Wayne Coyne: “The Flaming Lips Speak An Emotional Truth”
Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips has answered a wide-ranging set of questions from fans in a new interview for The Guardian.
When asked how he maintains a feeling of positivity and optimism in his music, Coyne said, “When The Flaming Lips are at our most expressive, we speak an emotional truth you can’t really speak in real life. We made an oath with the gods of music that we would follow our hearts, regardless of whether it’s embarrassing, stupid or wrong. Sometimes I worry that we sound like these miserable old dudes. So I hope we still sound like we’re full of hope and love.”
Another fan asked Coyne what album he might like to cover in its entirety, prompting the response, “Since I’ve had my own studio at my house, we’ve done The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s, Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon, The Stone Roses’ debut … We’ve talked about doing Portishead’s first album, and a record by The Silver Apples. Who would I most like to cover a Flaming Lips album? Well, who wouldn’t want to hear The Beatles do The Soft Bulletin, Radiohead do American Head, or Billie Eilish cover Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots?
Not shying from the big questions, another fan asked Coyne, “Do you believe in cosmic love or is it all a glorious biochemical delusion?” Coyne replied, “I have a saying: there is no God, but there kind of is. The minute you dismiss that we’re living in chaos and everything is f*****g random, you realise that there’s something in your DNA that your mind can’t quite figure. When you see these images from the Hubble telescope of how vast and endless the universe is, part of you wants to live your life with what utter freedom you determine. But part of you still wants to be like a spider that is destined to make a web. That’s one of the wonderful quagmires of being human: you get to think how much of this is you, and how much is pre-programmed. Music is such a relief because it frees your mind. As music flies through your emotions, you become a frozen, mindless, listening vessel.”