WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.459 Welcome back to The Deep Dive. Today we are, 00:00:02.459 --> 00:00:05.000 uh... turning down the clarity just a bit and 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:07.599 really cranking up the chaos. We're plunging 00:00:07.599 --> 00:00:11.359 into the, well, the singular, spectacular world 00:00:11.359 --> 00:00:14.000 built by Wayne Coyne. For those who know his 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:15.900 work, you obviously know the flaming lips. They're 00:00:15.900 --> 00:00:17.920 pretty much synonymous with that kind of cosmic 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:21.179 spectacle. But today we're aiming past just the 00:00:21.179 --> 00:00:24.260 confetti cannons and the giant plastic bubble 00:00:24.260 --> 00:00:27.379 he floats around in. Indeed. Our subject today, 00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:31.019 Wayne Michael Coyne, born back in 1961, well, 00:00:31.019 --> 00:00:33.630 he's far more than just the fa - the lead vocalist 00:00:33.630 --> 00:00:35.869 and, yeah, the only constant member of the Lips. 00:00:36.149 --> 00:00:39.429 He is, I think, a genuine conceptual artist. 00:00:39.789 --> 00:00:42.170 His entire career feels like this deliberate 00:00:42.170 --> 00:00:45.390 manifestation of a really singular, dramatic 00:00:45.390 --> 00:00:48.250 realization he had about, well, existence itself. 00:00:48.850 --> 00:00:50.770 So our mission today is really to move beyond 00:00:50.770 --> 00:00:53.590 maybe the famous stories, the anecdotes, and 00:00:53.590 --> 00:00:55.909 try to extract the philosophical blueprint, like 00:00:55.909 --> 00:00:58.590 the core ideas that explain why the art is so 00:00:58.590 --> 00:01:00.909 intense, why it feels so anarchic sometimes, 00:01:01.109 --> 00:01:02.859 and why it's so... insistent on getting the audience 00:01:02.859 --> 00:01:06.000 involved exactly we've got a pretty robust stack 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:09.680 of sources here detailing his life his work ethic 00:01:09.680 --> 00:01:11.760 which is fascinating in itself and some of his 00:01:11.760 --> 00:01:16.329 truly bizarre experimental projects. We're looking 00:01:16.329 --> 00:01:19.689 at a man who somehow successfully balances these 00:01:19.689 --> 00:01:22.450 two really contradictory roles. He's the stable 00:01:22.450 --> 00:01:24.849 foundational presence in the band. The anchor. 00:01:25.030 --> 00:01:27.310 Yeah, the anchor. But at the same time, he's 00:01:27.310 --> 00:01:30.409 completely dedicated to total artistic instability 00:01:30.409 --> 00:01:33.510 and like constant experimentation. So what does 00:01:33.510 --> 00:01:36.239 this all mean for you? listening in, we're gonna 00:01:36.239 --> 00:01:38.920 try and show you how his roots back in Oklahoma, 00:01:39.859 --> 00:01:42.739 his very working class consistency, and maybe 00:01:42.739 --> 00:01:45.200 most crucially, a near death experience he had 00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:47.469 in a fast food restaurant. how these things didn't 00:01:47.469 --> 00:01:49.829 just influence his art. Right. They seem to have 00:01:49.829 --> 00:01:52.230 actively created the core philosophy that drives 00:01:52.230 --> 00:01:54.510 pretty much every sonic and visual choice he's 00:01:54.510 --> 00:01:56.750 made for, what, the past 40 years now? Yeah. 00:01:57.010 --> 00:02:00.569 Wow. Yeah. So prepare to understand the structure, 00:02:00.730 --> 00:02:03.310 maybe, that lies beneath all that spectacular 00:02:03.310 --> 00:02:08.069 chaos. Let's unpack this. OK. So Coins Origins. 00:02:08.110 --> 00:02:09.990 They actually start in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 00:02:10.389 --> 00:02:12.990 the Trey Hill neighborhood specifically. But 00:02:12.990 --> 00:02:16.389 his story really pivots pretty quickly to Oklahoma. 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:20.180 Early 1961, his family, large Irish Catholic 00:02:20.180 --> 00:02:22.280 family, he was the fifth of six kids they moved. 00:02:23.300 --> 00:02:26.120 And he grew up basically immersed in the culture 00:02:26.120 --> 00:02:30.180 of Oklahoma City. His childhood, well, according 00:02:30.180 --> 00:02:32.020 to the sources, it seemed to center around two 00:02:32.020 --> 00:02:35.240 forms of pretty intense, almost like primal engagement. 00:02:35.719 --> 00:02:39.340 Music, obviously. And surprisingly, really brutal 00:02:39.340 --> 00:02:41.180 pick -up football. And that pick -up football, 00:02:41.379 --> 00:02:43.199 it's not just some, you know, quaint childhood 00:02:43.199 --> 00:02:45.099 memory. It feels like a really important lens 00:02:45.099 --> 00:02:47.000 for viewing the energy he later brought to the 00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:49.199 stage. How so? Well, he and his siblings, including 00:02:49.199 --> 00:02:51.199 his older brother Tommy, they actually branded 00:02:51.199 --> 00:02:53.539 themselves the Fearless Freaks. The Fearless 00:02:53.539 --> 00:02:55.539 Freaks, okay. Yeah, because of the sheer intensity 00:02:55.539 --> 00:02:58.360 of these backyard games. Tommy apparently described 00:02:58.360 --> 00:03:01.020 them looking back as a semi -civilized gang fight. 00:03:01.379 --> 00:03:04.919 Wow. A semi -civilized gang fight, that's quite 00:03:04.919 --> 00:03:08.560 a description. It captures this raw, communal, 00:03:08.919 --> 00:03:11.819 almost violent, but still ultimately familial 00:03:11.819 --> 00:03:14.520 energy. Exactly. And that name, The Fearless 00:03:14.520 --> 00:03:17.419 Freaks, it gives immediate, I think necessary 00:03:17.419 --> 00:03:20.460 context to the relentless, sometimes kind of 00:03:20.460 --> 00:03:22.879 aggressive joy and chaotic energy you see in 00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:25.099 the Flaming Lips live shows. And it became the 00:03:25.099 --> 00:03:27.259 documentary title later on, right? Yeah, the 00:03:27.259 --> 00:03:30.500 2005 documentary. It feels like an early sign 00:03:30.500 --> 00:03:32.430 that these shared experiences is even the really 00:03:32.430 --> 00:03:34.430 abrasive ones, maybe they create the strongest 00:03:34.430 --> 00:03:37.849 bonds. But the real, like the pivotal, life -defining 00:03:37.849 --> 00:03:40.830 chapter in Coyne's history, the event that seems 00:03:40.830 --> 00:03:42.889 to provide the intellectual framework for his 