by Black Bubblegum, photos by Ryan Muir

'And for like ten minutes she would just do these fucking amazing animal yelps and screams and growling and all this shit.'

Its a beautiful warm Sunday morning at Kutscher's and Wayne Coyne is waiting for me in a golf cart near the main stage. Clad in his trademark light colored suit, I shake his hand and exchange pleasantries. Then he notices that I'm with photographer Ryan Muir.

"You want to take some pictures? Lets head to the pool."

One problem. The pool is separated by a chain-link fence and there is no way around.

"Let's just jump it" Wayne says, but he's already on the other side.

Wayne is a gracious, charismatic ringmaster/shaman who is up for anything, as long as it leaves a lasting impression, much like the lovable oddballs The Flaming Lips that he fronts.

Starting over 25 years ago as an acid-drenched punk band with a Butthole Surfers obsession, The Flaming Lips have aged gracefully into their current role as quirky pop elder statesmen by keeping their punk rock spirit and freak-out tendencies. 1999's The Soft Bulletin began the band's current trajectory towards poignant and epic melodies, which continues with the release of their new LP Embryonic. It impacts record stores on October 13th, and you can listen to it now courtesy of the Colbert Report.

As you probably heard, The Flaming Lips were invited to headline All Tomorrow's Parties New York (ATP NY) as well as curate the final day of shows at the festival this year. We sat with the Oklahoma native on that sunday (9/13), while a team of men in orange jumpsuits (read: The Lips crew) carted around giant lighting sets, trashcans filled with stuffed animals, and yeti costumes....

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