The multi-instrumentalist\u2019s skewed psych-pop sensibility, melodic instincts, and airy falsetto are embedded in the soul of the Lips\u2019 discography. However much turmoil the Lips have weathered, Wayne Coyne could always count on Drozd to help bring his zaniest ideas to musical life.<\/p>\n
Suddenly, everything has changed. Last year, Drozd was conspicuously absent from Lips concerts, and in December, he confirmed<\/a> that he was out of the band after deciding not to tour anymore<\/a>. What initially seemed like an amicable parting of ways took a messier turn when Coyne weighed in with a cryptic post of his own. \u201cThe reason he left is sad and infuriating,\u201d the frontman posted on Instagram<\/a> before Christmas. \u201cIt is HIS responsibility to tell everyone what happened.\u201d (Through a representative, Coyne declined to comment for this article.)<\/p>\n I reached out to Drozd in February, and a month later he wrote back and graciously agreed to speak. These days, he\u2019s holed up at home in Oklahoma City, working on his first-ever solo album, which he hopes to release in the fall. He looks at the Lips\u2019 tour dates and feels a sense of relief that he doesn\u2019t have to hop a plane to Greece or Jakarta. The touring life is behind him.<\/p>\n When I interviewed Drozd, in mid-April, we talked for an hour and he seemed to still be processing the strange way his Lips tenure had ended. I will let him tell that story, and many others, in his own words. The chat begins\u2026 now-now-now-now-now-now-now-now-now.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s been about four months now since you sort of announced<\/a> that you\u2019d left the Flaming Lips. How are you doing?<\/p>\n STEVEN DROZD: They\u2019re touring probably more now than at any time in the recent past. So it\u2019s good for them. But when I see all those tour dates, all I think is I\u2019m just glad I\u2019m not touring. I think maybe I had got to the end of the line for me being on the road. I\u2019m glad to not be touring. So that part of it is great.<\/p>\n I got the sense that over the last few years, you were pretty burnt out on being on the road.<\/p>\n DROZD: Definitely. I think for whatever reasons \u2014 some personal reasons and some family stuff \u2014 touring was getting harder and harder for me. Everything reached a climax when my daughter went missing<\/a> in Seattle towards the end of that Weezer tour back in 2024.<\/p>\n I remember reading about that at the time. That was obviously a very upsetting incident.\u00a0<\/p>\n DROZD: Yeah. It\u2019s hard to get back into it because it really was traumatic. She was missing for three days. We didn\u2019t know what was going on.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a horrible situation to go through. Was that when you were just like, \u201cI need to stop touring\u201d?<\/p>\n DROZD: Yeah. It was at the end of that run. I actually went to treatment for drinking after that happened. I came home, and I went to treatment for a couple of months. Got out of treatment, and then I relapsed around the holidays. And then I went back to treatment, and then Wayne just stopped communicating with me then. So the way it ended is really sad because it didn\u2019t have to end that way. I went back to treatment, and he just stopped communicating with me. I haven\u2019t heard from him since January 3, 2025. That\u2019s been weird, you know.<\/p>\n That is very sad. You and Wayne had a close musical partnership for 33 years. I know you\u2019ve been pretty public about your experiences with addiction and drug issues in the past\u2026<\/p>\n DROZD: Yeah. I have to consider my family. I try to be honest, but I can\u2019t be too brutally honest because it\u2019s just too much for my family, you know what I mean?<\/p>\n I understand. So, 2025 is when the Flaming Lips were on tour and you were not on tour with them. You were just kinda doing your own thing.<\/p>\n DROZD: Yeah, so what happened was, I went back to treatment and like I said, Wayne didn\u2019t communicate with me. They decided to go ahead and do some shows in Australia without me. And they found a person to play my parts and make that a show together. I think it went well enough where they thought, \u201cWell, Steven\u2019s not here with us now and maybe he\u2019s not coming back.