00:03:42.889 --> 00:03:45.789 whole artistic practice, it happens during his 00:03:45.789 --> 00:03:47.189 time working at Long John Silver's. What's a 00:03:47.189 --> 00:03:49.289 fast food job? Yeah. He started there as a fry 00:03:49.289 --> 00:03:53.129 cook in Oklahoma City back in 1977. He was still 00:03:53.129 --> 00:03:55.389 in high school then. Right. And crucially, he 00:03:55.389 --> 00:03:58.129 kept that job until 1990. OK, hold on. Think 00:03:58.129 --> 00:04:00.169 about that timeline for a second. He keeps this 00:04:00.169 --> 00:04:02.650 like totally regular working class job flipping 00:04:02.650 --> 00:04:06.650 fish and chips for 13 years, all while he's actively 00:04:06.650 --> 00:04:08.330 forming and running a band that was actually 00:04:08.330 --> 00:04:10.330 starting to get some national attention. It's 00:04:10.330 --> 00:04:14.189 pretty incredible. That commitment to just maintaining 00:04:14.189 --> 00:04:18.610 a grounded, like non -music industry job, it 00:04:18.610 --> 00:04:21.250 provides such a crucial counterpoint to the spectacle 00:04:21.250 --> 00:04:23.910 he was simultaneously starting to create. It 00:04:23.910 --> 00:04:27.149 absolutely does. And that grounding, maybe it 00:04:27.149 --> 00:04:29.490 made the central philosophical shift, when it 00:04:29.490 --> 00:04:32.110 happened, all the more stark. OK, so what happened? 00:04:32.410 --> 00:04:35.149 During his second year on the job, the Long John 00:04:35.149 --> 00:04:39.029 Silver's restaurant, it became the target of 00:04:39.029 --> 00:04:41.490 a robbery. Apparently part of a bigger wave of 00:04:41.490 --> 00:04:43.509 holdups happening in Oklahoma City around that 00:04:43.509 --> 00:04:46.449 time. Oh, wow. And Coyne and his fellow employees, 00:04:46.449 --> 00:04:48.610 they were held at gunpoint. The sources make 00:04:48.610 --> 00:04:50.810 it really clear that he was completely convinced 00:04:50.810 --> 00:04:52.689 right then and there that his life was about 00:04:52.689 --> 00:04:54.990 to end. Totally. And here's where the randomness, 00:04:55.009 --> 00:04:57.110 the theme you mentioned, really dictates his 00:04:57.110 --> 00:04:59.509 future. The only reason the robbery ended without 00:04:59.509 --> 00:05:01.649 anyone getting killed, the source materials say, 00:05:01.709 --> 00:05:04.610 was because the assistant manager couldn't actually 00:05:04.610 --> 00:05:07.310 open the restaurant safe. Just couldn't get it 00:05:07.310 --> 00:05:11.050 open. Yeah. Like a failure of some minor bureaucratic 00:05:11.240 --> 00:05:13.560 you know, logistical thing saved his life. That 00:05:13.560 --> 00:05:16.639 is the moment. That's the genesis for his artistic 00:05:16.639 --> 00:05:20.139 worldview. He survived not because he was a hero, 00:05:20.500 --> 00:05:23.000 not because of some divine intervention, but 00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:27.120 purely because of a glitch in the system. A random, 00:05:27.319 --> 00:05:30.180 completely meaningless failure. That immediate, 00:05:30.759 --> 00:05:33.360 absolutely terrifying confrontation with just 00:05:33.360 --> 00:05:36.579 arbitrary death. It cemented a philosophy that 00:05:36.579 --> 00:05:39.540 you can hear, you can feel. all through his music. 00:05:39.959 --> 00:05:43.120 Life is random, it's sudden, and it really lacks 00:05:43.120 --> 00:05:46.300 any grand narrative significance. He put it really 00:05:46.300 --> 00:05:48.339 bluntly later on, didn't he, summarizing the 00:05:48.339 --> 00:05:50.160 trauma. He said something like, one minute you're 00:05:50.160 --> 00:05:51.959 just cooking up someone's order of french fries, 00:05:52.019 --> 00:05:53.519 and the next minute you're laying on the floor 00:05:53.519 --> 00:05:55.339 and they blow your brains out. Exactly, and then 00:05:55.339 --> 00:05:57.300 he adds, there's no music, there's no significance, 00:05:57.399 --> 00:05:59.839 it's just random. No music, no significance, 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:04.000 just random. That quote. It feels like the blueprint, 00:06:04.180 --> 00:06:06.560 doesn't it? Yeah. It absolutely is the blueprint 00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:09.420 and you have to analyze it fully. If death comes 00:06:09.420 --> 00:06:13.839 without music or significance, then the only 00:06:13.839 --> 00:06:16.740 logical, maybe the only rational artistic response 00:06:16.740 --> 00:06:21.639 is to intentionally create overwhelming but temporary 00:06:21.639 --> 00:06:24.879 music and significance yourself. Ah. OK, so if 00:06:24.879 --> 00:06:26.980 life is just this void of meaning, then you have 00:06:26.980 --> 00:06:29.259 to maximize the spectacle while you can. This 00:06:29.259 --> 00:06:31.839 is what we sometimes call achieving a state of 00:06:31.839 --> 00:06:34.720 psychic readiness. OK, psychic readiness. That's 00:06:34.720 --> 00:06:36.860 a key term. Let's clarify what that means in 00:06:36.860 --> 00:06:38.480 the coin context, because it sounds a little 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:40.920 counterintuitive. If he's already accepted that 00:06:40.920 --> 00:06:43.040 everything is random and potentially meaningless, 00:06:43.240 --> 00:06:45.800 right? How does that translate into creating 00:06:45.800 --> 00:06:48.839 like overwhelming spectacle on stage? Why bother? 00:06:48.920 --> 00:06:51.399 Well, psychic readiness. in this sense, means 00:06:51.399 --> 00:06:54.019 he uses those massive stage visuals, the confetti, 00:06:54.139 --> 00:06:56.259 the lasers, the bubble, all of it, to kind of 00:06:56.259 --> 00:06:58.120 shock the audience out of their passive listening 00:06:58.120 --> 00:07:00.759 state. Just like the robbery instantly shocked 00:07:00.759 --> 00:07:02.500 him out of his passive fry cook state, right? 