The Flaming Lips - A Pemberton Preview Profile

As a proud British Columbian, I bought my Pemberton Festival ticket within days of hearing about it. It's a musical orgasm.

The Flaming Lips are set to play on Saturday, July 26th. This is their story:

GENRE: "Acid bubble gum"/alternative/eclectic
FROM: Oklahoma City, USA
BAND MEMBERS: Guitarist/singer/songwriter - Wayne Coyne
Bass/keyboards/backing vocals - Michael Ivins
Drums/percussion - Steven Drozd
Drums/percussion (live) - Kliph Scurlock
TOGETHER SINCE: 1983/1984
BEST KNOWN HIT: "Do You Realize?" or "She Don't Like Jelly (Tangerine)" but the annoying "Yeah Yeah Yeah" is on some sort of salad dressing commercial.
STATUS: Cult-like following

• The Flaming Lips' biography is as wild as their sound. They named their band after either a porn film, drug reference, or a dream in which the Virgin Mary kissed Wayne Coyne with her flaming lips.
• Frontman Wayne Coyne was in his thirties by the time the Lips made it big.
• Apparently Coyne stole a bunch of instruments to help form the band, and their debut performance was at a transvestite club.
• Like Rage Against the Machine, the Lips are insistent on performing and recording with their own music rather than digitally creating their sound. Their music is a blend of different experimental sounds that may not seem appealing to the average rock or pop listener. There is no formula. It's just plain weird.
• The Lips have very unique song names, like: "A Spoonful Weighs a Ton," "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots," "Approaching Pavonis Mons by Balloon," "Jesus Shootin' Heroin," "The Train Runs Over the Camel But Is Derailed by the Gnat," "The March of the Rotten Vegetables," and much much more.
• I found one interesting quote by Coyne about his music online which typifies the Lips' sound:

"My older brothers would take a lot of drugs and we'd sit around and listen to records - the Beatles' White Album, John and Yoko's experimental stuff. We never knew it was freaky or weird; we thought that was music that everyone listened to."

• One of their albums, Zaireeka, is a box set of four Cd's which are meant to be played at the same time. It's supposed to make the listener feel like they're "not just hearing the music but standing inside it."
• Apparently during one of their latest tours, Jack White of The White Stripes approached Coyne and gave him a miniature toy Jesus. Coyne later wrote the song "Thank You Jack White (For the Fiber Optic Jesus That You Gave Me) about it. (Click here for the lyrics).
• In 2002 Q Magazine included the band on their "50 Bands to See Before You Die" list
• The Lips have had more hit singles in Europe than in their native country.
• They were nominated for three different Grammys for "Best Alternative Album" (in both 2004 and 2007), "Best Surround Sound Album" (2008), and won three Grammys for "Best Rock Instrumental Performance" (2003 - "Approaching Pavonis Mons by Balloon"), "Best Rock Instrumental Performance" (2007 - "The Wizard Turns Me On"), and "Best Engineered Album" (2007). They were also nominated for "Best International Act" at the BRIT Awards in 2007.

If I had the legal rights to include pictures on my blog, I would. But I'm an amateur blogger with no purpose at all, so click on the links for coolio pictures.