Just when you thought The Flaming Lips couldn’t get any more tripped out bodacious frontman Wayne Coyne has announced yet another bizarre distribution foray for the band. Having already announced at the start of 2011 their plan to drop one song per month, the group have since released a song comprised completely of YouTube videos and another six-hour-long song where fans paid $100 (funds were donated to charity) to have their name woven into the lyrics read out by Sean Lennon.
The latest stunt, however, sees a 24-hour song released at midnight on Halloween in a real, live (well, not live) human skull.
That’s right. 5 lucky punters (who have apparently already placed and paid for their order – one as much as $5,000) will receive a human skull encasing the song on hard-drive. It’s not as gross as it sounds, of course. The skulls are to be chrome-cast and elegantly presented in display boxes. Nice.
Says Coyne, “In parts of the world and even on eBay you can actually buy real human skulls.” Not that Flaming Lips had to look that hard. Apparently in Wayne’s hometown of Oklahoma there is, conveniently, a place called Skulls Unlimited, where he reckons, “They have these flesh-eating beetles — I would have tweeted a picture of it, but they don’t allow it — literally eat every molecule of flesh off of these things and you’ll end up with a human skull.”
In case you, as a fan of the legendarily off-the-wall band, hold any concerns, don’t bother, says Wayne: “I would say nothing that we’re doing is bizarre or illegal.” Indeed. Look out for The Flaming Lips when they tour in November, playing the inaugural Harvest Festival as well as a few sideshows.
Check out our slideshow of the most bizarre and outrageous band merchandise ever