00:07:02.980 --> 00:07:05.459 The spectacle forces the listener to confront 00:07:05.459 --> 00:07:07.980 the immediate visceral present moment. Ah, I 00:07:07.980 --> 00:07:10.899 see. It's an exercise in maximizing the now, 00:07:11.259 --> 00:07:14.699 because the future is totally arbitrary. His 00:07:14.699 --> 00:07:17.639 art isn't really trying to find order or explain 00:07:17.639 --> 00:07:20.500 meaning in the grand sense. It's more about it's 00:07:20.500 --> 00:07:23.000 about maximizing the beauty and the synchronicity 00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:25.639 you can find within the mess. It's confirming 00:07:25.639 --> 00:07:28.439 that the intense experience is the only real 00:07:28.439 --> 00:07:31.519 truth you can grab onto. So the chaos is completely 00:07:31.519 --> 00:07:33.839 intentional then. It's not just for show. It's 00:07:33.839 --> 00:07:37.660 like an intellectual response to this deep. existential 00:07:37.660 --> 00:07:41.139 dread he felt. Precisely. That foundational experience 00:07:41.139 --> 00:07:44.079 in a fast food joint of all places dictates the 00:07:44.079 --> 00:07:46.680 whole structure of a multi -million dollar rock 00:07:46.680 --> 00:07:49.680 performance. It's incredible. So with this philosophy 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:52.399 of what's called essential randomness now firmly 00:07:52.399 --> 00:07:54.620 in place, Coyne, along with his brother Mark, 00:07:54.740 --> 00:07:56.959 Michael Ivins, and Richard English, they formed 00:07:56.959 --> 00:08:00.040 the Flaming Lips back in 1983. OK. Initially, 00:08:00.180 --> 00:08:01.860 Mark was actually on lead vocals. Oh, I didn't 00:08:01.860 --> 00:08:04.180 know that. Yeah. But after Mark left, Wayne took 00:08:04.180 --> 00:08:06.180 over the primary songwriting and the vocal duty. 00:08:06.160 --> 00:08:09.639 and this basically confirmed his role as that 00:08:09.639 --> 00:08:12.240 singular stable force as the only constant member 00:08:12.240 --> 00:08:15.180 since day one. Right, the anchor again. Exactly. 00:08:15.519 --> 00:08:17.899 Guiding this project that's fundamentally dedicated 00:08:17.899 --> 00:08:22.279 to musical and artistic instability. They fluctuate 00:08:22.279 --> 00:08:25.500 wildly across neo -psychedelia, alternative rock, 00:08:25.899 --> 00:08:28.100 pure experimental noise. Yeah, they cover a lot 00:08:28.100 --> 00:08:30.560 of ground. And before they could launch this 00:08:30.560 --> 00:08:32.940 spectacular career, they obviously needed a pretty 00:08:32.940 --> 00:08:35.840 spectacular name. The origin story of the flaming 00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:39.500 lips. It's one of those wonderfully bizarre nuggets 00:08:39.500 --> 00:08:42.440 that really only coin could generate. It perfectly 00:08:42.440 --> 00:08:45.820 captures that early, kind of rebellious, anarchic 00:08:45.820 --> 00:08:48.700 energy they had. It's rooted entirely in, like, 00:08:48.860 --> 00:08:52.360 high school gossip and pure adolescent irreverence. 00:08:52.379 --> 00:08:55.340 Right. The name apparently came up in a conversation 00:08:55.340 --> 00:08:57.279 between Wayne and Mark when they were juniors 00:08:57.279 --> 00:08:59.639 in high school. OK. And it stemmed from a rumor, 00:08:59.820 --> 00:09:01.860 totally unsubstantiated, mind you, that was going 00:09:01.860 --> 00:09:04.100 around about a classmate. Oh, boy. The story 00:09:04.100 --> 00:09:06.539 was she allegedly contracted genital herpes. 00:09:06.350 --> 00:09:09.830 after, well, after receiving cunnilingus from 00:09:09.830 --> 00:09:12.830 a partner who had active cold sores. Wow. Okay, 00:09:13.029 --> 00:09:15.889 that is wonderfully gross, definitely bizarre, 00:09:16.049 --> 00:09:18.529 and absolutely memorable. It's exactly the kind 00:09:18.529 --> 00:09:21.509 of vulgar folklore that only a really small, 00:09:21.850 --> 00:09:23.590 tight -knit group of teenagers would sort of 00:09:23.590 --> 00:09:26.690 mythologize. Precisely. And Coyne's recollection 00:09:26.690 --> 00:09:29.129 of how they actually cemented the name is just 00:09:29.129 --> 00:09:32.220 as descriptive. He noted it was established over 00:09:32.220 --> 00:09:34.620 a pack of Schlitz and some left -handed cigarettes. 00:09:34.779 --> 00:09:36.759 Left -handed cigarettes? Okay, just to clarify 00:09:36.759 --> 00:09:40.059 for listeners, that's a period -specific slang 00:09:40.059 --> 00:09:42.940 for marijuana. Correct. So this detail just concerns 00:09:42.940 --> 00:09:45.159 the context, right? Yeah. The name was born out 00:09:45.159 --> 00:09:48.659 of casual intoxication and pretty low -brow high 00:09:48.659 --> 00:09:52.000 school humor. Yeah. Which then somehow gave birth 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:55.100 to this high -concept band that would go on to 00:09:55.100 --> 00:09:58.700 be celebrated for its intellectual rigor. It's 00:09:58.700 --> 00:10:01.620 quite the journey. That origin story, it establishes 00:10:01.620 --> 00:10:03.539 the initial rule of their identity, doesn't it? 00:10:03.860 --> 00:10:05.679 Like, nothing is sacred and pretty much everything 00:10:05.679 --> 00:10:08.879 can be turned into mythology, even genital folklore. 00:10:09.500 --> 00:10:11.620 Absolutely. And that rejection of propriety, 00:10:11.620 --> 00:10:13.559 it flows seamlessly into their signature live 00:10:13.559 --> 00:10:15.779 performance. That's really where they moved from 00:10:15.779 --> 00:10:17.960 just being a band to being a phenomenon. They 00:10:17.960 --> 00:10:20.759 seem to understand early on that given the choice 00:10:20.759 --> 00:10:23.720 between just a simple music show and a full -blown 00:10:23.720 --> 00:10:25.919 psychedelic experience... You go for the experience. 00:10:25.940 --> 00:10:28.929 You always choose the latter. commitment to spectacle. 00:10:29.169 --> 00:10:31.429 This is where that philosophy of psychic readiness 00:10:31.429 --> 00:10:34.509 really manifests visually, right? Totally. The 00:10:34.509 --> 00:10:38.090 grand entrance is the cornerstone. Coin descends, 00:10:38.429 --> 00:10:40.809 encased in that giant plastic bubble floating 00:10:40.809 --> 00:10:43.429 across the audience. Iconic. Totally iconic. 00:10:43.889 --> 00:10:46.889 And our sources note that this descent from what 00:10:46.889 --> 00:10:50.009 looks like an alien mothership is actually a 00:10:50.009 --> 00:10:53.509 direct, deliberate homage to parliament fuckadelic. 00:10:53.750 --> 00:10:56.440 Ah, P -Funk. OK. That makes sense. Recognizing 00:10:56.440 --> 00:10:59.179 their role as, like, the godfathers of stage 00:10:59.179 --> 00:11:01.340 absurdity. Exactly. He's acknowledging lineage 00:11:01.340 --> 00:11:03.779 there. Now, while the bubble feels like pure 00:11:03.779 --> 00:11:06.840 kind of ecstatic joy and theatricality, there's 00:11:06.840 --> 00:11:09.379 another key element of his performance that has 00:11:09.379 --> 00:11:12.220 a more serious, sometimes even painful, historical 00:11:12.220 --> 00:11:14.720 homage layered in. You mean the fake blood. Yeah, 00:11:14.740 --> 00:11:17.080 the fake blood. Coyne is known for pouring fake 00:11:17.080 --> 00:11:19.279 blood down his face, apparently via a hitting 00:11:19.279 --> 00:11:21.639 tube. And this is a really crucial point because 00:11:21.639 --> 00:11:24.679 it reveals the depth of his conceptual layering. 