The Flaming Lips

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The Flaming Lips
Background information
Origin	Oklahoma, USA
Genre(s)	Alternative rock, Acid Punk, Psychedelic rock
Years active	1983 – Present
Label(s)	Warner Brothers
Website	www.flaminglips.com
Members
Wayne Coyne Michael Ivins Steven Drozd

The Flaming Lips (formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1983) are an acclaimed American alternative rock band.

Although the Flaming Lips take an indie rock/post-punk approach to rock music, the band is known for their lush, multi-layered, psychedelic arrangements, spacey lyrics and bizarre song titles (for example, "Pilot Can at the Queer of God", "Free Radicals (A Hallucination of the Christmas Skeleton Pleading With A Suicide Bomber)" or "Yeah, I Know It's A Drag... But Wastin' Pigs Is Still Radical". They are also acclaimed for their elaborate live shows featuring fursuits, balloons, puppets, video projections and complex stage light configurations. In 2002, Q magazine named The Flaming Lips one of the "50 bands to see before you die".

The group recorded several albums and EPs on an indie label in the 1980s and early 1990s. After signing to Warner Brothers, they scored a hit in 1993 with "She Don’t Use Jelly". Although it has been their only hit single in the U.S., the band has maintained critical respect and, to a lesser extent, commercial viability through albums such as 1999’s The Soft Bulletin, 2002’s Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, and 2006’s At War with the Mystics. They have also had more hit singles in the UK and Europe than in the U.S.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Early history 1.2 Signed to majors (Hit to Death through Zaireeka) 1.3 Artistic breakthrough (The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi) 1.4 Recent activity (At War with the Mystics) 2 In other media 3 Members 3.1 Current 3.2 Live Musicians 3.3 Former 4 Discography 4.1 Albums 4.2 EPs 4.3 Singles 5 Compilations & Reissues 6 Filmography 7 Cover Songs 8 Soundtrack appearances 9 Footnotes & References 10 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Early history

The Flaming Lips formed in Oklahoma City in 1983 with Wayne Coyne's brother Mark singing lead vocals and Michael Ivins on bass guitar. The band debuted at Oklahoma City's own Blue Note lounge. After going through a host of different drummers, Richard English joined the band in 1984. That same year they recorded their only release with Mark Coyne singing lead vocals: The Flaming Lips.

After his brother’s departure, Wayne assumed the vocal duties and the band released their first full-length album, Hear It Is, on the small independent label Restless Records in 1986. This line-up recorded two more albums; 1987’s Oh My Gawd!!! and 1988’s Telepathic Surgery.

Nathan Roberts replaced English and Jonathan Donahue (also a member of the alternative rock band Mercury Rev) joined in 1989. In a Priest Driven Ambulance, their first album with producer Dave Fridmann, was recorded at the State University of New York for $5 an hour on a $10,000 budget.^[1] The album was host to a marked expansion in the band’s sound and their previous experiments in tape loops and effects were given a more prominent role. This was also the period of the band in which Coyne made his transition to a higher, more strained vocal style akin to Neil Young, which he first utilized on Telepathic Surgery’s "Chrome Plated Suicide" and has employed ever since.

In 1990 the band caught the attention of Warner Bros. Records and were signed promptly after a representative of the label witnessed a show in which the band almost burned down the venue with the use of pyrotechnics.^[2]

[edit] Signed to majors (Hit to Death through Zaireeka)

In 1992, the band released their major label debut Hit to Death in the Future Head after the recording of which Donahue left the band to concentrate on Mercury Rev. Roberts left the band as well, citing creative differences. They were replaced by Ronald Jones and Steven Drozd respectively.

In 1993, they released Transmissions from the Satellite Heart.^[3]. The success of this record led to long stints of touring, including the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Candlebox.

Clouds Taste Metallic was released to much critical fanfare in late 1995, though it did not achieve the commercial success of its predecessor. The strain of the year-long Clouds tour added to the stress from the three years touring in support of Transmissions was a major factor in the departure of Ronald Jones in late 1996. He was said to be suffering from a severe case of agoraphobia, although the documentary Fearless Freaks states that he left due to growing paranoia over Drozd's drug use.