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n But no one really told me anything forever. I just assumed that maybe after some time that Wayne and I would communicate again. But that didn\u2019t happen. So, by the summer of last year \u2014 summer going into fall \u2014 I knew. Between you and me, I knew it was over and that was it and I just wasn\u2019t gonna be back in the Flaming Lips and I kinda accepted it. And just been working on my own stuff and accepting that\u2019s my new reality. It has been hard in a lot of ways, though. It\u2019s weird not being on the road. I\u2019m glad I\u2019m not on the road. But it\u2019s still weird not being on the road. I\u2019m just so used to it.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve noticed a shift that\u2019s happened in the Flaming Lips over the past five years. It feels like Wayne has kinda steered the band towards being more of a nostalgia act, with all the Yoshimi<\/a> 20th anniversary shows. It\u2019s been quite a while since the Lips put out a new album. I think it was 2020 that American Head came out?<\/p>\n DROZD: Yeah. That was supposed to come out in June of 2020. I think it ended up coming out in September.<\/p>\n So it\u2019s been five and a half years. That\u2019s a pretty significant span of time since the last album. It just seems like the Lips are more of a touring attraction rather than a band that\u2019s putting out new material and evolving. Was that something you had noticed?<\/p>\n DROZD: I do know that they\u2019re working on new stuff. I\u2019m not exactly sure what state it\u2019s in or how far along they are. But I do know they\u2019re working on stuff because a friend of mine is actually working with Wayne. A guy who runs a studio here in Oklahoma City \u2014 he\u2019s great. So I know they\u2019re doing new music. But I think right now they\u2019re just focused on, like, \u201cHow much touring can we do while people will care about this show?\u201d As far as a new album, I can\u2019t really say.<\/p>\n Were you all in on doing the Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots<\/a> 20th anniversary tour stuff?<\/p>\n DROZD: It\u2019s fun sometimes, but after a while it got to be kind of a grind, you know. You\u2019re doing this show and you know the show really well, so you can do the show and not have to think about it too much. But it\u2019s not as fun as doing a different set every night, by any means.<\/p>\n When I first fell in love with the Lips 20 years ago, the exciting thing was that there was always something new. There was always new material that was exciting. There was always a new album on the horizon, and it was always gonna be very different from the last album. That was part of what attracted me to the band.\u00a0<\/p>\n DROZD: Yeah. Well, things change over time. Nothing can stay the same. So whatever it is now, it\u2019ll change from what it is now. It is weird for me. I haven\u2019t really talked to a lot of people about any of this, really. So it is strange to be talking about the Flaming Lips in the past tense for me. But that\u2019s where we are.<\/p>\n I mean, it\u2019s weird for me, too. A lot of fans, myself included, regarded you as the musical heart and soul of the group for many years. Especially after Ronald Jones left and you expanded to other instruments besides drums. You took such an enormous role in the band and you orchestrated so much of the incredible music on The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi.<\/p>\n DROZD: Yeah\u2026<\/p>\n You were a huge part of the Lips for so many years. So it\u2019s a big deal that you\u2019re not in the band anymore.<\/p>\n DROZD: Yeah, it really is. I guess my ego told me it would be an even bigger fracture than it was. But it feels like people are just kinda moving on. And you know, what can you do? I just have to say that I\u2019m working on my own new music and hoping to have a record out in the fall. I was saying summer, but now summer doesn\u2019t look like that\u2019s gonna happen. I got like four or five songs now, and I\u2019m just working away, trying to get together a whole record. As much as people care about a new album by anybody, I hope there\u2019s people that care to hear what I\u2019m doing.<\/p>\n I think a lot of Flaming Lips fans have been waiting a long time wondering what a Steven Drozd solo album would sound like. This is your first solo album under your own name?<\/p>\n DROZD: Yeah. I did a soundtrack called The Heart Is A Drum Machine for a documentary \u2014 this was a long time ago \u2014 but I did original music for that. As far as my own official record that I\u2019m claiming to be my own record, this will be the first one, yes.<\/p>\n How does that feel?