The Flaming Lips' Christmas On Mars screening

Christmas On Mars

Barbican, 14 December 2008

A few years ago, before I got briefly obsessed with The Flaming Lips, I saw singer Wayne Coyne traveling up the escalator at Baker Street tube station. I was going down and he was going up and when I saw that shock of gray hair and the unkempt suit, I turned in shock and watched him rising to the top as I descended. He saw my reaction, gave me a grin and waved at me. I immediately called my friend who I had just left outside but sadly he missed the momentous occasion of Coyne, a bona fide rock star, leaving our then local station.

It was not long after this incident that I really started to explore the Lips' music. I had actually seen them live years ago supporting the Foo Fighters but I only learned to appreciate their music and their whole peace, love and craziness around this time. If you've never been to a Lips show put it on your bucket list because it is an experience like no other, even if you aren't a fan of their music you are sure to come out of their live show with a huge grin on their face. 

Plus Coyne has this real eccentric charm. He acts like he's "one of us", on level with his fans, but at the same time, has the kind of charisma of a hippie cult leader. Because of this I always wanted to meet him or interview him. I've never got the chance to interview him sadly but I knew he would be introducing this screening of the Lips' debut feature so I thought a trip to the Barbican would be well worth it even on a Sunday afternoon.

The band-made film is of course every bit as weird and lo-fi as you'd expect. Coyne explained it took seven years to make and was filmed in his own backyard in Oklahoma. It's filmed in black and white and stars Coyne as a Martian who saves a colony on Mars who is going a bit loopy thanks to lack of oxygen. Add the first space baby and a homicidal Santa into the mix plus some of the Lips' most eerie music and you have pretty much the visuals to fit some kind of drug trip. I'm not sure a non-Lips fan would appreciate it but I can't deny I enjoyed its sci-fi madness in the quiet of the Sunday cinema.

After, with a handful of others, I was lucky enough to meet Coyne. He signed my favourite Lips album for me (Clouds Taste Metallic) and sweetly thanked me for coming. Someone asked him about recently playing with Bob Dylan and he told of his disappointment of not meeting his hero, who decided to quickly leave after their gig. He said things like that made him realise the importance of being nice to your fans, which was kind of cool. 

I left as he was talking and signing for a few others but it was overall a lovely experience. It's always a risk meeting people you admire but thankfully my dream of meeting Wayne Coyne turned out to be a good one.

My CD signed by Wayne Coyne