The departure of Jones and a general dissatisfaction with standard "rock" music led to the three remaining members of the group to redefine the direction of the band with the experimental Zaireeka (1997), a four-CD album which is intended to be heard by playing all four CDs in four separate CD players simultaneously. The music incorporated both traditional musical elements and "found" sounds (as in musique concrete), often heavily manipulated with recording studio electronics.

As part of the development of this project, the band conducted a series of "parking lot experiments" and then later, "boombox experiments". In the parking lot experiments up to 40 volunteers were given cassettes created by the band to be played at a parking lot in their cars' stereo systems simultaneously. In the "boom box experiments" an orchestra comprised of up to 40 volunteers with modified "boombox"-type tape players was "conducted" - directed to vary the volume, speed or tone of the tape they were playing (again composed by the band) - by Wayne Coyne.^[4]

In the meanwhile, a series of strange incidents (recounted in the 1999 song “The Spiderbite Song”) beset the band. Drozd's arm was almost amputated needlessly due to what he claimed was a spider bite (it turned out to be abscessed as a result of Drozd's heroin use), Ivins was trapped in his car for several hours after the wheel spun off of another vehicle into his windshield, and Coyne's father died after a long battle with cancer.

[edit] Artistic breakthrough (The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi)

Though their experimental endeavors received some press, their real breakthrough came with the massively acclaimed 1999 release, The Soft Bulletin. Marrying more traditional catchy melodies with languid synthetic strings, hypnotic, carefully manipulated beats, booming cymbals and oddball but philosophical lyrics (sung much more strongly than on earlier releases), the album quickly became one of the underground hits of the year, even widely considered to be one of the best albums of the entire decade.

Compared by many to the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds due to the addition of harmonies and orchestrated sounds, it also featured greater use of synthesizers, drum machines, sound effects and more studio manipulation. After this album was released, Coyne said that, "if someone was to ask me what instrument do I play, I would say the recording studio." Realizing that an attempt to recreate this complex album live solely with additional musicians would be prohibitively complex and expensive, the group decided to tour as a three-piece and make extensive use of pre-recorded music to fill out the parts not being performed live by the members of the band. Perhaps most notably, this led to the decision to have Drozd (ostensibly the drummer, but a talented multi-instrumentalist) play primarily keyboards and guitar live instead of the drums. This, in turn, led to a decision to utilize video recordings and projections of Steven playing the drums for some of their older, more "standard rock" songs.

In a further attempt to enhance the live experience for the audience and to more accurately reproduce the sound of The Soft Bulletin live, the Lips devised the concept of the "Headphone Concert." A low-powered FM transmitter was set up at shows, and the concert was simultaneously broadcast to small Walkman-style receivers and headphones available for free to audience members. This would, in theory, allow the audiences greater sonic clarity while still feeling the power of a full live P.A.. This concept was debuted in Dallas, Texas and at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas in March of 1999, and was subsequently used on the International Music Against Brain Degeneration Revue tour.

Three years later, in the summer of 2002, The Flaming Lips joined bands Cake and Modest Mouse on the Unlimited Sunshine Tour. They also released the full-length Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots to much critical acclaim. Demonstrating more use of electronic instruments and computer manipulation than The Soft Bulletin, and considered much more accessible than any of their previous albums, Yoshimi is widely considered to be The Flaming Lips' first critical and commercial success after nearly twenty years of existing as a band. The final track on the album, "Approaching Pavonis Mons by Balloon (Utopia Planitia)" earned a 2002 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance, and "Yoshimi" was certified Gold on April 10th, 2006.

Both The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots have been released on DVD-Audio for an enhanced listening experience.

