![]() What I’m saying is that, unless you create something really unique, you can’t justifiably be surprised when you are only identified by your influences. deal and go on world tours, make some loot, etc. I’m not saying that I wouldn’t take the Warner Bros. If you are presenting a lesser yet similar product, the best that you could hope for is to be viewed as such. If you have such a large shadow cast over you and know that these comparisons are going to be drawn, it’s going be necessary to do something remarkable enough on your own to stand out. Everything was very Lips-esque and, although it seems like the easiest description to use, the associations have not been helped by Stardeath. He shot colored smoke from the head stock of his guitar and the stage set up-featured a string of large silver orbs on each side of the stage. His white, chest-high jumper, which was held up by shoulder straps, had blue stars up the sides and looked like the lower half of a snow suit. Dennis Coyne looked like a cross between Leif Garret and Super Dave Osbourne in his Red, White, and Blue ensemble. ![]() I wasn’t drawn in to the Stardeath set and spent most of it wandering around the grass venue. What I do know is that, when I first heard the music featured on their Myspace account and before I knew their connection, I immediately heard The Lips‘ sound screaming through their music. Clearly, Stardeath have made no effort to distance themselvesfrom The Flaming Lips, either musically or visually, and I can’t tell if that is more or less admirable than the angle taken by people like Tori Spelling and Rockwell, who adamantly claimed that their respective fathers played no role in building them careers in their family empires. ![]() The band has a song included on The Lip‘s new digital B-Sides EP and Wayne even directed the video for the Stardeath song “ New Heat“. The lead singer, Dennis Coyne, is actually the nephew of The Flaming Lips front-man (Wayne Coyne) and the rest of the SDWD have worked as the Lips‘ road crew. ![]() Star Death and White Dwarfs is actually the name of a single group that has opened for The Lips on their entire tour. I received a similar call from our writer Onsen, but they were both confused. The opening act was already performing as we walked through the gates.Įarlier in the day, I received a call from my friend Kyle inquiring about what time we should head out to show, because there was scheduled to be “ Two opening bands“. People sat on blankets in the grass and purchased drinks from an espresso bar in the venue. The environment had a cheesy, family-oriented 4th of July picnic vibe to it. They didn’t expect anything too crazy to happen at this place and it was a stark contrast from the recent PHISH lot that I had been on a couple of weeks prior. There was a half-ass bag search and then a cop, who had noticed my girlfriend’s subway sandwich in her tote, asked, “ Ham and Cheese?” He was wrong, and he chuckled as if to say, “ Hey, I’m the fun cop and I’m hep to what you kids are diggin’ on.” Meanwhile, I was thinking about how easy it would have been to sneak in a kilo or a shotgun. At the entrance were cops standing with event staff, alongside the sort of cafeteria tables that amateur wrestlers slam each other through on the regular. My homie Sean Prince entered the show and I simply tossed my camera bag over the janky metal gate and into his hands on the inside. I went to the little toll-booth-style, wooden Will-Call hut to find out if my photo pass request went through. We pulled into the grass parking lot and walked towards the fenced-off area where the concert stage was located. Marymoor is a 640 acre “active use” State park that holds occasional concerts during the summer months. This time, the Washington stop took place at Redmond‘s Marymoor Park, just outside of Seattle. I’ve heard the stories and have seen day-glo, cinematic, confetti-filled photographs strewn across sites like Flickr for years, but had never been able to witness the madness first hand, until just recently. ![]() If you’ve seen any footage or images from their performances, you’ve likely been as sucked in as I have. Their productions do well on an outdoor stage, which lands them in various spots on the festival circuit, both in the US as well as overseas. If the group ever actually did manage to cram themselves onto a small stage, along with all of the various contraptions and structures involved in their overblown stage show, the local fire marshals would probably lose their damn minds anyway. The full-effect of The Flaming Lips‘ live experience is not designed to thrive in small club presentations. ![]()
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