<\/p>\n DROZD: I\u2019m excited about it. I think a lot of people will think it just sounds like the Flaming Lips, probably. Because all the shit that I did in the Flaming Lips, that\u2019s just me, you know what I mean? I would say it\u2019s like psychedelic pop music. It\u2019s like Flaming Lips music, except I\u2019m singing all of it.<\/p>\n And you\u2019re producing it yourself and playing every instrument yourself?<\/p>\n DROZD: Yeah. I\u2019m working with a friend of mine down in Norman, Oklahoma, at Trent Bell Labs. I\u2019m playing all the instruments and doing all the singing and writing all the stuff. It\u2019s all me, so it\u2019ll be just me. I might try to get a couple of guest vocals on a couple of things. Talking to Micah Nelson \u2014 he\u2019s gonna do a cover of a Willie Nelson song with me. We\u2019re trading tracks back and forth. I put out a couple of covers over a couple of months. I did a Codeine cover<\/a> on New Year\u2019s that I released. And then I did a cover of \u201cLet There Be Rock\u201d<\/a> by AC\/DC. I\u2019m not sure if you\u2019re aware of any of that stuff.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve seen little snippets of music that you\u2019ve posted on Instagram. It always sounds very intriguing. It\u2019s always like a little tease of what\u2019s to come.<\/p>\n DROZD: Yeah, the idea is to get people interested. I\u2019m really terrible with Instagram. I\u2019m trying to get better. But even in the next week or two, I\u2019m trying to post some more content that\u2019s actually some original music that I\u2019m doing. More than, like, just five seconds. I don\u2019t have a label yet. I know people are interested. I know there\u2019s a few labels I can talk to. People are asking me, \u201cAre you gonna tour?\u201d My head\u2019s not there yet. I can imagine getting a band together. I know there\u2019s some people that would be interested in playing live music with me. But I don\u2019t know exactly if I\u2019m ready to jump into that part of music again.<\/p>\n Do you have songs that you wrote when you were in the Lips that feel like they\u2019re more suitable to your solo record that you were saving?<\/p>\n DROZD: No. I mean, anything I ever wrote for the Lips, I wrote for the Lips. A song like \u201cRace For The Prize\u201d \u2014 that took me like five tries before Wayne was interested in that. Usually I ended up, at some point, selling Wayne on whatever idea it was that I had, you know what I mean? So I don\u2019t have any leftover material\u2026<\/p>\n<\/p>\n What was different about the fifth try versus the first four?<\/p>\n DROZD: Well, the first try, it sounded like Dinosaur Jr.\u00a0<\/p>\n Really? Like a specific Dinosaur Jr. song? Or just them in general?<\/p>\n DROZD: Just the J Mascis \u201cwah\u201d sound [imitates high-pitched guitar noise: waaaaaaaaooooooohhhh]. I can hear them doing a cover of it. That was my first version. And then the second version, I think at one point he said it sounded like a car commercial. So I had to keep trying. The demo I did, where the one part was really heavy, big drums and distorted strings and the next part was like the car commercial part, I think finally he saw some appeal and he started getting involved in it. But back to your question about leftover material, I don\u2019t really have any leftover stuff, you know? All the stuff I\u2019m working on now is stuff I\u2019ve done in the last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Is it weird not to have to run it by Wayne? You\u2019re in charge of everything you put out now.<\/p>\n DROZD: Well, I miss the lyric writing. That\u2019s not something that comes naturally to me. And I feel like the harder I try, the worse it gets. Whereas he can just go to the bathroom and come back 15 minutes later with the lyrics for a whole song. He\u2019s got a real serious talent for that, you know what I mean? And I do miss that.<\/p>\n But yeah, it is weird. This is just all on my own. I just got used to working with just the two, him and me. We did that a lot. American Head \u2014 it looks like it\u2019s a whole band. But I think I played every instrument on every song except for two parts. That was definitely just a Wayne and me endeavor, with Dave Fridmann; it\u2019s his studio. It is strange just being by myself and doing this. The stuff I\u2019ve played for people, I\u2019ve gotten really good reception. I\u2019ve gotten really positive feedback about the stuff I\u2019ve shared so far.