00:11:24.840 --> 00:11:28.059 He does this specifically to honor a famous and 00:11:28.059 --> 00:11:30.779 quite painful photograph of Miles Davis. Miles 00:11:30.779 --> 00:11:33.480 Davis, how so? Davis was beaten by a police officer 00:11:33.480 --> 00:11:36.440 back in 1959 while he was just standing outside 00:11:36.440 --> 00:11:39.399 the jazz club Birdland during a break in his 00:11:39.399 --> 00:11:41.639 own performance. Wow, I didn't know that specific 00:11:41.639 --> 00:11:43.220 story. Yeah, it was a pretty brutal incident. 00:11:43.659 --> 00:11:47.019 So the blood ritual on stage connects their modern... 00:11:47.100 --> 00:11:50.740 kind of celebratory anarchy to a specific moment 00:11:50.740 --> 00:11:54.159 of historical pain and resistance within music 00:11:54.159 --> 00:11:56.940 history. Okay, but wait a second. If his philosophy, 00:11:57.100 --> 00:11:59.059 the one derived from the Long John Silver's moment, 00:11:59.460 --> 00:12:01.879 is that existence is random and meaningless, 00:12:02.059 --> 00:12:04.899 that there is no significance, why dedicate a 00:12:04.899 --> 00:12:06.879 performance gesture to honoring a historical 00:12:06.879 --> 00:12:09.899 figure like Miles Davis? That inherently imposes 00:12:09.899 --> 00:12:12.620 narrative and significance onto a moment of suffering, 00:12:12.659 --> 00:12:14.759 doesn't it? Isn't that a fundamental contradiction 00:12:14.759 --> 00:12:17.169 in his art? That is the core con - And I think 00:12:17.169 --> 00:12:19.350 that's what makes coin so compelling you have 00:12:19.350 --> 00:12:22.330 to grapple with it He seems to reject the existential 00:12:22.330 --> 00:12:24.789 significance of life. You know the idea that 00:12:24.789 --> 00:12:28.840 God or fate has some grand plan Right. But he 00:12:28.840 --> 00:12:31.460 absolutely embraces the cultural significance 00:12:31.460 --> 00:12:35.000 of human connection, of memory, of resistance. 00:12:35.320 --> 00:12:38.059 OK, so it's a distinction between cosmic meaninglessness 00:12:38.059 --> 00:12:41.440 and human -created meaning. Exactly. The spectacle, 00:12:41.480 --> 00:12:44.000 therefore, functions as both things at once. 00:12:44.299 --> 00:12:47.220 It's a celebration of temporary joy, and it's 00:12:47.220 --> 00:12:49.639 a sometimes painful acknowledgement of historical 00:12:49.639 --> 00:12:52.039 struggle. The chaos of the performance is like 00:12:52.039 --> 00:12:54.740 this deliberate, overwhelming distraction from 00:12:54.740 --> 00:12:57.970 the random terrors of life. but he still include 00:12:57.970 --> 00:13:00.649 these elements that force you to reflect on actual 00:13:00.649 --> 00:13:03.470 recorded human suffering. It's that constant 00:13:03.470 --> 00:13:06.190 duality again, celebrating the present while 00:13:06.190 --> 00:13:08.750 acknowledging the inevitable pain of the past 00:13:08.750 --> 00:13:11.190 and maybe the future too. To a scythe. And beyond 00:13:11.190 --> 00:13:13.669 the bubble in the blood, the visual assault is 00:13:13.669 --> 00:13:16.490 just relentless, right? Confetti cannons, lasers, 00:13:16.950 --> 00:13:19.370 projected images, dozens of these huge balloons 00:13:19.370 --> 00:13:21.470 bouncing around. Yeah, and the stage filled with 00:13:21.470 --> 00:13:24.419 dancers dressed as like... gloves, the Yetis, 00:13:24.759 --> 00:13:27.259 aliens, you name it. It's chaos, but it feels 00:13:27.259 --> 00:13:29.779 choreographed somehow. It's controlled chaos. 00:13:30.519 --> 00:13:34.279 And despite being this eccentric rock god centerpiece, 00:13:34.840 --> 00:13:37.220 Coyne apparently maintains that working class 00:13:37.220 --> 00:13:39.820 ethic we talked about. Still. Yeah, he's frequently 00:13:39.820 --> 00:13:42.700 cited as being really hands on, often actively 00:13:42.700 --> 00:13:44.960 helping the stage crew set up before he performs. 00:13:45.480 --> 00:13:47.580 Wow. He understands the mechanics of the whole 00:13:47.580 --> 00:13:49.600 theatrical event, not just the presentation part. 00:13:50.360 --> 00:13:53.080 That Long John Silver's diligence, it seems like 00:13:53.080 --> 00:13:55.220 it never really left him. He's the conceptual 00:13:55.220 --> 00:13:57.860 architect, but he's also willing to like move 00:13:57.860 --> 00:14:00.840 the physical set pieces himself. Exactly. Okay, 00:14:00.840 --> 00:14:03.259 so now we move from the spectacle of the stage 00:14:03.259 --> 00:14:07.019 to the, well, the absolute anarchy of some of 00:14:07.019 --> 00:14:09.899 his recorded art and experimental projects. Coyne 00:14:09.899 --> 00:14:11.960 really pushed the concept of audience immersion 00:14:11.960 --> 00:14:14.500 beyond just sight and sound. Way beyond. And 00:14:14.500 --> 00:14:16.860 into the realm of the truly conceptual. It started 00:14:16.860 --> 00:14:18.960 with those famous parking lot experiments back 00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:21.659 in 96 and 97. Right. These were not just simple 00:14:21.659 --> 00:14:24.460 concerts. They were like logistical marvels and 00:14:24.460 --> 00:14:26.720 exercises in community sound engineering. How 00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:28.940 did they work exactly? Coyne basically wanted 00:14:28.940 --> 00:14:32.419 to create this communal surround sound experience, 00:14:32.899 --> 00:14:36.019 using effectively 40 separate boom boxes or car 00:14:36.019 --> 00:14:38.620 stereos. The idea was they'd distribute 40 different 00:14:38.620 --> 00:14:41.299 tapes. 40 different tapes? Yeah, 40 different 00:14:41.299 --> 00:14:43.519 compositions on tape to 40 different cars. Then 00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:45.799 they instructed the drivers and the participants 00:14:45.799 --> 00:14:48.559 to start the tapes simultaneously. Simultaneously. 00:14:48.879 --> 00:14:51.000 OK, the source has confirmed the community engagement 00:14:51.000 --> 00:14:54.480 was huge, right? Over 1 ,000 people gathered 00:14:54.480 --> 00:14:56.779 for this collective audio thing. Yeah, it drew 00:14:56.779 --> 00:14:58.919 a big crowd. But just think about the logistics. 