The Fling play songs from their new album, “When the Madhouses Appear,” during a Tuesday, May 10, record release party at Fingerprints in Long Beach’s East Village. Photo by Daniel deBoom. 

6:01pm | The music scene is alive and well in Long Beach. The venues may have changed since the days of Bogart’s, The Foothill and Fender’s Ballroom, but smaller clubs have picked up the slack by giving touring bands a place to play in our city.

One of these unlikely venues is a record store called Fingerprints, located in the East Village.

Fingerprints Records, having secured their place in Long Beach music lore with an intimate performance by the Foo Fighters on Record Day, played host Tuesday night to local singing sensations, The Fling.

Following is an interview with The Fling’s Dustin Lovelis (guitars, vocals), Graham Lovelis (bass, vocals) and Justin Roeland (guitars, keys, vocals).

Daniel deBoom: The Fling is in good company at Dangerbird Records (artists include The Dears, Boots Electric, Minus The Bear). How did you come about signing with them?

Dustin: We released a record last August and Dangerbird got a hold of it. They had a good reputation and were really excited about the band, so it seemed like a good fit for us.


DdB: In the past The Fling recorded and released music on the band’s own Lady Monk Records label. Do you give up any artistic control when you sign with an outside label?

Graham: Not really. They might have opinions on things but ultimately it’s up to us. Their ideals and ours pretty much line up, anyways.

DdB: Last night you held the record release party for “When the Madhouses Appear” at Fingerprints, which is fast becoming the premier venue to see live music in Long Beach. How was your experience there?


Dustin: It was great. Feels good to have their support. I buy records at Fingerprints all the time and have seen a lot of great in-stores there.

DdB: How did the title of your new record come about?

Graham: It’s from a song I wrote on the album called “Day I Find.” It just seemed to sum up the way we felt most of the time trying to get the record done … insane. Lot’s of late nights and lost tracks. We learned a lot about the whole process since we did it all on our own.

DdB: How has the music on this record evolved from what you’ve written before?

Graham: I think our stuff changes all the time but we never really think about it. There are four songwriters in this band now with Joel joining so it will always remain eclectic. We’re already recording a new EP and it’s sounding a bit different. We’re getting a little heavier, but still doing acoustic stuff.

DdB: Why release your music on vinyl? Which hidden messages reveal themselves when the record is played backwards?


Graham: It’s bigger, which is better for artwork and it sounds better. It’s not disposable. If you play the album backwards you can hear us doing 12 different a cappella renditions of “Only Wanna Be With You” by Hootie and the Blowfish.

Dustin: You can’t buy a vinyl and put it in your laptop and listen to it on those shrimpy speakers. Darius Rucker actually does some guest vocals on those backwards Hootie renditions. The sessions were a real riot. Lots of hard drugs.


Justin R: You can’t listen to a record in your car, which is the worst place to hear music, anyways. It’s like an afterthought, or trying to read a book while getting a root canal. Buy some cans, turn off the lights, float away.

DdB: What are The Fling’s roots?

Graham: Mostly brunette.


Dustin: Root Beer.


DdB: I mean how did the band get together?

Dustin: Graham and I have the same parents so we grew up playing music together. I had known Justin Ivey from previous bands. Justin Roeland used to be my chimney sweep, turns out he, too, was also a virtuoso on guitar.

Justin R: I still sweep for fun sometimes. … Beats surfing.


DdB: Which musicians, if any, influence The Fling, both as a band and as individual members?

Graham: I like it all. Tom Waits, Elliott Smith, Hieroglyphics, Misfits, Black Flag, Flaming Lips, R. Kelly.


Dustin: Robert Pollard and Frank Black.

Justin R: Steely Dan … he’s great.

DdB: Any plans to tour behind “When The Madhouses Appear”? Any upcoming shows we should know about?

Dustin: We should be touring quite a bit this summer. We have a show June 5 at a park in downtown Long Beach. *

DdB: Which song written by another performer do you most like to cover live?

Graham: I ‘d like to do a Chickenfoot song.

Dustin: We used to cover Gillian Welch’s “Miss Ohio.” I think that is the only cover we have ever done.
DdB: Which question are you never asked but wish you were?

Dustin: Which question are you never asked but wish you were?

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* June 5 at Promenade Square Park (Sundays in the park with SAM)