Over 1,000 people gathered in a parking lot for this experiment. The band instructed forty cars to start the tapes at the same time, resulting in a surround sound. In 19, Coyne developed "The Parking Lot Experiments," where forty different tapes were distributed. Their performances have been likened to psychedelic experiences rather than simply music shows, a tradition that goes back to the band's formation. Before performing, Coyne can be seen helping the stage crew. įlaming Lips concerts also feature confetti cannons, lasers, laser pointers, images projected on to a screen, dozens of large balloons, a stage filled with dancers dressed as aliens, yetis, the gloves etc. Coyne does this to pay homage to a famous picture of Miles Davis who, after a performance, had blood on his suit because a police officer had beaten him during the show. Coyne has also been known to pour fake blood down his face via a hidden tube during live shows. But when we were thinking of band names one night over a pack of Schlitz and some left-handed cigarettes and remembered how we joked that they both had "Flaming Lips" and it just stuck.ĭuring large-crowd festival performances, Coyne makes his entrance by descending from an alien mother ship (a nod to Parliament-Funkadelic ) in a bubble and floats across the audience. I don't think we knew the girl, and I'm not sure if she even existed, you know how kids just spread bullshit. When Mark and I were in, I think it was Junior Year in High School, there was a rumor about this girl who got herpes from this guy at a party. Wayne remarked on this unsubstantiated claim: ) According to an article in the September 16th, 1993 issue of Rolling Stone Mark and Wayne Coyne came up with the name "The Flaming Lips" as a reference to a rumor of a High School classmate who contracted Genital Herpes after receiving cunnilingus from a partner with active cold sores. (According to Coyne "became the primary singer and songwriter" of the band. Wayne and Michael have been the only two constant members of the band since its founding. Mark later left the band and Wayne assumed vocal duties. With the Flaming Lips Ĭoyne at Lollapalooza, 2006 Grant Park, ChicagoĬoyne formed the Flaming Lips in 1983 with brother Mark singing lead, Michael Ivins on bass guitar, and Richard English on drums. There's no music, there's no significance, it's just random." Coyne continued working at Long John Silver's until 1990. Coyne believes "this is really how you die.one minute you're just cooking up someone's order of french fries and the next minute you're laying on the floor and they blow your brains out. The assistant manager could not open the restaurant's safe, however, and the robbers eventually fled the scene. The restaurant was robbed and Coyne and other employees were held at gunpoint and forced to lie on the ground. During his second year of employment, there was a rash of robberies in Oklahoma City. In 1977, while in high school, Coyne began working as a fry cook for a Long John Silver's restaurant in Oklahoma City. Tommy Coyne, Coyne's older brother, described the games as a "semi-civilized gang fight." He, his sister, and his brothers dubbed themselves "The Fearless Freaks" for their brutal backyard football games. Coyne preferred listening to music and playing pickup football. The fifth of six children of an Irish Catholic family, Coyne moved with his family from Pittsburgh's Troy Hill neighborhood to Oklahoma in early 1961. Coyne was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, the son of Thomas Coyne and Dolores "Dolly" Jackson.