[edit] Recent activity (At War with the Mystics)

After Yoshimi, The Flaming Lips released two EPs in the same vein of their previous album's robotic theme and containing remixed songs from Yoshimi, Fight Test EP and Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell EP. They also appeared on the track "Marching the Hate Machines (Into the Sun)" on the Thievery Corporation album The Cosmic Game. In addition to their EPs, The Lips have been working for several years on a feature film entitled Christmas on Mars. There will possibly be showings of it in the summer of 2006, with a predicted release date of Christmas 2006. Filming for the movie ended in late September 2005 and it is now in post-production. [1]

In 2002, they performed as the opening act, as well as the backup band for singer Beck on his Sea Change tour. In the summer of 2004, it was announced that The Flaming Lips would appear among the headliners on the 2004 Lollapalooza tour, alongside such legendary artists as Sonic Youth and Morrissey; however, the tour was canceled due to lack of revenue. Following the concerts' cancellation, the band entered Tarbox Road Studio with producer Dave Fridmann and began work on their eleventh album, the more organic-sounding At War with the Mystics. Also in 2004, the band recorded the song "SpongeBob & Patrick Confront the Psychic Wall of Energy" for the soundtrack to The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.

In 2005 the band was the subject of a documentary called Fearless Freaks, featuring appearances by other artists and celebrities such as the White Stripes, Beck, Christina Ricci, Liz Phair and Juliette Lewis. In that same year, The Flaming Lips contributed a version of Bohemian Rhapsody to the album Killer Queen: A Tribute to Queen. Also in this year, The Flaming Lips released the DVD VOID (Video Overview in Deceleration), which chronicles all of their ventures into Music Video that have been produced since they signed with Warner Brothers in 1991. In October of 2005 The Flaming Lips recorded a cover of "If I Only Had a Brain" for the soundtrack of the video game Stubbs the Zombie, which features modern rock bands covering songs from the 1950s and 1960s. Additionally, the band released one new song, Mr. Ambulance Driver, for the movie soundtrack of Wedding Crashers.

In October of 2005, the band performed a concert with several other acts, including Medeski Martin & Wood, Particle, and G Love & Special Sauce onboard a Carnival cruise ship in the Pacific Ocean in a music festival called Xingolati.

The digital single "The W.A.N.D" was released January 10th. It is the second single from At War with the Mystics, the first being Mr. Ambulance Driver. The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song was released in the UK on March 27th.

Following the April 4, 2006 release of At War with the Mystics, the band began a tour to support the album in the United Kingdom, including a finale at the Royal Albert Hall and performances at the 02 Wireless Festival. At the Leeds England date of the festival, the band opened for The Who, whom they are long standing fans of. A tour of the US with Sonic Youth, Ween, and other artists followed. They also played at Wakarusa Festival in Kansas in June 2006, the Hedgpeth festival in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin, Chicago's Lollapalooza festival, Austin City Limits Music Festival in September 2006 and Voodoo Music Fest in New Orleans in late October. In November 2006 they return to the UK for a short tour.

They will continue to tour throughout the fall stopping in Montreal, Atlantic City's House of Blues, The University of Vermont in Burlington, their hometown Oklahoma City, Austin, Texas, and New York, NY as well as several other cities.

In the September 2006 issue of Spin magazine, the band was ranked #16 in the article "The 25 Greatest Live Bands Now."

An interview with Michael Ivins was also featured in the November 2006 issue of The Green Room magazine.

On December 5, 2006, Oklahoma City honored the band with a downtown alley named after the band. Vince Gill and Charlie Christian were also given street names by the city.

[edit] In other media

'"Do You Realize" was used in station identification spots for VH-1 and National Geographic, as well as a spots for Hewlett-Packard^[5]. "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song" was featured in a Television advertisement for JC Penney and has also been used in an advertisement for the movie Little Miss Sunshine as well as an advertisement for Cartoon Network's summer premiere Squirrel Boy. "Fight Test" was used as the theme to MTV's animated series "3 South". Also, "It Overtakes Me" was used in an advertisement for Beck's in the UK. "Bad Days" scored the Riddler's transformative moment in Batman Forever (1995). "Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell" is currently used in a spot for MTV.

