Steven Drozd of The Flaming Lips

The Flaming Lips have recorded a lot of Christmas music, and Steven Drozd and I talk about why that makes sense for the psychedelic rock band as we talk about their Christmas output. He goes back to the version of “Little Drummer Boy” that they worked out in the van on the way to an in-store in Minneapolis and comes forward to 2019’s cover of David Bowie and Bing Crosby’s “Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy” and his own “Christmas Snowflakes on the Autobahn,” which he describes as “Kraftwerk meets Mannheim Streamroller.”

The conversation meanders to cover not only their output over the years including Atlas Eets Christmas, a project he initiated that was released under the name Imagene Peise. He talks about recording the title track with Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon, and singer Wayne Coyne’s deep commitment to Christmas. We discuss the musical mystery that is Jackie Gleason, his feelings about Christmas on Mars, his podcast, Sorcerer's Orphan, and The Flaming Lips’ 24-hour Guinness World Record tour, which I covered for Spin.

The Flaming Lips’ most recent album, American Head, is out now, and the band has scheduled socially distanced concerts on December 10 and 11 in Oklahoma City’s The Criterion, where 100 fans will watch from the space bubbles that Coyne employs to walk over the fans at concerts. The shows have sold out, but watch CriterionOKC.com for additional shows, and follow waynecoyne5 on Instagram in case additional shows are scheduled.

For the occasion, Steven curated a Christmas music playlist, which you can find in the show notes and at TwelveSongsOfChristmas.com. 

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For a musical record of 12 Songs so far that doubles as a solid soundtrack for the holidays, check out our “12 Songs of Christmas So Far” Spotify playlist.