flupejac:  "This is the Band the Way it's Supposed to Be"
by Stacey L. Howe for RockstarPix TV

   “This is the band the way it’s supposed to be; the way I always thought it could be.” explains Chris McRitchie, the melodic vocalist/guitarist for Los Angeles-based band Flupejac, who's name comes from a comical Jerky Boys skit. With McRitchie, killer bassist Chris Gramazio, and the new additions of guitar master Nathan December (Liars Inc, Holy Bulls, Careless, touring guitarist for R.E.M and the Goo Goo Dolls) and virtuoso drummer Cary Kane (Liars Inc., Pretty Boy Floyd, Powder, Gene Simmons, and the man behind Tara Reid's drumming in Josie and The Pussycats), Flupejac is ready to take on the LA music scene by storm.

    The two founding members of Flupejac, McRitchie and Gramazio, both hail from Poughkeepsie, NY. Both went to the same high school and played in and out of bands together until McRitchie moved out to LA in ’91 with his band, Shattered Truth.  After the band fell apart, he formed Flupejac in late ’94, with Gramazio following in ’95. With two records (Like It Is and Who’s Your Daddy?) and one EP (The Hard Way) under their belts, their drummer decided to leave. Gramazio remembers, "The other drummer decided he was going to pack it in, and actually we were out and we saw a band that Cary was performing in and were just really blown away by his playing and everything.  So we swooped in, talked to him and said 'Hey, would you be interested in doing another project' and he was totally open to it.  We started jamming and we clicked really well."

   Kane had been in the now defunct Liars Inc. with guitarist Nathan December. Says December, "The gift of being in Liars Inc. was that I met Cary, who is like my right arm now; he's like my brother.  He's the best drummer I've ever played with.  We stayed in touch and talked all the time.  Cary met those guys first, and they were a 3-piece and wanted to replace their drummer.  So Cary got in and was talking to them and was like, 'Have you ever thought about having two guitars?' and they were like 'Well, we've done it before but we're not doing it right now, why?' and Cary was like, 'Well, I know this guy and he's perfect.'"  So December came out and played with them and after a half hour everything fell into place.

    Now armed with the impressive talents of Kane and December, the foursome just finished recording a new EP, “... sometimes the bull wins!” on their self-created label, Land Speed Records.  December proceeds to tell the joke where the EP's title stems from, about a tourist in Spain who orders a pasta dish with enormous meatballs that are actually, well, part of a bull's anatomy.  Four new songs were recorded for the EP, along with re-recordings of past songs (“Makeup Counter Girls”, “Fine”, and “Peel and Shove”) to showcase the harder edge garnered by the new lineup. Says McRitchie, “We were always a really good band as a 3-piece, but with the addition of Cary Kane and Nathan December, I think the Flupejac sound has been completely realized. Everything that I thought it was and thought it could be... I think it’s where it needs to be right now. They both bring their own unique style to the songs and just really bring them out. They have an energy and creativity that’s pretty amazing.”

    McRitchie is the main songwriter, the so-called “Genesis” of everything. As he begins to discuss how the lyrics come about, Gramazio pipes in, “They come from your ass!”

    “Yeah, they come from my ass. Thanks, Chris...” McRitchie continues.  "But, no, they come from personal experiences and I try and make them vague enough so it can apply to anybody or any situation.  Most of the lyrics are pretty personal but I try not to get too specific  to make it too centric to myself.  I never sit down and try to write a song about a certain subject; it just kind of hits me."

    Although McRitchie lays the foundation for the songs, everyone has his own input. Gramazio explains, “[McRitchie] brings the ideas in, he’s the main song guy. We all work on our parts on our own. Nobody’s really told ‘play this here’ or ‘play that there’... it really comes together as a band.  Everybody has an input in it; we all arrange the songs together.”

    Kane compares the group dynamics between Flupejac and his and December's former band, Liars Inc. "The last thing Nathan and I were in, it was a really sturdy, really staunch writing situation, like even when we contributed to the arranging of the songs....  But [Flupejac] is a good thing; it's a creative thing... you get in there and it's really free and we all get to contribute and it feels good."

    How does one describe the Flupejac sound?  December describes it as, “We’re like a car wreck set to music... but a car wreck that’s fun to be in.” It's old school metal meets grunge, Husker Du meets STP, or as McRitchie says "We're somewhere between the Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age."  One thing is for sure - these are four down-to-earth guys who, in the simplest terms, really know how to rock.