<\/p>\n I\u2019m really excited to hear it. My hope is that this interview will drum up some excitement about your album coming out later this year.<\/p>\n DROZD: Yeah. The thing is, some of this is hard to talk about, because I don\u2019t wanna trash-talk the Lips, you know? The way the whole thing ended is just really sad.\u00a0<\/p>\n Yes, I feel that. I\u2019m not trying to write something salacious or anything like that. I just wanted to talk to you candidly and give you a chance to reflect on what went down and what\u2019s happening with your music now. When you first announced that you had left the Lips, it kinda felt like you posted that on Threads without meaning for that to become a public thing.<\/p>\n DROZD: That\u2019s true. That really was like a Gen X-er accident on Threads. I really thought it was just between me and this one guy.<\/p>\n Threads is very confusing to navigate! I don\u2019t think you\u2019re the only person who\u2019s made a flub like that. It seemed like this whole thing blew up without you intending it to. I figured there\u2019s a chance for more of a longform conversation about your departure.<\/p>\n DROZD: Yeah. No one was saying anything. No one was communicating anything with me. I still talk to Matt and Tommy [the Lips\u2019 drummer and bassist, respectively]. Not on a regular basis. But I ran into them and was friendly and whatever. But no one was saying anything about any of it. And my flub on Threads did open the door to say, \u201cWell, this has happened and someone\u2019s got to address it.\u201d But that\u2019s not the way I wanted it to go down at all.<\/p>\n In the Lips fan community on Reddit or on Facebook, people were definitely wondering, \u201cWhere\u2019s Steven? Why isn\u2019t Steven on tour?\u201d People were noticing that and wondering. But also, I feel like it was a big deal when Michael Ivins left the band<\/a> five years ago and Wayne didn\u2019t have much to say about that. From my perspective, that seemed kinda hush-hush.<\/p>\n DROZD: Yeah. It was almost like, \u201cWe\u2019ll see if anyone notices,\u201d you know? Not to say anything about Michael \u2014 I actually just texted with him earlier today. He has a band<\/a>. I think they\u2019re touring right now. I think maybe he was surprised by how little attention it got, you know, when he left the group.<\/p>\n Back in the day when I first became a Lips fan, you, Michael, and Wayne \u2014 that was like the classic lineup to me. Like how the classic Pink Floyd lineup was the \u201970s lineup with both Roger Waters and David Gilmour. That was the classic Lips lineup, and you just had this unspoken creative collaboration that was so fruitful, and you really complemented each others\u2019 skills. It was surprising when Michael was gone from the band and there wasn\u2019t any public acknowledgment of it.<\/p>\n DROZD: There wasn\u2019t really any acknowledgment of it, yeah. That was a shame.<\/p>\n It seems like it\u2019s kinda shifting to this dynamic where the Flaming Lips are just Wayne and whoever he hires to be his backing band.<\/p>\n DROZD: Well, some of the guys have been in the Lips for a while. I mean, [keyboardist\/guitarist] Derek\u2019s been there since 2009.<\/p>\n That\u2019s true.<\/p>\n DROZD: But I agree with you. It\u2019s the Wayne show. And whatever you think of that, all that stuff\u2019s onstage and all the cool lights and video imagery and all that stuff. I think people are totally cool with it, you know what I mean?<\/p>\n I was surprised by the Instagram statement<\/a> that Wayne put out in December when you revealed that you left the band. He posted, \u201cThe reason he left is sad and infuriating and it\u2019s his responsibility to tell everyone what happened. What he told everyone was a lie.\u201d Do you want to respond to that at all?<\/p>\n DROZD: I\u2019ll tell you what I told you. I went back to treatment. And he just stopped talking to me. That was it. That was me basically being fired from the group. So, you know, I didn\u2019t leave. I was fired. I guess you could say I left because I\u2019m the one that went to treatment, you know what I mean, and didn\u2019t play the shows that were coming up.<\/p>\n I was just surprised that Wayne would post something so\u2026 petty. Rather than just expressing gratitude for your many years of contributions. I mean, you were an incredible part of the Lips for 33 years.<\/p>\n DROZD: You\u2019d think. I was surprised, too. It was upsetting. It upset my family. And people in Oklahoma City are all like, \u201cWow, what\u2019s going on with that?