The Flaming Lips life and biography

The Flaming Lips are an American neo-psychedelic band, formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States in 1983. Throughout their career, band members have come and gone, but currently The Flaming Lips consist of original members Wayne Coyne (lead vocals, guitars and piano) and Michael Ivins (backing vocals, bass guitar and piano), along with longtime member Steven Drozd (backing vocals, guitar, bass guitar, keyboards/synthesizers and drums), Kliph Scurlock (drums), and, most recently, Derek Brown (backing vocals, guitar, keyboards). Notable former members include Jonathan Donahue (guitar), who went on to form Mercury Rev, and Ronald Jones (guitar).

The Flaming Lips are known for their lush, multi-layered arrangements, spacey lyrics and bizarre song titles. They are also acclaimed for their elaborate live shows, which typically feature animal suits, puppets, streamers, 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”. In 2006, Oklahoma City named a street Flaming Lips Alley in their honor.

The group recorded several albums and EPs for Restless Records in the 1980s and early 1990s. After signing to Warner Brothers, they scored a #9 hit on the Billboard Alternative charts ( and #55 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart) in 1994 with She Don’t Use Jelly. Although it would be their only hit single, the band has maintained critical respect and, to a lesser extent, commercial viability with sonically majestic albums such as 1995’s Clouds Taste Metallic, 1999’s The Soft Bulletin and 2002’s Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots. The Flaming Lips’ 11th studio album, At War With The Mystics, was released by Warner Brothers on the 4th of April 2006. Embryonic was released in October of 2009. Their latest album, a complete cover of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of The Moon, was released in May 2010.

The band released their first live concert DVD, UFO's at the Zoo: The Legendary Concert in Oklahoma City, on August 7, 2007. The band also contributed original songs to the soundtracks of several 2007 films, including "The Supreme Being Teaches Spider-Man How to be in Love" for Spider-Man 3, "I Was Zapped by the Super Lucky Rainbow" for Good Luck Chuck, "Love the World You Find" for Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, and “Maybe I’m Not the One” and “Tale of the Horny Frog” for The Heartbreak Kid.

In January 2011, the Lips announced their intention of releasing a new song every month of the year. In February, they released the first track titled "Two Blobs Fucking". The song exists as 12 separate pieces on YouTube and must be played simultaneously to be heard as intended.

In March 2011, the Lips released the EP Flaming Lips 2011: The Flaming Lips with Neon Indian. In April, the band released the "Gummy Song Skull" EP,a seven pound skull made of gummy bear material with a gummy brain, which contained a flashdrive with 4 songs on them. This release was extremely limited, but was soon leaked on the internet shortly after its release.

At midnight October 31st 2011, a 24-hour song was released entitled "7 Skies H3". The song is currently playing live on a never-ending audio stream on a special web site set up by the band, and was also made available for purchase as a hard drive encased in an actual human skull, limited to 13 copies.

The band's latest release is a 12" EP collaboration with Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band, to be sold only at the band's annual New Years shows in Oklahoma City.

The Flaming Lips released their first song of 2012 on January 29th entitled "Now I Understand". The 3 minute song revolved around lyrics provided by the Siri virtual personal assistant application integrated into Apple's iOS for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.

Current Members:
-Wayne Coyne – lead vocals, guitar, keyboards, theremin, bass guitar (1983–present)
-Michael Ivins – bass, keyboards, backing vocals (1983–present)
-Steven Drozd – drums, guitar, lead vocals, keyboards, bass, backing vocals (1991–present)
-Kliph Scurlock – drums, percussion (2002–present)
- Derek Brown – guitar, keyboards, percussion (2009–present)

Former:
-Mark Coyne – vocals (1983–1985)
- Dave Kostka – drums (1983–1984)
-Richard English – drums, vocals, piano (1984–1989)
-Jonathan Donahue – guitar (1989–1991)
-Nathan Roberts – drums (1988–1991)
-Jon Mooneyham – guitar (one month in 1991)
-Ronald Jones – guitar, backing vocals (1991–1996)

Discography:
-Hear It Is (1986)
- Oh My Gawd!!! (1987)
-Telepathic Surgery (1989)
-In a Priest Driven Ambulance (1990)
- Hit to Death in the Future Head (1992)
- Transmissions from the Satellite Heart (1993)
-Clouds Taste Metallic (1995)
-Zaireeka (1997)
-The Soft Bulletin (1999)
-Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002)
- At War with the Mystics (2006)
- Embryonic (2009)
-The Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs with Henry Rollins and Peaches Doing The Dark Side of the Moon (2009)

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