Jazmin Sherman meets Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne before their sell-out gig in Portsmouth...

So are you excited for the show tonight?

Yes! Looking forward to it, we haven’t played in Portsmouth since the early 90’s.

Will the human sized plastic ‘zobra’ ball be making an appearance tonight?

Yep, I’ve been coming out in that thing every concert we’ve done since 2002, unless the venue was too small or something. I love getting out and crowd surfing in it.

Have you ever seen any strange or funny things on tour?

Oh yeah, we were playing a show with My Chemical Romance and I watched this girl get slammed into the barriers and both of her teeth were knocked out, so you know, naturally I went up to her to see if she was okay. I told her if she found her teeth and put them in some milk a dentist would be able to put them back in, but she just looked at me and said, “it doesn’t matter, I just want to meet Gerard” (front man of My Chemical Romance). Now that, that’s a fan for ya.

Brutal, nice tip about the teeth though…things you learn on tour. How’s this tour been going anyway? Are you enjoying being in the UK?

Yes, I absolutely love it. We have been playing shows in the UK since the 80’s and have always enjoyed it. London’s very expensive though, almost 8 American dollars for a coffee. But here you pay it, back in the States that would be an outrage. I must say, I enjoy being in London now that I have more money to spend...it’s great fun.
I’m really happy you like England. You’ve had more hits over in the UK and Europe than you have back in the US…

Yeah, I know, it’s absurd. I feel the appreciation and understanding for music is different over here, and there’s this curiosity for new, interesting things that back in the States they don’t have, and that curiosity isn’t just for music, it extends to fashion and art as well.

So tell me about your new album, Embryonic, your 12th studio album…

12th! Isn’t that wild We’ve been around for ages! Jeez, how old are you?

18.

Now, I’m 49 years old, but to me I don’t feel any age at all. I just feel old and that’s fine. You’re younger a lot shorter period of time than you are older. I mean, once you’re past 30 you’re there. But I feel whether you’re 30, 45, or 65, it’s just an age. I could be any of those ages and it wouldn’t make any difference.

I definitely agree. There is far too much emphasis on age in our society today. Growing older should be viewed as a more positive thing, just look at how much you and the Lips have accomplished…

I know 27 years. It’s been a great ride but it’s strange. When you start your career you’re this new, up and coming band and its all exciting, then you become established as a good band which for us is a period of old and waiting, hoping to become ‘classic’…

I think you have gotten there. The Flaming Lips are a classic band, with both commercial and critical success.

Why thank you, it’s been a strange journey but we just keep exploring ourselves and exploring different styles.

I believe you guys do a great job of achieving that with all your albums. I’ve read you were inspired by Miles Davis for this album, how did that come about?

Inspiration is a great thing. I can get inspiration from the trees, to the ocean, or from rocks to art, anything really. Miles easily inspired our album but we didn’t go into the studio hoping for it to sound like a Miles Davis record, however, we had a deep appreciation for his music and the process in which he made it. For this album we did a lot of jamming. We would have jam sessions, each 15 minutes long and they were great. Steve (The Flaming Lips guitarist) really shaped my sound and the jam sessions really captured the intensity and feel of that sound. It’s this sort of intensity I wanted for this album.

I’m very impressed you guys did jam sessions for this album, I feel it’s so much more authentic…

 ...Yes but at the same time what actually is authentic? Authenticity specifically, in art and sound is so subjective...but I do feel jam sessions have something special about them. They’re about capturing a moment, a lot of what we played was shit (chuckling…) but when we got it right, it was that little boxed sound that was completely unique.

…and having listened to your album, you guys sure got it right. Now, I want to ask you about your song ‘Do You Realize?’ (Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots) becoming the ‘State Rock Song’ of Oklahoma (USA)… that’s very cool, what do you think about it?

[chuckles] Well, you’re right, it is a very cool honor, but a strange one at that. We know many officials in Oklahoma and we felt very privileged that of all bands, and all songs, they chose us. It’s just very absurd…

I can appreciate that…so, in general do you like touring? You’ve been traveling all over the place playing shows, do you ever feel like your putting your life on hold while your away?

Well, I don’t really agree when other artists or bands say that. You don’t just ‘put your life on hold’ when you’re on tour and then just go back to it like nothing happened. You, or at least we, continue to live our lives normally while on tour. You learn to embrace it, it’s all about living your life, and you can’t just wait around for things to happen. Life is all about saying “fuck it let’s go…or you’ll miss it”.

interv,tour,album,inspired,authenticity,flaming,lips