00:14:58.889 --> 00:15:02.690 required 40 separate tracks often just containing 00:15:02.690 --> 00:15:05.269 like ambient drones or specific rhythmic bits 00:15:05.269 --> 00:15:08.429 or short melodies right all relying on the imperfection 00:15:08.429 --> 00:15:11.669 of human timing and the acoustics of like an 00:15:11.669 --> 00:15:14.889 outdoor concrete parking lot exactly the beauty 00:15:14.889 --> 00:15:17.730 was in the logistical imperfection the success 00:15:17.730 --> 00:15:20.309 or maybe the nature of the composition depended 00:15:20.309 --> 00:15:22.970 entirely on how well the participants executed 00:15:22.970 --> 00:15:25.429 it and the environment itself so it could go 00:15:25.429 --> 00:15:27.429 either way totally you could have moments of 00:15:27.429 --> 00:15:30.049 great synchronicity as Coyne put it, where the 00:15:30.049 --> 00:15:32.070 piece is just temporarily locked together in 00:15:32.070 --> 00:15:35.049 this amazing way. Or it could just sound completely 00:15:35.049 --> 00:15:37.769 haphazard, which was his own word for it. It's 00:15:37.769 --> 00:15:40.970 unstable, it's participatory, and it is, I think, 00:15:41.250 --> 00:15:43.350 the perfect representation of his randomness 00:15:43.350 --> 00:15:47.590 philosophy translated directly into audio. successful 00:15:47.590 --> 00:15:50.169 experiment, or at least intriguing experiment, 00:15:50.690 --> 00:15:53.710 it directly inspired their next and probably 00:15:53.710 --> 00:15:56.850 most infamous step into recorded anarchy. The 00:15:56.850 --> 00:15:59.769 legendary Zeyrika. It's a 1997 album, Zeyrika. 00:16:00.049 --> 00:16:02.809 Zeyrika is often seen as like the masterpiece 00:16:02.809 --> 00:16:05.490 of his anarchic commitment. Instead of 40 cars, 00:16:05.870 --> 00:16:08.929 the challenge was scaled down maybe, but made 00:16:08.929 --> 00:16:11.509 exponentially more difficult for the actual consumer. 00:16:11.590 --> 00:16:14.470 How so? The album is composed of four stereo 00:16:14.470 --> 00:16:17.139 tracks, right? Each... on four different CDs. 00:16:17.340 --> 00:16:19.559 Four separate CDs? Four separate CDs. And they 00:16:19.559 --> 00:16:21.960 are explicitly designed to be played simultaneously 00:16:21.960 --> 00:16:24.620 on four separate sound systems. OK. That's not 00:16:24.620 --> 00:16:27.139 just music anymore. That's demanding a multi 00:16:27.139 --> 00:16:29.279 -system, quadraphonic setup from your average 00:16:29.279 --> 00:16:31.580 listener. You're forcing them into the role of 00:16:31.580 --> 00:16:33.519 conductor and sound engineer. Precisely. The 00:16:33.519 --> 00:16:36.179 consumer friction here feels really intentional, 00:16:36.440 --> 00:16:38.399 almost like antagonistic. What was the point 00:16:38.399 --> 00:16:40.460 of creating something so commercially difficult? 00:16:41.139 --> 00:16:43.080 Well, Coyne's rationale was pretty crystal clear. 00:16:43.080 --> 00:16:46.879 He said, Zerika embraces a kind of anarchy in 00:16:46.879 --> 00:16:49.960 art. Anarchy in art. Yeah. It acknowledges that 00:16:49.960 --> 00:16:53.179 no four systems will ever be perfectly synchronized. 00:16:53.480 --> 00:16:56.059 No two rooms will have the same acoustics. Right. 00:16:56.399 --> 00:16:59.159 This guaranteed unpredictability, forcing the 00:16:59.159 --> 00:17:01.700 listener to experience music in a totally new, 00:17:02.120 --> 00:17:05.700 often kind of jarring way, it confirmed his belief 00:17:05.700 --> 00:17:08.680 that the random input from the environment and 00:17:08.680 --> 00:17:11.220 the participant is actually part of the final 00:17:11.220 --> 00:17:14.079 artistic truth. So the actual music isn't just 00:17:14.079 --> 00:17:17.309 what's on the dip. No, it's in the messy simultaneous 00:17:17.309 --> 00:17:19.789 execution of playing it. That's where the art 00:17:19.789 --> 00:17:21.970 happens. He also used this idea of found sound 00:17:21.970 --> 00:17:23.829 and mass participation in live settings too, 00:17:23.910 --> 00:17:25.369 didn't he? I remember reading about a New Year's 00:17:25.369 --> 00:17:27.910 Eve show. Yeah, the New Year's Eve freakout back 00:17:27.910 --> 00:17:31.339 in 2010. He instructed the entire audience to 00:17:31.339 --> 00:17:34.859 set their cell phone alarms for 12 55 a .m. Seriously 00:17:34.859 --> 00:17:38.339 and then the resulting like collective cacophony 00:17:38.339 --> 00:17:40.599 of all those different alarms and chimes going 00:17:40.599 --> 00:17:43.500 off that got added directly into the recorded 00:17:43.500 --> 00:17:45.359 event. That's brilliant. It's a way of making 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:48.359 the audience's own personal electronic lives 00:17:48.359 --> 00:17:51.400 part of the band's actual sonic texture. Totally 00:17:51.400 --> 00:17:54.140 and if the sound experiments weren't personal 00:17:54.140 --> 00:17:56.990 enough His visual art projects really embrace 00:17:56.990 --> 00:18:00.549 the idea of using the most visceral, vital materials 00:18:00.549 --> 00:18:03.269 possible. We absolutely have to talk about the 00:18:03.269 --> 00:18:05.369 screen print he created for the Austin City Limits 00:18:05.369 --> 00:18:08.190 Music Festival in October 2010. Ah, the famous 00:18:08.190 --> 00:18:11.670 blood print, yes. Precisely. Coyne created the 00:18:11.670 --> 00:18:13.970 screen print depicting a skull using his own 00:18:13.970 --> 00:18:15.990 collected blood. His own blood. His own blood. 00:18:16.130 --> 00:18:18.250 He said his reasoning was deeply personal and 00:18:18.250 --> 00:18:21.250 just perfectly characteristic of his whole sensibility. 00:18:21.789 --> 00:18:24.849 It would be silly to use chicken blood. He preferred 00:18:24.849 --> 00:18:27.769 to use his own vital fluids instead. Wow. That 00:18:27.769 --> 00:18:30.069 elevates the whole concept of the artist's signature 00:18:30.069 --> 00:18:33.109 to this literal, almost sacrificial level, doesn't 00:18:33.109 --> 00:18:35.450 it? Making the material creation totally inseparable 00:18:35.450 --> 00:18:37.710 from his physical self. It really does. That 00:18:37.710 --> 00:18:40.490 insistence on using his own blood, it connects 00:18:40.490 --> 00:18:42.829 right back to that fear of random death, maybe. 