The
band’s follow up record Clouds Taste Metallic failed to
spawn another hit, but
cemented the group as contemporary pioneers of head trip psychedelia.
Taking the foundation laid by such art rock cult favorites as The 13th
Floor Elevators, Captain Beefheart and, yes, even Pink Floyd, Flaming
Lips created a sound that was distinct, forward-thinking and wholly their
own.
Then came The Soft Bulletin. A sonic masterpiece on par with
Pet Sounds, the album was a critical avalanche of praise, launching
the band once more into the spotlight. Several fantastic singles, including
“Waiting for Superman” and “Race for the Prize”,
made it onto hipper radio stations nationwide. One question loomed –
namely, how do you follow a seemingly perfect album?
The answer came earlier this year with the release of Yoshimi Battles
the Pink Robots. By no means The Soft Bulletin Part 2, the
album continues The Flaming Lips’ trait of breaking new musical
ground, a balanced mixture of layered production and aural exploration.
Altercation editor Justin Habersaat sat down with frontman Wayne
Coyne backstage before a large scale show in Brooklyn, NY in late August.
Altercation:
Obviously, The Soft Bulletin gave you guys a much larger profile…
Wayne: It did, it built up little by little. It was the greatest thing
ever. You never know what people are gonna think, and the album’s
success is owed in some part to people like yourself. Folks who have something
to say, can express it in a good way and can influence other people. A
lot of people have helped me, because they care about what we’re
doing.
A: Did you feel a lot pressure recording the new album?
W: Nah, not really. I mean, I could see if we were younger, and if The
Soft Bulletin had been our first or second record. But we’ve
had a lot of success and rejection and indifference in our lengthy career.
Periods of money, periods with no money. We’ve had so many different
times, that eventually you just don’t put much into the idea that
people have to love what you do. Of course we want people to like what
we do, but….I remember talking with Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine)
back in 1994. It had been some time since his ‘big’ album
had come out, and everyone was wondering when the follow up was coming.
He had a bit of difficulty trying to come up with the next step after
such a great masterpiece. I personally don’t think of our music
as being that big of a deal. Obviously, when the audience hears it and
it becomes part of their life, that’s something different from what
I’m doing. I’m sort of just doing my own thing. As much as
I know The Soft Bulletin means a lot to some people, to me it’s
not that big of a deal. They’re just more songs to me. It’s
the audience’s job to make something important, to give it meaning
and all that. I think that it’s my job to give you stuff that you
can apply meaning to, and if I do that right then maybe it can all work.
A: I’ve always admired your ability to put creativity first
while being on a major label.
W: Well, we’re not really fighting the good fight in that way. We
do it because we like it. I would never say that we’re doing it
to carry the torch for other people. If it does that, and it gives people
a sense that there’s other ways to do things, then that’s
great. But really, I don’t set us apart from anyone else. Most recording
artists do the same thing, they do what they like and spend as much time
and effort doing it, whether it’s Kid Rock, N’Sync or The
Flaming Lips. I just know too much about the process. I wish that there
was a sense of us that carries that torch, but I think at the end of the
day we would just screw it up. Because we love it, and because we’re
passionate about what we do, for me, that’s enough. If other folks
want to tack bravery onto that as well, then that’s fine, but we’re
doing it simply because we’re having the time of our lives.
A: Do you find that you now require a larger budget to see your
vision through to completion? Could you record a satisfactory Flaming
Lips record on an indie?
W: Well, the larger budget allows you to relax a little more, because
you’re able to make mistakes and not have it affect other peoples’
lives. We make records with Warner Brothers’ money, and they give
us a lot. I think the last one was over $300,000, and we control what
the money goes for. They trust us not to blow it all on drugs or a herd
of mountain goats or something (laughs). We would never risk that kind
of personal money on an album though. If the choice was to record longer
at a studio and risk losing one of our houses, we would never do it. That
would just be insane. That’s why we make good use of the budgets
we’re given. We’re not living some elaborate lifestyle, the
money is in the record. We’re not going in and recording at the
last minute. We spend time, effort and money. We have Dave Fridmann (Mercury
Rev) working with us, and he has a million dollar studio….we know
that we have a weird slot at Warner Brothers. We’re kind of like
a really well funded art project. I think that’s a great way to
be. Obviously, we do have our bottom line, and we do have to sell records.
But there’s that other side of it, where we just have a really great
spot. There are other bands too, like Wilco. Even though the trouble they
had made them go somewhere else, I think they had that same type of situation.
The same goes for bands like Radiohead or Mercury Rev or Granddaddy. There
are a lot of bands that have the same type of thing, where they’re
in control of their own destiny money-wise and production-wise. Something
marvelous should happen. There’s been so many million dollar records
that you hear and go “that?! Bah!” (laughs).
A: How has the advent of computers effected how you go about making
music?
