UFOs, Lips and truckers

Somehow, the combination has worked well enough for the band to tour with its beloved props.

By JOHN BENSON

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

Oh to be a fly on the wall for this conversation.

In the surreal world that is The Flaming Lips universe, the thought of band visionary and chief eccentric Wayne Coyne discussing his creative intention to tour with an oversized flying saucer — with the same intensity an insurance salesman speaks to the importance of 401(k)s in your portfolio or a doctor recommends a bypass operation — to Teamsters and various trucking union officials is priceless.

“We just starting doing that spaceship idea last year, and then we played Bonnaroo not too long ago and had it there as well,” said Flaming Lips bassist Michael Ivins, calling from his Kentucky home located just south of Cincinnati. “Every time we do it, we kind of see what needs to be done to make it a little easier to work with. I think it just gets a little better and better.

“Even this go around, obviously we’re not doing the UFO at every single show, but we’re trying to figure out how to actually do something like this like we might be able to do it for a sustained run. But you come to find out that you need to learn a lot about the trucking industry and rigging and unions, and how all of this other stuff works that normally we don’t deal with too much until you say things like, ‘We want to have a UFO on stage.’”

Something’s missing

Unfortunately, The Flaming Lips upcoming intimate show Sunday at the Agora will be sans UFO. Fans who want to see it in action can do so on the group’s recently released DVD set, “UFO’s at the Zoo: The Legendary Concert in Oklahoma City.”

Despite the lack of a spaceship, you better believe the crazy quotient will be through the roof in typical Lips fashion for its upcoming show.

“It’s not like we won’t have plenty of shenanigans,” Ivins said. “We’re still going to have probably more confetti than you’ve ever seen before in your life, the usual balloons and Santas and aliens dancing on stage, and what we think is a really very cool video screen.”

While Ivins promises fans The Flaming Lips have plans to finish its debut feature film, “Christmas On Mars,” which as a narrative (not a concert recording) has to be crazy, the band is currently touring its latest studio effort “At War With the Mystics.”

The 2006 release continues the band’s penchant for alternative anthems and psychedelic trippy-ness, with the most noticeable difference involving plenty of commentary regarding the current political landscape and specifically the Iraq war.

The bassist said prior to the recording of the album, the band was inspired by perhaps the unlikeliest of groups. While one wouldn’t normally see a connection between The Flaming Lips and Black Sabbath, it’s the latter act’s Vietnam War-influenced “War Pigs” that guided Coyne and Co. More so, the track has become a popular cover on its current tour.

“That’s been a lot of fun,” Ivins said. “That’s something we started playing right before we went in to record ‘Mystic.’ I think it kind of guided us in some ways in how the record sounds. It’s always fun to play, and I think it definitely has a topical message.

“Unfortunately, just as topical as nearly 40 years ago. That we’re still involved somewhere in the world with some kind of war that once again seems to be mostly unpopular.”