For those unfamiliar with the mess of noise, rock, punk, thrash and trash-meisters Flipper, allow me to paint you a very brief portrait.

Formed in 1979, the US punk and garage band said goodbye to their first vocalist after six months (too strung out), they released the iconic "Album - Generic Flipper" a while later, got angry with PiL when they subsequently issued a long-player with the same title and similar (ish) sleeve art, issued a retort opus called "Public Flipper Limited" and wound up John Lydon, shared a similar antagonistic relationship with their respective audiences, enlisted ex-Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic for a few years, knocked out a well-received Jack Endino-produced album in 2008 ("Love"), only to see Novoselic depart and be replaced by ex-Frightwig bass-wielder, Rachel Thoele in 2009. And they shared their name with a cute dolphin that starred in its own TV show in the '70s. Whew, got that? Oh, and they're coming back to the UK in April for a string of very rare shows.

Their musical style has lurched from straight-up garage-punk, hardcore, twisted guitar-disco and on towards slower sludge-metal and grindcore, all done in inimitable Flipper-style of course. King Buzzo of The Melvins labelled their classic "Sex Bomb" single 'as important as Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water (for his generation)'. Pretty important, then. It was also dressed in a sleeve that simply said "Single" on it, in big black letters - much like PiL's "Rise". Hey ho.

Dates for their upcoming UK tour, their first since 2009, now totals four and starts with Nottingham on 6th April, followed by York, Glasgow and finally London's XOYO venue on 10th April. Tickets cost £12, up to £16 for London. And enjoy.