W: Well, I’m always looking for something new. In between making
records, there’s always new gadgets coming out. I’m interested
in that stuff. I feel like I have an obligation to see where the newness
is, and how it can be applied. Not to decide whether or not I like it,
but to observe it and embrace it and see what I can do with it. What a
fuckin’ great thing it is to be able to make a record using these
computers. They allow you to just fuck with sound endlessly. It’s
the greatest thing ever. Some people take a stance and claim that computers
are ruining music. Maybe in their capacity it is, but to my way of seeing
it, computers have allowed people to make music in a space no bigger than
what can hold their body and a computer. They have access to virtually
any instrument they want. If we had to have a space that held all of the
instruments we use in making our records, it would have to be a mansion.
We have pianos and tubas and percussion. There would be no room to have
them, let alone room for people to play them. I mean, look at someone
like Moby. Someone who has ideas and access to sound, who can just sit
in their apartment and make these huge, wonderful records. The technology
is there, and it’s just another way of making music. And the instrument
is only gonna be as good as the hands it’s in. The guitar is never
going to be better than the computer, the turntable is never going to
be more important than the recording idea. I mean, maybe in your hands
the turntable is the greatest instrument ever made, maybe for the guy
next to you it’s the harmonica. To me, it’s really all about
sound. A guitar makes sound, and if I wanna use that sound then it’s
just another way of putting it on tape.
A: So how does that change how you approach your live show?
W: In the early days it was always a struggle, because we were always
uncomfortable being labeled as recording artists. Now I’m not uncomfortable
with that tag. To me it isn’t a pompous statement, it’s just
what we do. We make records. The fact that we go out and perform is really
the afterfact. When we used to get together in the early days, we didn’t
think of ourselves as great singers and guitar players. We did, however,
think that we could make recordings that were interesting. It wasn’t
really until late in recording Clouds Taste Metallic that we knew that
we wouldn’t be able to recreate what we were doing on stage. We
didn’t know how we were creating the sounds in the studio, but they
were there (laughs). It would sometimes limit us, worrying over how we
would recreate the songs for the stage. We finally decided that it didn’t
matter. I never saw Pink Floyd play, but I’m glad they didn’t
worry about recreating the songs live when they were recording those records.
We just broke free of that. If we’re really imaginative, we’ll
find a way. We’ll concentrate on this for now, and when it comes
time to do the show we’ll worry about it then. We said fuck it,
we’re recording artists. That’s where we shine, that’s
what we love to do.
If someone came up to me and said that we could never play live again
I would think it’s a shame, because it’s another opportunity
for me to present my message or whatever. I love talking to people like
you about music and ideas, and that would be one of the aspects that I
would miss if the performing went away. Performing is always frightening
to me. That’s why I’m constantly grabbing things onstage.
I love talking to the audience, but I’m not really a performer.
I’m a guy who loves music. These days, we don’t really struggle
with performing. We find a way. We simply have so much material to pick
from, that if one song doesn’t work we find a way to make another
one work. And the songs that people really demand to hear, like “She
Don’t Use Jelly” or “Superman”, luckily we’ve
had enough time to think it through and make them work. I think in some
ways, we’re moving towards having more people play with us on stage.
In the beginning of the tour for The Soft Bulletin, I really
didn’t want to do that. Now, I think more people tend to make the
show more entertaining. If the show isn’t good, it will be my fault,
not that of the people playing with us. But if the show’s great,
hopefully those people helped make it that way. I look at the live show
as entertainment. When we’re in the studio it’s art, but when
we come out here….it’s time to blow up some balloons (laughs).
I wish more bands could free themselves of this idea of self expression.
Self expression is hard to do on the level of where you have to do it
every night in front of an audience. The whole situation of playing live
is contrary to expression. It’s easy to get a routine together,
which is largely what we do. We play pretty much the same set from night
to night. If I was sitting back here in some shitty mood and didn’t
want to do an interview, or of I went onstage and said “I’m
in a bad mood and don’t want to be here” to the audience,
would they say “Oh, he’s being expressive”? As an audience
member I would say “fuck that, I paid my money and I don’t
care what kind of a day you’re having, it’s time to rock”
(laughs).
We approach performing the same way people view a movie – a film
doesn’t have a mood. If it’s the first time you’re viewing
that movie, it can be a powerful experience. You can be transcended to
another world if the art is done right, and I feel the same way about
us. I want people to come knowing that I’m doing all of the work.
You can grab something to drink or just stand there, don’t worry
about it. If I didn’t want to be here, I wouldn’t charge someone
money and then complain about being in that situation. I think young people
sometimes view it as a confrontation, you know “what does the audience
want from me?” syndrome. I think about Kurt Cobain or Eddie Vedder….well,
what do you think the audience wants from you? They paid their money,
they want you to put on a show. It’s not any deeper than that. And
I really appreciate our audience. It’s people like you, folks who
have their own lives and don’t see me and go “I’ve seen
Wayne’s shoes, I’ve gotta get a pair of those!” or something.
You’re who you are, and neither one of us are trying to change the
other. This is just an experience we’re gonna have together. This
is my job, and I’m going to do the best I can at it. We do the expression
on the record, now we’re just gonna have a party.
Continued
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