[edit] Members

[edit] Current

• Wayne Coyne – lead vocals, guitars, piano (1983-)
• Michael Ivins – bass guitar, piano, occasional backing vocals (1983-)
• Steven Drozd – drums, guitars, bass guitar, keyboards/synthesizers, backing vocals, most other instruments (1991-)

[edit] Live Musicians

• Kliph Scurlock – live drums (2002-)

[edit] Former

• Mark Coyne – vocals (1983-1985)
• Dave Kostka – drums (1983-1984)
• Richard English – drums, vocals, piano (1984-1988)
• Jonathan Donahue – guitars (1988-1991)
• Nathan Roberts – drums (1988-1991)
• John Mooneyham – guitars (one month in 1991)
• Ronald Jones – guitars (1991-1996)

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

Hear It Is ( 1986) Restless	Oh My Gawd!!! (1987) Restless	Telepathic Surgery (1989) Restless	In a Priest Driven Ambulance (1990) Restless
Hit to Death in the Future Head (1992) Warner Bros.	Transmissions from the Satellite Heart (1993) Warner Bros. #108 US	Clouds Taste Metallic (1995) Warner Bros.	Zaireeka (1997) Warner Bros.
The Soft Bulletin (1999) Warner Bros. #39 UK	Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002) Warner Bros. #50 US, #13 UK, #72 AUS	At War with the Mystics (2006) Warner Bros. #11 US, #6 UK, #20 AUS

[edit] EPs

The Flaming Lips ( 1984) Restless	Due to high expectations... (1994) Warner Bros.	Fight Test (2003) Warner Bros. #93 (Billboard 200 Albums Chart)	Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell (2003) Warner Bros.
It Overtakes Me (2006) Warner Bros.

[edit] Singles

Release Date	Single	UK Singles Chart	US Billboard Hot 100	AUS Singles Chart	Album
1988	"Drug Machine" (Sub-Pop release)	-	-	-	Telepathic Surgery
1991	"Unconsciously Screamin'"	-	-	-	In a Priest Driven Ambulance
1991, October 31	"Yeah, I Know it's a Drag... But Wastin Pigs is Still Radical" ["Talkin' 'Bout the Smiling Deathporn Immortality Blues (Everyone Wants to Live Forever)"]	-	-	-	Hit to Death in the Future Head
1993 (1994 UK)	"She Don't Use Jelly"	-	55	25	Transmissions from the Satellite Heart
1995	"Turn it On"	-	-	-	Transmissions from the Satellite Heart
1995	"Bad Days"	-	-	-	Clouds Taste Metallic & Batman Forever
1996	"This Here Giraffe"	72	-	-	Clouds Taste Metallic
1996	"Brainville"	-	-	-	Clouds Taste Metallic
1999	"Race for the Prize"	39	-	-	The Soft Bulletin
1999	"Waitin' for a Superman"	73	-	-	The Soft Bulletin
2002	"Do You Realize??"	32	-	-	Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
2003, January	"Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots pt.1"	18	-	-	Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
2003	"Fight Test"	28	-	-	Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
2003, September 15	"The Golden Path" (with The Chemical Brothers)	17	-	-	Singles 93-03
2006, January 10	"The W.A.N.D." (US only)	-	-	-	At War with the Mystics
2006, April 17	"The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song"	16	-	79	At War with the Mystics
2006, July 17	"The W.A.N.D." (UK version)	43	-	-	At War with the Mystics

[edit] Compilations & Reissues

• A Collection of Songs Representing an Enthusiasm for Recording...By Amateurs (1998)
• Finally the Punk Rockers Are Taking Acid (2002)
• The Day They Shot a Hole in the Jesus Egg (2002)
• Shambolic Birth and Early Life Of (2002)
• Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002, DVD-Audio & Audio CD) #50 US, #13 UK
• Late Night Tales: Flaming Lips (2005)
• The Soft Bulletin (2006, DVD-Audio & Audio CD)
• 20 Years of Weird: Flaming Lips 1986-2006 (2006)
• At War With the Mystics (2006, DVD-Audio & Audio CD)