\u201d I\u2019m like, I don\u2019t really know what to tell you. It\u2019s just \u2014 it\u2019s poopy, the way it all ended. And there\u2019s nothing I can do to change that. I went to treatment. And came home. And I relapsed around Christmas and went back to treatment. That\u2019s when Wayne, he just stopped talking to me. And that\u2019s how it ended.<\/p>\n I feel like if it was a band like Oasis \u2014 I\u2019m not comparing us to Oasis \u2014 but another band that had been around as long as we\u2019ve been around, they would\u2019ve just canceled the shows and let me go to treatment and get myself taken care of and I could come back and we\u2019d continue playing. But that\u2019s not how it went at all.<\/p>\n It is sad. It is a sad thing for such a fruitful musical collaboration to end so suddenly and so unexpectedly.<\/p>\n DROZD: Unexpectedly, and with no real finality to it. It feels like a question mark at the end of it, really, in a way. Even though I\u2019m the person living it. And I know for real that I\u2019m not coming back.<\/p>\n I\u2019d love to talk about way back in the day, when you first joined the band in the early \u201990s. You were 21 or 22. How did you first get invited to join the Lips?<\/p>\n DROZD: Yeah, I was 22. Long story short, I had moved from Austin to Norman, Oklahoma, in the summer of 1991. I was playing with this band called Janis 18. They were from Norman, but they had lived in Austin, and I joined them. They were sick of Austin, and I said, \u201cWhat the hell, I\u2019ll follow you guys to Norman.\u201d So I came to Norman. Nothing was happening. I\u2019m living at this house where there\u2019s an eight-track recording studio, so a lot of bands do demos and recording there. It was kind of a hub for cool musicians in the area.\u00a0<\/p>\n One day, Wayne and Michael showed up at the house. They\u2019d done some demos at this place. They were like, \u201cWe saw a video of you playing with Janis 18. And we were wondering if you\u2019d wanna come play with us and see if it\u2019s a good fit.\u201d A year before that, I would have been like, \u201cI don\u2019t really know anything about the Flaming Lips.\u201d But by the time I met them, they were one of my favorite bands. The Jesus Lizard and Nirvana and Dinosaur Jr. \u2014 those were the bands that I liked. The Flaming Lips were in that group of bands. And on top of that, they had a really nice drum kit that they\u2019d just bought. So I went to go jam with Wayne and Michael. We played for about an hour. And it was great. We knew then it was gonna work out.<\/p>\n I joined as the drummer. But I was writing songs. I started writing songs in 1992 and sharing stuff with Wayne. Even there\u2019s some stuff on Transmissions From The Satellite Heart \u2014 those are songs that I started that Wayne helped me write.\u00a0<\/p>\n Your drum sound was such a massive part of those \u201990s albums. Especially Transmissions. Those raw, booming drums kinda sounded like the ghost of John Bonham.<\/p>\n DROZD: Sure, I\u2019ll take that [laughs].<\/p>\n That distorted drum sound on \u201cSlow Nerve Action\u201d \u2014 that was something you brought to the band.<\/p>\n DROZD: That was intentional. This place I was living, it was an eight-track studio there. But also, these guys were masters of the four-track. This would\u2019ve been around the same time as Sebadoh started doing four-track stuff. We\u2019d distort the hell out of the drums with the four-track. Just clipping the four-track, you know? When we were doing \u201cSlow Nerve Action,\u201d I was like, \u201cWell, can we do it like we do with a four-track tape, just distort the hell out of it?\u201d It wasn\u2019t tape distortion. It was an effects unit rack \u2014 like a Yamaha something. And we liked that so much on \u201cSlow Nerve Action,\u201d we decided to distort the drums to some degree on every song on the record. So all the songs ended up being with distorted drums.<\/p>\n It was just something I was interested in doing. Luckily, the other guys thought that was a cool idea and we all embraced that crazy drum sound.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n And then a few years later, Ronald Jones left the band. Did you think you guys would hire a new guitar player? When did you realize you just needed to take on all these other instrumental roles?