00:18:42.890 --> 00:18:46.549 How so? Well, if he's accepted the fragility 00:18:46.549 --> 00:18:49.960 of his own physical form, Then using that physical 00:18:49.960 --> 00:18:53.039 form his blood as the actual medium for his art 00:18:53.039 --> 00:18:56.619 Becomes this defiant really visceral statement 00:18:56.619 --> 00:18:59.880 of presence like I am here This is me literally 00:18:59.880 --> 00:19:01.720 that makes a lot of sense and his installations 00:19:01.720 --> 00:19:04.079 continue this commitment to physical immersion 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:06.880 moving beyond just the static concert experience 00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:10.099 Yeah, like in February 2017 he debuted the King's 00:19:10.099 --> 00:19:11.960 mouth at the Waterloo Center for the Arts in 00:19:11.960 --> 00:19:14.180 Iowa, right? this wasn't something you just like 00:19:14.359 --> 00:19:16.640 looked at from a distance. It was this massive 00:19:16.640 --> 00:19:19.420 14 -minute light attraction that visitors could 00:19:19.420 --> 00:19:21.420 physically enter and experience from the inside. 00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:24.220 Again, shattering that fourth wall between artist, 00:19:24.380 --> 00:19:27.059 art, and audience. Completely. What's consistently 00:19:27.059 --> 00:19:29.660 fascinating here is just the unwavering commitment 00:19:29.660 --> 00:19:32.519 to this core idea from the Long John Silver's 00:19:32.519 --> 00:19:35.279 moment, defining like as random, to Zyricka, 00:19:35.460 --> 00:19:38.299 defining sound as potentially random, to the 00:19:38.299 --> 00:19:41.299 blood print, defining artistic essence as intensely 00:19:41.299 --> 00:19:44.630 personal and physical. Every element seems dedicated 00:19:44.630 --> 00:19:47.029 to shattering our expectation of just passive 00:19:47.029 --> 00:19:49.690 consumption and forcing us to accept unpredictability 00:19:49.690 --> 00:19:52.750 So coin isn't content just mastering the concert 00:19:52.750 --> 00:19:54.710 stage and the conceptual album. He also took 00:19:54.710 --> 00:19:58.009 on the role of filmmaker He directed and produced 00:19:58.009 --> 00:20:00.329 that low -budget science fiction film Christmas 00:20:00.329 --> 00:20:03.650 on Mars, which he started way back in 2001, right? 00:20:03.690 --> 00:20:08.789 This is pure like DIY low -budget sci -fi artistry 00:20:08.789 --> 00:20:10.769 principal photography was famously shot mostly 00:20:10.769 --> 00:20:13.059 on a set he built entirely in his own backyard 00:20:13.059 --> 00:20:15.819 in Oklahoma City. In his backyard. Amazing. And 00:20:15.819 --> 00:20:18.099 the plot is, well, naturally pretty surreal. 00:20:18.200 --> 00:20:20.599 Oh, yeah. It details the first Christmas on colonized 00:20:20.599 --> 00:20:23.720 Mars. And Coyne himself plays this curious, silent 00:20:23.720 --> 00:20:26.079 super being who's kind of observing a newborn. 00:20:26.339 --> 00:20:28.259 OK. And the presentation of the film was just 00:20:28.259 --> 00:20:30.000 as important as the content, wasn't it? Totally. 00:20:30.400 --> 00:20:32.750 While the band was on tour, Christmas on Mars 00:20:32.750 --> 00:20:35.109 was shown inside a circus tent after their performances. 00:20:35.150 --> 00:20:37.970 The circus? Yeah. Coyne explicitly intended for 00:20:37.970 --> 00:20:40.970 it to be like a modern midnight movie. He referenced 00:20:40.970 --> 00:20:43.170 the cultural tradition of audience participation 00:20:43.170 --> 00:20:45.769 and the cult status established by films like 00:20:45.769 --> 00:20:48.109 the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Oh, OK. So again, 00:20:48.190 --> 00:20:50.589 turning the consumption of art into this communal, 00:20:51.069 --> 00:20:53.410 potentially chaotic late night event. Exactly. 00:20:53.750 --> 00:20:56.609 And this commitment to documenting their life 00:20:56.609 --> 00:20:59.029 and the whole experimental process is also really 00:20:59.029 --> 00:21:00.869 evident in their documentaries too. Like the 00:21:00.869 --> 00:21:03.559 fearless. Yeah, the Fearless Freaks from 2005, 00:21:03.720 --> 00:21:06.099 which had all that great early life footage and 00:21:06.099 --> 00:21:09.079 coin zone narration, giving crucial insight into 00:21:09.079 --> 00:21:11.960 the band's whole trajectory. And then much more 00:21:11.960 --> 00:21:14.619 recently, he co -directed the Flaming Lips space 00:21:14.619 --> 00:21:18.700 bubble film in 2022. Right, that 2022 film, it 00:21:18.700 --> 00:21:21.140 captured the ultimate merging of their spectacle 00:21:21.140 --> 00:21:24.039 and, well, grim reality, didn't it? Absolutely. 00:21:24.359 --> 00:21:27.079 The COVID -19 era concerts where the entire band 00:21:27.079 --> 00:21:29.440 and the audience members were individually encased 00:21:29.440 --> 00:21:32.079 in those giant plastic isolation bubbles. The 00:21:32.079 --> 00:21:34.460 theatrical element he created for his entrance 00:21:34.460 --> 00:21:36.880 suddenly became the only way to actually hold 00:21:36.880 --> 00:21:39.940 a public event. It felt like this perfect, surreal 00:21:39.940 --> 00:21:42.660 encapsulation of Coyne's whole career, where 00:21:42.660 --> 00:21:45.480 the absurd somehow becomes practical. Totally. 00:21:46.019 --> 00:21:48.759 And beyond his own projects, his list of collaborations 00:21:48.759 --> 00:21:51.180 is pretty staggering. It shows just how broad 00:21:51.180 --> 00:21:53.920 his influence is across different genres. His 00:21:53.920 --> 00:21:56.299 vocal versatility is truly remarkable. Yeah, 00:21:56.420 --> 00:22:00.099 it spans from psychedelic electronic to, well... 00:21:59.869 --> 00:22:02.210 Pop music. He lent his vocals to the Chemical 00:22:02.210 --> 00:22:04.190 Brothers on that track, The Golden Path, back 00:22:04.190 --> 00:22:06.950 in 2003. Great track. Yeah. And he also worked 00:22:06.950 --> 00:22:09.029 with Thievery Corporation on Marching the Hate 00:22:09.029 --> 00:22:11.769 Machines into the Sun. That pairing feels like 00:22:11.769 --> 00:22:13.930 it highlights a real thematic synergy, doesn't 00:22:13.930 --> 00:22:17.029 it? The sort of euphoric, expensive nature of 00:22:17.029 --> 00:22:20.690 COIN's psychedelic vocals. It perfectly complements 00:22:20.690 --> 00:22:23.230 the driving, hypnotic electronic structures of 00:22:23.230 --> 00:22:25.869 those bands. It adds this necessary human warmth, 00:22:25.869 --> 00:22:28.430 maybe, to the machine aesthetic. I think that's 00:22:28.430 --> 00:22:30.599 a great way to put it. He also worked with Moby 00:22:30.599 --> 00:22:34.039 on The Perfect Life. And then moving into more 00:22:34.039 --> 00:22:37.019 like esoteric rock space, he appeared on that 00:22:37.019 --> 00:22:39.279 seminal Danger Mouse and Sparkle Horse album, 00:22:39.380 --> 00:22:41.319 Dark Night of the Soul. Oh yeah, singing on the 00:22:41.319 --> 00:22:44.140 opening track, Revenge. Right, a track that also 00:22:44.140 --> 00:22:47.480 featured David Lynch. Wow. That particular collaboration 00:22:47.480 --> 00:22:50.900 really confirms his position as a kind of muse 00:22:50.900 --> 00:22:54.259 for artists who are interested in merging dark 00:22:54.259 --> 00:22:57.619 philosophical concepts with really unique sonic 00:22:57.619 --> 00:22:59.980 textures. Definitely. and then shifting gears 00:22:59.980 --> 00:23:02.200 completely, he collaborated pretty extensively 00:23:02.200 --> 00:23:04.500 with pop artists like Keisha. Right, Keisha. 