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Wayne Coyne Confirms New Flaming Lips Album With Ke$ha

wayne coyne, flaming lips

Wayne Coyne beamed himself over to Reddit for a quick Ask Me Anything (AMA) session today (April 3). The Flaming Lips frontman revealed that the Oklahoma weirdos are apparently working on a full-length album with Heady Fwend collaborator Ke$ha (it’s brilliantly titled Lip$ha); shared his optimistic outlook on the Lips’ upcoming downer of an album, The Terror; provided a bit of context for the insanity that is the band’s recent “Ashes in the Air” video; and shared the weirdest display of affection he’s ever gotten from a fan (it involves oral sex and fire). Find the highlights below:

What was it like working with Ke$ha? 
“She is a blast on all levels. She’s funny, she’s humble. She’s badass. She’s everything. She’s awesome. We’re actually already working on an album with her. It’s called Lip$ha.”

Does Wayne still have any of Ke$ha’s blood? If so, how glittery is it? 
“Yes and it’s VERY glittery. It came out of vagina that way. That’s the truth.”

The Flaming Lips burn through a lot of confetti and balloons during their live shows. Isn’t that expensive?
“It is expensive, yeah. I don’t know what the number would be really. We use about 3-4 boxes of confetti a night and they run about $600-700 a box and then about $500-600 worth of balloons. It seems like a lot, but it’s not a lot compared to like Beyoncé or something like that.”

What’s the strangest display of affection Wayne has ever received from a fan? 
“A guy wanted to give me a blow job and said he would set himself on fire if I wouldn’t let him. I’m not proud of that one.”

Wait… so did the guy set himself on fire, or… ?
“He did neither, actually.”

Why put out The Terror, a pretty bleak and hopeless album, in the spring time? 
“I think it’s also a record about acceptance. when the world expects you to be all sunshine, you want to express feelings that are the opposite so that others can share what you’re feeling. You want what you’re going through to be expressed and shared. It’s even more useful when you’re not just happy that the sun’s coming out. You can be happy in the beginning of the day, sad in the middle, and happy in the end of the day.”

Where does Wayne stand on the state of art and music education in schools?
“To me (and I know this sounds very Republican) I’ve never thought art and music should be what schools should be responsible for anyway. It should be the parents. Even though it looks like you spend the majority of your time in school, you’re really spending the majority of your time with the people you love (or at least you’re supposed to anyway). For example I grew up in a household where my parents were very supportive of my painting and drawing. That’s how it should be.”

Do the Lips have any plans to follow their Christmas On Mars film with another movie?
“Yes, the video that came out yesterday ‘The Ashes in the Air’ video is the beginning of our next feature.”

What’s Wayne’s biggest musical regret?
“I don’t really have a regret but if I did it would be that I was too young in the ’60s to have made music with Miles Davis.”

What does Wayne hope the Lips will be remembered for after they’re gone?
“I think like all artists and musicians, we want to know that we disturbed the comfortable and comforted the disturbed.”