"I know," said Jim Mathus, "let's break up one of Chapel Hill's hottest rock bands, cut our hair, wear suits, and form a sort of hot jazz/dixieland outfit."

And so the Squirrel Nut Zippers were born. Luckilly for Mathus, the fine people of Chapel Hill quickly got over the loss of Metal Flake Mother and embraced the Zippers, shooting them further into stardom than MFM ever was.

Metal Flake Mother is/was: Benjamin Ross Clark Quince Marcum Jim Mathus "Hollywood" Randy Ward

They started out on the Moist record label with lots of local success. With the success of the Squirrel Nut Zippers, the label Hep-Cat re-released Beyond the Java Sea in 1997, with 4 bonus tracks from their 7" called Deem-On.

The other members of Metal Flake Mother went on to be in Family Dollar Pharaohs and Starletta.

Some Metal Flake Links:

Article in the News-Observer on "What happened to..." Chapel Hill Bands
Short article with sound samples in Carolina's Independent Weekly
Article on re-release of Beyond the Java Sea and Chapel Hill music in SFBG magazine
LISTEN to Beyond the Java Sea on Springbreak.com!
Tiny little review buried on the Mammoth records site
This "Femenista" considers MFM to be a bad influence (check out her others on the list)
Metal Flake Mother's profile on iMusic
Short history in DAMN Entertinment magazine
You can buy a MFM 7" here called Deem-On