00:23:04.579 --> 00:23:07.000 He contributed several tracks to her second album, 00:23:07.039 --> 00:23:09.099 Warrior, didn't he? Like, You Control My Heart 00:23:09.099 --> 00:23:10.980 and Past Life. Yeah, and they worked on another 00:23:10.980 --> 00:23:13.960 project called Lipschit, too. So why the deep 00:23:13.960 --> 00:23:16.579 dive into the world of mainstream pop with someone 00:23:16.579 --> 00:23:18.700 like Keisha? What's the connection there? Well, 00:23:18.839 --> 00:23:21.200 I think the synergy with Keisha is probably rooted 00:23:21.200 --> 00:23:24.910 in a kind of shared theatricality. She herself 00:23:24.910 --> 00:23:28.309 embraces the weird, the colorful, the rejection 00:23:28.309 --> 00:23:31.869 of sanitized pop norms. So Coyne brought his 00:23:31.869 --> 00:23:35.430 unique, slightly unhinged sonic layering and 00:23:35.430 --> 00:23:37.970 that philosophical perspective, lending a specific 00:23:37.970 --> 00:23:41.109 kind of psychedelic legitimacy, maybe, to tracks 00:23:41.109 --> 00:23:43.089 that might otherwise remain purely commercial. 00:23:43.450 --> 00:23:45.869 It's his ability to bring sincerity to the strange, 00:23:46.210 --> 00:23:48.589 perhaps. And we can't overlook the pure unexpected 00:23:48.589 --> 00:23:51.150 media stunts either, like writing and performing 00:23:51.150 --> 00:23:53.710 that James Bond -esque theme song for the Duck 00:23:53.710 --> 00:23:56.529 Dodgers television show back in 2003. Oh, yeah. 00:23:56.910 --> 00:23:59.970 Co -written with Steven Drost. And memorably 00:23:59.970 --> 00:24:02.930 sung by the legend Tom Jones. Tom Jones. It's 00:24:02.930 --> 00:24:05.700 just... high concept pop culture absurdity at 00:24:05.700 --> 00:24:08.079 its absolute best. He really embraces the full 00:24:08.079 --> 00:24:10.359 spectrum of media consumption, doesn't he? He 00:24:10.359 --> 00:24:12.559 wrote and illustrated a comic book, The Sun is 00:24:12.559 --> 00:24:15.480 Sick, in 2013. Yeah, reinforcing his identity 00:24:15.480 --> 00:24:18.880 as this comprehensive multimedia conceptualist. 00:24:18.900 --> 00:24:21.059 But maybe the most telling unconventional appearance 00:24:21.059 --> 00:24:24.000 was that 2006 video message he recorded, the 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:26.220 one played at the graduation ceremony for his 00:24:26.220 --> 00:24:28.779 old high school, the class and school of advanced 00:24:28.779 --> 00:24:31.140 studies. Oh, that video is legendary. Just for 00:24:31.140 --> 00:24:33.720 its brutal honesty and its... radical challenge 00:24:33.720 --> 00:24:36.819 to the whole value of formal education. It feels 00:24:36.819 --> 00:24:39.440 like the ultimate validation of his Long John 00:24:39.440 --> 00:24:42.180 Silver's philosophy, right? Absolutely. In the 00:24:42.180 --> 00:24:45.299 video, he spoke so candidly about not actually 00:24:45.299 --> 00:24:47.319 being a high school graduate himself. Right. 00:24:47.700 --> 00:24:50.140 He recounted his lengthy time as a fry cook at 00:24:50.140 --> 00:24:52.440 Long John Silver's, and he even mentioned selling 00:24:52.440 --> 00:24:54.519 marijuana out of his apartment back in the day. 00:24:54.819 --> 00:24:58.700 Wow. His message was this blunt endorsement of 00:24:58.700 --> 00:25:01.579 the value of life experience, a real -world struggle 00:25:01.579 --> 00:25:04.839 over standardized academic credentials. It's 00:25:04.839 --> 00:25:07.519 the ultimate anti -establishment mic drop for 00:25:07.519 --> 00:25:09.640 a high school graduation ceremony. Here's this 00:25:09.640 --> 00:25:12.180 globally recognized artist telling young graduates 00:25:12.180 --> 00:25:14.960 that his success actually derived from the streets 00:25:14.960 --> 00:25:18.079 and the fry line, confirming the skepticism he 00:25:18.079 --> 00:25:20.740 adopted after that near -death moment. It's like 00:25:20.740 --> 00:25:23.319 he maintains that if life is random, then the 00:25:23.319 --> 00:25:26.039 official pathways to success must also be arbitrary. 00:25:26.440 --> 00:25:28.579 Totally. And that willingness to engage with 00:25:28.579 --> 00:25:31.900 just bizarre media extends to pure advertising, 00:25:32.200 --> 00:25:35.140 too. He appeared in a Virgin mobile ad in 2013. 00:25:35.220 --> 00:25:37.579 Oh, yeah. Where he actively attempts to brainwash 00:25:37.579 --> 00:25:39.680 the viewer into switching phone plans. Seriously, 00:25:39.940 --> 00:25:42.099 brainwash them. It's played for laughs, but still. 00:25:42.819 --> 00:25:45.119 He seems willing to utilize pretty much any platform. 00:25:45.339 --> 00:25:47.779 regardless of its commercial purpose, as long 00:25:47.779 --> 00:25:51.140 as he can inject his own unique brand of surrealism 00:25:51.140 --> 00:25:54.440 and kind of subversive irony into it. So we've 00:25:54.440 --> 00:25:57.039 established that coin is this architect of profound 00:25:57.039 --> 00:26:00.420 spectacle. Yet, despite the motherships and the 00:26:00.420 --> 00:26:03.279 global tours, he remains incredibly rooted in 00:26:03.279 --> 00:26:06.039 Oklahoma. Deeply rooted. He actually lives on 00:26:06.039 --> 00:26:08.819 a compound, apparently, consisting of four houses 00:26:08.819 --> 00:26:10.720 in the very same neighborhood where he grew up 00:26:10.720 --> 00:26:12.579 in Oklahoma City. And this is another one of 00:26:12.579 --> 00:26:14.720 those profound contradictions that seem to define 00:26:14.720 --> 00:26:17.740 him. He travels the world. He builds alien landing 00:26:17.740 --> 00:26:20.779 sites on stage. Right. Yet his anchor remains 00:26:20.779 --> 00:26:24.210 precisely where he started. This loyalty to his 00:26:24.210 --> 00:26:26.930 local roots is so strong that he even appeared 00:26:26.930 --> 00:26:29.849 on the state's Centennial Oklahoma Rising float 00:26:29.849 --> 00:26:33.710 in the 2007 Pasadena Rose Parade. Alongside other 00:26:33.710 --> 00:26:36.009 Oklahoma celebrities, right? Like astronaut John 00:26:36.009 --> 00:26:37.930 Harrington and Mark Cherry, the writer. Yeah, 00:26:37.930 --> 00:26:40.930 exactly. Does this loyalty to home, this refusal 00:26:40.930 --> 00:26:43.349 to move to the traditional music industry hubs 00:26:43.349 --> 00:26:46.529 like L .A. or New York, does that mirror his 00:26:46.529 --> 00:26:48.509 rejection of formal education we just talked 00:26:48.509 --> 00:26:51.549 about? Is staying local his own personal way 00:26:51.549 --> 00:26:53.569 of rejecting the mainstream music industry's 00:26:53.569 --> 00:26:56.190 sort of requirement to conform and relocate? 