With Steven, there’s something very deep that we allow with his expression me, I’m a quirky songwriter. People would jam at our house, and we’d all try to figure out “Stairway to Heaven” together. Not that my family was musical, but they all knew musicians. My brothers knew the Hells Angels and took drugs and sold drugs - all this stuff should be in a movie - and there I am, 8 years old, taking in music and art all the same time. I was born in 1961, and by the time I’m 8 years old, The Beatles are making their coolest weird records, people were landing on the moon, Charlie Manson was killing people, all these insane things. I grew up with older brothers and an older sister, and my parents, as well, they all had crazy fucking friends who took drugs. We remember the shiny young part of our life where it all seemed to be wonderful and everything that you explored was just cool as fuck. We have quite a few songs about that idea. They hit you even before we do the lyrics they already hit you in this kind of melancholy, sad understanding of the world. As you go deeper into trying to present some emotion - that’s part of the beauty of the way Steven arrives at melodies and chords. In the beginning, you’re always a true believer you always think, “This is gonna work this is gonna be great,” whatever the situation is. Well, well, right, I think we sort of term that kind of romantic. The new album is quite beautiful, and I want to use the word … bittersweet? Like wanting to believe in fantasy or purity, but knowing it doesn’t last, or knowing there’s a melancholy side. … We saw Paul McCartney, and while there’s no real comparison - the difference between Paul playing a new song and “Hey Jude,” he’s pretty despondent, saying, “I know this is a song everyone’s gonna get a drink and recharge their phones.” It’s hard to compete with a 50-year-old song. It’s a bit of a thrill to behold it, and I think all musicians and all groups live for that sort of thing, where you get to play something not so known or rehearsed. Like with “The Castle,” it’s a really powerful, kind of emotional thing, and you can tell when it’s really working: There’s a guy standing out there for the first 40 minutes of show, and he’s getting affected, his arms are going up …. “There Should Be Unicorns,” “The Castle,” and “How?,” and those are just spectacular, sprinkled in between some of the more bombastic songs. That’s always kind of a challenge, but the ones we picked, we’re not doing too many. Well, I mean, I think we’re really lucky that, right at the beginning of the year, we started to play quite a few shows - kind of like, you just put a record out and people expect you to play new songs. How has this new round of shows and touring been so far? I spoke with lead singer Wayne Coyne about the legendary band’s new album, Oczy Mlody, plus the importance of fantasy, ridiculous stage antics, and the Loch Ness Monster. Bowl along with singer-songwriter Mac DeMarco and openers The Garden on Friday, October 6. Wonderful, whimsical, even wubbulous - these are a few adjectives one might use to describe the psychedelic, Seussian trip of The Flaming Lips, whose fantastically candy-colored rock will enliven the S.B.
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