<\/p>\n DROZD: I think we knew that we weren\u2019t gonna replace him. We weren\u2019t gonna find somebody that was gonna do what he had done. So we were thinking along the lines of doing something different. We didn\u2019t know exactly what it would look like. But we were definitely interested in doing music that wasn\u2019t so guitar-driven. Once Wayne and I realized that we were on the same page with that, we started sending demos \u2014 four-track demos, actually \u2014 back and forth to each other, and a lot of songs came together in a really short period of time in late 1996 and early 1997. I mean, The Soft Bulletin<\/a> came out in 1999. But some of those songs were written at the end of 1996, like \u201cRace For The Prize.\u201d We started working on that in demo form together at the end of 1996. But back to your question, we knew when Ronald was leaving that we weren\u2019t gonna find anybody even close to what he does.<\/p>\n He made such remarkably bizarre sounds out of that guitar. I have no idea how he even did that.<\/p>\n DROZD: He was so unique. We just knew that there was no one in league with him. And we took that as a sign that it was time for us to change, so that\u2019s what we did.<\/p>\n Are you guys still in touch with Ronald at all?<\/p>\n DROZD: No, he has been out of the public eye since the late \u201990s. I think he lives at home, maybe? I\u2019m not really sure. I think Wayne may be in touch with his brother? But I haven\u2019t spoken to Ronald since the \u201990s.<\/p>\n That brings us to Zaireeka<\/a>, one of the most unique albums ever made. My memories of listening to Zaireeka on four different CD players back in college just completely blew my mind open. I hope you look back at that record and just know how incredible it is.<\/p>\n DROZD: Oh yeah. When we were working on it, it felt special. You know, originally, Wayne wanted to do a lot more than just four CDs. I think he wanted to do 10? My memory\u2019s a little fuzzy. But Scott Booker, the manager, talked him down to four or whatever. One thing that was really smart is Scott told Warner Bros. that we would make Zaireeka and The Soft Bulletin on one budget so they wouldn\u2019t have to give us extra money to make Zaireeka. And there were songs that we thought we were gonna record for Zaireeka that ended up being Soft Bulletin songs. \u201cRace For The Prize\u201d was actually a contender for a song on Zaireeka. But it just wasn\u2019t working. So we put it on a separate pile, like, \u201cOK, this is gonna be for this record that\u2019s gonna come out after Zaireeka.\u201d<\/p>\n Looking back on that, I rigged up a system so I could listen to it at home. I had my main stereo system, and then I had three boomboxes. And I rigged a system where I\u2019d use two fingers, a tongue, and a toe to start all four players at the same time. And I had two of the boomboxes on extension cords so I\u2019d spread them out around the living room.\u00a0<\/p>\n Any band that can talk Warner Bros. into releasing an album as wild and imaginative as Zaireeka must be the most charismatic band in the world.<\/p>\n DROZD: [laughs] Well, you know, Ronald left, and that meant that we weren\u2019t touring. We were a little invisible for a little while. And that coincided with Warner Bros. firing a lot of groups. Because the quote-unquote \u201calternative nation\u201d dream was kinda over.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s kinda crazy that the Lips are still on Warner Bros. all these years later.<\/p>\n DROZD: Yeah, somehow, miraculously. The right people at Warner Bros. really fought for us to keep us on. And we never demanded a lot of money or anything like that, so I think they were always happy to keep us around, you know?<\/p>\n Of all the albums you made with the Flaming Lips, is there one that you feel the most proud of?<\/p>\n DROZD: I go through phases of what my favorite is. It\u2019s funny, because when we were making Embryonic<\/a>, I didn\u2019t enjoy a lot of that process. But now when I hear the record, I really enjoy Embryonic. The most proud of? Probably The Soft Bulletin. In spite of where we were from and what was going on and everything, the fact that we made that record, I\u2019m really proud of that for sure.<\/p>\n Those songs have a certain timeless quality, a real emotional resonance to them.<\/p>\n DROZD: Yeah, yeah, definitely. The Soft Bulletin, kind of like Zaireeka, some of it felt pretty special when we were actually doing it. A lot of times you\u2019re working on something and you\u2019re just working on something. You\u2019re hoping to feel inspiration at all. And sometimes you don\u2019t feel any inspiration; you just keep working away. Then, years later, you\u2019re like, \u201cOh, that turned out really great.