Chantelle Paige - Vocals

Flipsyde's music is an unconventional, yet harmonious mix of styles. The top and bottom of their innovative sound is straight-up Hip Hop while the middle punches with Rock. These parts are made whole through Piper's consummate MC skills and stinging rhymes, Steve Knight's emotive voice & adhesive melodies plus Dave Lopez' inspired Latin-flavored flourishes of blazing guitar.

Of course ... Flipsyde is a natural amalgam in a post-modern world where cultures, beliefs and music collide like wrecking balls but, at once, coexist, interlace and augment our everyday human experience.

At first, the backgrounds and influences of the three members that make up Flipsyde appear disparate, but, upon closer inspection, their common thread of passion, politics and commitment to music becomes evident.

Piper is a razor-sharp MC from the streets of Oakland whose distant childhood memories of an intermittent father from Brazil opened a window of curiosity to the Portuguese language and the bigger world outside. He weaves both interests liberally with a wicked flow to form precise rhymes. Focused and resolutely opinionated about the political landscape of our times, Piper can shift effortlessly between dazzling bravado and indictment of national and international policy.

Steve Knight's grainy vocals betray the gravely road he's tracked from his spiritual roots of Alabama to a tour of duty in the U.S. Coast Guard and through a self-described "chemical" journey from which he emerged more driven and committed to pursue his love of music in the Oakland scene.

A loyal disciple of the Bay Area music community, Dave Lopez originally immigrated to the U.S. from Chile where he was born and raised until his early adolescence. He carried with him - and has always harbored - a passion for the rhythms of South America and the melodic cadences of Chile's bold and deep-rooted musical traditions.

When asked to describe Flipsyde's unique sound, Piper offers the following analogy: "Our music is like water, it has no form but can cover you ... or morph into anything."

Piper and Knight were originally signed to the same Bay Area indie label where they had each been working on separate projects. They often helped one another by trading rhymes or guitar parts on each other's tracks. But, it wasn't until 2003, in Oakland's Soundwave Rehearsal Studios, that Dave - working there at the time - happened to cross the pair's path.

"Steve barged into me," remembers Lopez of their initial meeting, "and it really irked me. But then he started to play 'Someday' and I was in awe. I thought right away that I might have something to contribute to it and we've been jamming ever since that day."

In addition to serendipitous timing, Piper, Knight and Lopez also share a common dedication to unity and political awareness. This message comes across loud and clear in Flipsyde's lyrics.

"It doesn't matter where you come from, how rich or poor you are or what your religion is," says Knight. "You can break down the walls and communicate. You can gain strength from these things and come together."

Flipsyde's debut album on Cherrytree/Interscope Records is aptly titled "We the People." As Piper explains "It's 'We the People ... of the world;' a new declaration of independence without political boundaries. Our music promotes unity, peace and the empowerment of people." Lopez adds with a confident smile: "Our music is a big mess of love."

Flipsyde is a rap/R&B/rock band from Oakland, California. Flipsyde consists of singer/guitarist Steve Knight, guitarist Dave Lopez, rapper Jinho "the Piper" Ferreira, and recently singer Chantelle Paige. They have toured extensively with Fort Minor, The Black Eyed Peas, Snoop Dogg and on the Anger Management Tour. Flipsyde's single, "Someday", was chosen as NBC's theme song for the 2006 Winter Olympic Games held in Torino, Italy, as well as part of the soundtrack for the 2008 film Never Back Down. Their debut album, We the People, also featured three other singles ("Happy Birthday", "Trumpets (Never Be The Same Again)", and "Angel") and was highly lauded by critics, including a review from the Washington Post proclaiming it the best hip hop album of 2006.

In 2008, following the addition of Paige to the group, Flipsyde once again had a song of theirs selected as a theme song for the Olympics. This time their song "Champion" was chosen as the theme for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, as well as the primary song for EA Sports NBA Live 09 video game. They enjoy touring in India, where their first tour took place in 2005 via VH1's Hip Hop Hustle, and have already performed there twice and may be planning a third trip. Recently it was announced through their MySpace that they had started touring with Akon, promoting their second studio album, State of Survival, produced by Akon and Konvict Muzik. The album has started to circulate for release on varying dates across the world via Kon Live Distribution and Cherrytree Records, and contrary to earlier reports Akon is not featured vocally on any tracks. During the production of Lady GaGa's first single, "Just Dance", the members of Flipsyde made a cameo in the video with the members displayed sitting around in a screen shot and Chantelle holding a disco ball sitting next to Piper. Steve Knight and Dave Lopez are seen in the lower corners of the screen.

In March 2009, Ferreira ("Piper") was selected to present his original screenplay "Walter's Boys" in the Tribeca All Access Program (TAA) at the Tribeca Film Festival in Lower Manhattan, New York. "Walter's Boys" is about "a clandestine training operation led by an ex-CIA agent recruits urban teens, but faces treacherous consequences from the trainees? intent to break free with the help of a former mentor." Ferreira describes "Walter's Boys" as "an action thriller inspired by my brother-in-law Sgt. Elijah Warren's service in the Army's 5th Special Forces Group. After he committed suicide I felt compelled to share the story I had created with others." On April 24th, it was announced that Ferreira's script won best screenplay at the festival, netting him a $7000 prize as well as an original art piece.

Unfortunately, on September 5, 2009, after months and months of push-backs, Flipsyde was notified that Interscope Records was considering dropping them from the label rather than releasing State of Survival in the United States. Touring plans beyond the month of September were abandoned, and at this time the future of Flipsyde has come into question. Piper presumably returned to his screenwriting endeavors and Lopez went on to become part of the experimental Latin band Bang Data, while Paige resumed her solo career.