Pitchfork

[Updated Wednesday, September 17th, 2003 10:25:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

Joshua Sharp and Will Bryant report:
The Flaming Lips recently paid a visit to Dave Fridmann's Tarbox Studios to record b-sides for a forthcoming EP, according to a report on the band's official website. Among the items on the Lips' to-do list were "two songs connected with the Pink Robots theme," some remixes of Yoshimi album tracks (including one by Peaches), and "a Christmas-type song of some description." As previously reported, the Lips' Wayne Coyne and Dave Fridmann also remixed at least one song for Modest Mouse's forthcoming album in the August session as well.

Although the plans are somewhat sketchy at this point, the current plan is to release a single for "Ego Tripping At The Gates Of Hell" on a double-sided disc, where one side would contain the single and new b-sides, and the other would include DVD content such as live footage. The EP may drop as soon as November.

Eternally striving for musical congruity, the Lips are constructing a creaky wooden bridge connecting the really-mainstream with the kinda-mainstream one plank at a time. New Musical Express, contractually obligated by the prince of freaking darkness to make mind-bogglingly painful puns for every Lips-related headline (rejected titles include "The Lips Mouth Off: 'Multiple Sclerosis Is No Flaming Joke!'" and "The Flaming Lips Flame On And Give Lip Service To Actual, Not Metaphorical, Giant Floating Pair Of Lips Which Have Just Been Set On Fire By A Mysterious Third Party Who Is As Of Yet Unidentified But Is Probably Very Flaming As Well"), has reported that the Oklahoma snack-rockers have signed on to open for the Red Hot Chili Peppers on seven dates scattered across the American West. I'd weep, but, eh, whatever. It's not like they haven't appeared on 90210 before, and Coyne is probably co-writing music with Fred Durst as we speak. Wicky wicky robot starfish, ya'll.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are currently touring in belated support of their contribution to the Power Rangers soundtrack, and as previously reported, the Lips are set to release a DVD-enhanced reissue of that one album where they sing about tentacle demons or something similarly "wacky" and "out there." That release has now been pushed back to October 7th. Their current itinerary, including the inherently inferior non-RHCP shows still to come, reads as follows:

10-02 Portsmouth, VA - Harbor Center (w/ String Cheese Incident)
10-03 Fairfax, VA - Patriot Center (w/ String Cheese Incident)
10-04 Charleston, SC - Family Circle Stadium (w/ Moe.)
10-08 Las Vegas, NV - Mandalay Bay Events Center *
10-09 Phoenix, AZ - Cricket Pavilion *
10-11 Los Angeles, CA - The Forum *
10-17 Oakland, CA - Coliseum *
10-18 Sacramento, CA - Arco Arena *
10-20 Portland, OR - Memorial Coliseum *
10-21 Seattle, WA - Key Arena *
10-23 Plymouth, England - Pavilion
10-24 Bournemouth, England - International Centre
10-26 Cardiff, Wales - International Arena
10-27 Leicester, England - DeMontfort Hall
10-28 Manchester, England - Apollo
10-29 Sheffield, England - City Hall
10-31 Birmingham, England - Academy
11-02 Brighton, England - Centre
11-03 London, England - Hammersmith Apollo
11-04 London, England - Hammersmith Apollo
11-08 Glasgow, Scotland - Academy
11-09 Edinburgh, Scotland - Usher Hall

* with Red Hot Chili Peppers