[edit] Filmography

• Fearless Freaks (2005)
• Christmas on Mars (2007?)
• VOID (2005)

[edit] Cover Songs

• "After the Gold Rush" – Neil Young
• "All That Jazz / Happy Death Men" – Echo & The Bunnymen
• "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" – The Who
• "Batman Theme" – Neil Hefti
• "Bohemian Rhapsody" – Queen
• "Can't Get You Out of My Head" – Kylie Minogue
• "Chosen One" – Smog
• "Communication Breakdown" – Led Zeppelin
• "Death Valley '69" – Sonic Youth
• "Everyone's Gone To The Moon" – Jonathan King
• "Handsome Johnny" – Richie Havens
• "Ice Drummer" – Alan Vega
• "It Was a Very Good Year" – Ervin Drake
• "Life on Mars?" – David Bowie
• "Knives Out" – Radiohead
• "Nobody Told Me" – John Lennon
• "Opel" – Syd Barrett
• "Pennyroyal Tea" – Nirvana
• "Plastic Jesus" – George Cromarty & Ed Rush
• "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" – Burt Bacharach
• "Seven Nation Army" – The White Stripes
• "She's Gone Mad" – Chainsaw Kittens
• "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" – Harold Arlen
• "Strychnine – The Sonics
• "Summertime Blues – Eddie Cochran
• "Sun Arise" – Harry Butler / Rolf Harris
• "Thank You" – Led Zeppelin
• "The Golden Age" – Beck
• "The Little Drummer Boy" – Katherine Davis / Henry Onorati / Harry Simeone
• "Under Pressure" – Queen & David Bowie
• "War Pigs" – Black Sabbath
• "What a Wonderful World" – Bob Thiele and George David Weiss
• "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding" – Nick Lowe
• "White Christmas" – Irving Berlin

[edit] Soundtrack appearances

• Love and a .45 (1994) - "Turn It On"
• Batman Forever (1995) - "Bad Days"
• Suburbia (1997) - "Hot Days"
• Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) - "Buggin'"
• Freaky Friday (2003) - "Fight Test"
• How to Deal (2003) - "Do You Realize??"
• The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004) "SpongeBob & Patrick Confront the Psychic Wall of Energy"
• 50 First Dates (2004) - "Do You Realize??"
• Summercamp! (2006)
• Christmas on Mars (?)

[edit] Footnotes & References

[edit] External links

Official sites

• The Flaming Lips
• The Flaming Lips at MySpace

Lyrics

• The Flaming Lips Lyrics

Photo galleries

• The Flaming Lips Flickr Group
• The Flaming Lips @ SXSW 2006
• The Flaming Lips Image Gallery

Fan sites

• The Flaming Lips Live Music Hub
• Janecek's Flaming Lips page

News

• The Flaming Lips Street Name

Interviews

• Interview with The Flaming Lips on ManiaTV
• Audio interview on public radio program / podcast The Sound of Young America
• Interview and acoustic session on Vox

The Flaming Lips
Wayne Coyne | Michael Ivins | Steven Drozd | Kliph Scurlock
Mark Coyne | Dave Kostka | Richard English | Jonathan Donahue | Nathan Roberts | Ronald Jones
Discography
Studio albums: Hear It Is | Oh My Gawd!!! | Telepathic Surgery | In a Priest Driven Ambulance | Hit to Death in the Future Head | Transmissions from the Satellite Heart | Clouds Taste Metallic | Zaireeka | The Soft Bulletin | Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots | At War with the Mystics
Extended plays: The Flaming Lips | Due to High Expectations... | Fight Test | Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell | It Overtakes Me
Compilations: A Collection of Songs... | Punk Rockers | Jesus Egg | Shambolic Birth | Late Night Tales | 20 Years of Weird
Songs: "She Don't Use Jelly" | "Do You Realize??" | "Approaching Pavonis Mons by Balloon (Utopia Planitia)" | "The W.A.N.D." | "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song"
Related articles
Fearless Freaks | Christmas on Mars | VOID | Killer Queen: A Tribute to Queen | Dave Fridmann