\u201d But [during] The Soft Bulletin, there were definitely moments where it felt like, \u201cThis is something kind of special.\u201d<\/p>\n You mentioned Embryonic as well. What was exciting about that album is that it kinda felt like the Lips were on this trajectory for a while where the music was getting more polished and more commercial and then Embryonic was like a total shock to the system. Totally brought you back to this raw, aggressive, freaky sound.\u00a0<\/p>\n DROZD: Yeah. It could have been At War With The Mystics part two, the way it started. \u2018Cause it started with some heavy, slow, kinda pop songs. And then Wayne was just like, \u201cThis really isn\u2019t working. It just feels like the same old same old.\u201d He had this idea to just say, \u201cFuck it, let\u2019s just do something wild. Just take a completely left turn.\u201d And that\u2019s what we did, and it took us a little while to get our bearings. But by the time we finished the record, it felt like it\u2019s a double album and it really works, I think. When I hear it now, I think it really works well as a double album.<\/p>\n Is there a Lips album that you feel like should have been better? That didn\u2019t live up to what you had hoped?<\/p>\n DROZD: I guess Oczy Mlody<\/a>. I wish I\u2019d been a little more involved in it. There were some songs I didn\u2019t really get involved in on that. That\u2019s not to say that it\u2019s not a great record. But the one I feel the least connected to is Oczy Mlody.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Going back to the early 2000s, the Yoshimi era, that was around the time that the Lips\u2019 live show became much more visual-oriented, with all these stage props and the giant bubble. Did that make it more challenging to focus on the music?<\/p>\n DROZD: For a while there, I would get irritated by new things that came into it. But then I realized, that\u2019s why people are coming to these shows. I mean, there\u2019s a music part of it. But a lot of people come to shows for that. They want to see the dancers onstage and they want to see the big plastic bubble. The other part of it is, that happened real organically. It wasn\u2019t like Wayne had some blueprint made up and we were just gonna follow it. It all happened really just by, \u201cOh, why don\u2019t you put on this elephant costume? Why don\u2019t you wear this? Michael, why don\u2019t you wear this zebra costume? And oh, why don\u2019t we get a bunch of women to dress up like Dorothy from The Wizard Of Oz and dance on either side of the stage.\u201d<\/p>\n I would get used to things as they happened. And then another part of it was, I felt less pressure that the music \u2014 I mean, I still was playing the music \u2014 but it felt like there was all this other stuff to embrace besides just the music. So it took a little bit of the pressure off.<\/p>\n Before your departure from the band, were you guys working on a new Flaming Lips album?<\/p>\n DROZD: We had a couple of songs that Wayne and I were working on. I think they\u2019ve just fallen by the wayside. We had two, maybe even three, that we had started working on that were in different stages of completion. I\u2019m not sure what\u2019s gonna happen with those songs now.<\/p>\n Did it become harder to work on new music after Michael left the band? It kinda seems like that slowed at some point in the early part of the decade.<\/p>\n DROZD: Well, I think COVID was what did that. American Head was finished and ready to come out, and then COVID hit. It kinda took the wind out of our sails, you know? We did do shows in the middle of COVID. But to me, it just wasn\u2019t as fun, you know, playing in the bubble<\/a>. It just felt kinda disconnected from the crowd. The slowing of writing \u2014 I think that just happens over time, you know? We consciously were aware we put out a lot of stuff in a short period of time, like the Heady Fwends<\/a>, all these extra collaborations. I think it just felt right to slow the pace a little bit.<\/p>\n And more than anything else, I think Wayne having kids would have slowed stuff down. Just because you have to take that time when your kids are first born, you know what I mean?<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-71829173.jpg\")
TIFF 2006 (Darryl James\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-456315266.jpg\")
LA’s Fonda Theatre, 2014 (Frazer Harrison\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Flaming-Lips-2019-1.jpg\")
George Salisbury