Steven Drozd has no longer been touring with the Flaming Lips. I was hoping that this was a temporary move while he was in treatment and recovery, but he made it official on his social media yesterday that he is out of the band.
The Lips were everything for me from The Soft Bulletin up through The Terror. Steven’s mastery of synths (and all instruments) has been a constant inspiration. I fondly remember having high school Zaireeka gatherings in my basement, minds blown, parents complaining about the sonic chaos burbling up through our house.
I cannot say enough about the man, and hope he continues to make music. The Flaming Lips are sadly now a legacy act, but long live the genius of Drozd.
Steven is one of my all-time favourite musicians, and I’m honestly shocked that the band is going on without him. I assumed he stepped back temporarily for personal reasons, but this sounds much more acrimonious…
This is as good of an excuse as any to re-listen to The Sorcerer’s Orphan.
Yeah, sad but true. I hadn’t been following the band recently. Didn’t realize Ivins had left as well. The whole thing does not reflect well on Wayne. Probably time he hangs it up or at least retires the Lips name.
I had the opportunity to see the Lips a bunch of times with Kliph behind the kit. He (and they) were unstoppable during that era. I saw them one more time post-Kliph during the Oxy Mleody tour and it was a huge drop in quality. Haven’t seem 'em since, and sadly won’t be seeing them again. But damn those shows from Yoshimi–Embryonic were so fucking special.
Big fan of Drozd. Saw lips a few times and dude just embodies music. When I was working in a music gear store, we had Flaming Lips Soft Bulletin on repeat. Such an amazing album.
Not to be a decrepit, recently disintered indie rock snob, but my favorite lips albums are transmissions and clouds taste metallic - noise pop perfection imho. They kinda lost me by Yoshimi. I did get to hold a boombox during a post-parking lot experiment show at the wetlands though. I haven’t paid much attention to them in a long time so I was more surprised to learn that Ivins had left than Drozd. He always kinda seemed like the calm, stable core at the center of the band.
I’m appreciative for this thread though, it’s reminded me that I sampled and chopped up the drums from Slow Nerve Action and should make something with them.
Were you apart of the recorded release of that project? Remember reading about it Rollong Stone.
Jealous you guys got to see them in the early days. I went to see them when they opened for Beck. Got lost on the way, and ended up walking through the doors at the same time they walked off the stage. Im sure Beck put on a nice show, but I was so bummed that I couldnt enjoy it. Didnt help that everyone I talked to said it was one of the best shows theyd been to.
Boombox show was really fun! Wetlands was a pretty small space so there were a lot of us crammed onto the little stage and I remember just being so stoked to be so close to these guys i had been such a fan of during deeply formative times. It also felt as ramshackle as I wanted a flaming lips show to be haha, and it really was a unique experience, hearing the music from all around as the three of them conducted boombox volume levels in three diffetent sections of the tiny stage.
They also had Tetsuo Iron Man playing on the wall as they were setting up and i think during the music, which was disturbing, it was the first time I’d heard of or seen it. Ive been thinking about that a lot recently actually as ive been thinking about projecting stuff when I start playing live again.
Gutted to hear this. I’ve seen the Lips probably half a dozen times now, going back to around ‘92. I love every one of their incarnations. But yeah the high points like Soft Bulletin were really high.
I hope Steven finds some peace and shares more of his art with us.