00:26:56.329 --> 00:26:58.369 I think it absolutely functions that way. It 00:26:58.369 --> 00:27:00.170 confirms that the authenticity of his creation 00:27:00.170 --> 00:27:02.880 for him is tied to his lived environment. the 00:27:02.880 --> 00:27:05.619 specific place that produced both the trauma, 00:27:05.940 --> 00:27:08.839 the robbery, and the philosophy of the randomness. 00:27:09.859 --> 00:27:12.579 By staying put, maybe he retains the external 00:27:12.579 --> 00:27:14.799 perspective that's necessary to critique the 00:27:14.799 --> 00:27:17.299 very industry he participates in. He controls 00:27:17.299 --> 00:27:19.640 his own ecosystem, which feels crucial for an 00:27:19.640 --> 00:27:22.079 artist whose work depends so much on controlled 00:27:22.079 --> 00:27:25.130 chaos. Another powerful defining contradiction 00:27:25.130 --> 00:27:27.789 seems to be his stance on faith, while his art 00:27:27.789 --> 00:27:30.009 is often described using words like spiritual, 00:27:30.250 --> 00:27:32.450 transcendent, even deeply utopian sometimes. 00:27:32.529 --> 00:27:34.809 Yeah, it evokes those feelings. Bullcoin himself 00:27:34.809 --> 00:27:37.690 identifies as an atheist. Right. Yet even this 00:27:37.690 --> 00:27:39.710 atheism is characterized by this palpable sense 00:27:39.710 --> 00:27:42.890 of, like, longing, a desire for comfort maybe. 00:27:42.950 --> 00:27:46.089 How so? He has admitted that he wishes he did 00:27:46.089 --> 00:27:49.130 believe in God, stating openly something like, 00:27:49.630 --> 00:27:52.059 I wish I did believe in God. It would be a great 00:27:52.059 --> 00:27:54.819 relief to think, God will take care of it. God 00:27:54.819 --> 00:27:59.380 will put gas in the car tomorrow. Wow. That is... 00:27:59.259 --> 00:28:01.680 That's heartbreakingly honest, isn't it? That 00:28:01.680 --> 00:28:04.420 desire for external relief, that hope for someone 00:28:04.420 --> 00:28:06.799 or something else to manage the randomness of 00:28:06.799 --> 00:28:09.359 life, is exactly the comfort he denies himself 00:28:09.359 --> 00:28:11.960 by being an atheist. Precisely. If God won't 00:28:11.960 --> 00:28:14.119 put gas in the car tomorrow, then coin is left 00:28:14.119 --> 00:28:17.299 with the full kind of terrifying weight of responsibility. 00:28:17.559 --> 00:28:19.819 Which he then channels directly into creating 00:28:19.819 --> 00:28:23.619 overwhelming man -made spectacle. Exactly. And 00:28:23.619 --> 00:28:26.309 this skepticism about safety and comfort? It 00:28:26.309 --> 00:28:28.630 deeply informs his view on preparing for life's 00:28:28.630 --> 00:28:30.730 inevitable terrors, particularly when it comes 00:28:30.730 --> 00:28:34.410 to his kids. Ah, right. Coyne has this very specific 00:28:34.410 --> 00:28:37.390 annual Halloween ritual. Yeah, where he meticulously 00:28:37.390 --> 00:28:39.930 dresses up specifically to frighten the neighborhood 00:28:39.930 --> 00:28:41.630 trick -or -treaters who visit his home. Okay, 00:28:41.670 --> 00:28:43.829 on the surface, that sounds kind of deliberately 00:28:43.829 --> 00:28:46.269 cruel, but you argue there is a philosophical 00:28:46.269 --> 00:28:48.269 basis for it that connects right back to the 00:28:48.269 --> 00:28:50.420 Long John Silver's robbery. I think there is 00:28:50.420 --> 00:28:53.319 a deep, profound connection there. His belief, 00:28:53.480 --> 00:28:55.740 as stated, is that scaring children is actually 00:28:55.740 --> 00:28:58.799 a necessary preparation for adulthood. OK. He 00:28:58.799 --> 00:29:01.119 argues that in real life, things are horribly 00:29:01.119 --> 00:29:04.000 scary. You can't just run away from them or turn 00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:06.500 on a light and it runs away. So by intentionally 00:29:06.500 --> 00:29:10.339 giving kids a dose of manageable theatrical terror. 00:29:10.799 --> 00:29:13.240 He's attempting to inoculate them, in a way, 00:29:13.599 --> 00:29:16.240 against the specific terror of unprepared randomness. 00:29:16.859 --> 00:29:19.000 He's teaching them early that some fears can't 00:29:19.000 --> 00:29:21.480 just be easily dismissed or illuminated by flicking 00:29:21.480 --> 00:29:23.500 a switch. It's a lesson he learned firsthand 00:29:23.500 --> 00:29:26.099 when he faced down that gun. That Long John Silver's 00:29:26.099 --> 00:29:28.900 philosophy really is the engine driving his parenting 00:29:28.900 --> 00:29:32.109 style too then. Wow. Okay, moving on to his personal 00:29:32.109 --> 00:29:34.170 life timeline, we see some transformations that 00:29:34.170 --> 00:29:37.170 kind of parallel his artistic shifts. After separating 00:29:37.170 --> 00:29:39.930 from his common law wife, J. Michelle Martin 00:29:39.930 --> 00:29:43.130 Coyne, back in 2012, a relationship whose duration 00:29:43.130 --> 00:29:45.329 was actually disputed in the divorce filings, 00:29:45.549 --> 00:29:47.210 interestingly enough. Right, demonstrating even 00:29:47.210 --> 00:29:49.289 his personal history is layered with conflicting 00:29:49.289 --> 00:29:52.349 narratives. Yeah. He began dating Katie Weaver. 00:29:52.549 --> 00:29:55.190 Right. They eventually got married in 2019. And 00:29:55.190 --> 00:29:58.369 in a gesture that just perfectly fused the spectacle 00:29:58.369 --> 00:30:01.000 of his art. with his personal wife. Oh, yeah. 00:30:01.779 --> 00:30:05.319 They famously got married inside a giant plastic 00:30:05.319 --> 00:30:07.960 bubble in downtown Oklahoma City. Inside the 00:30:07.960 --> 00:30:10.700 bubble, of course they did. That symbolic gesture, 00:30:10.880 --> 00:30:13.359 it just confirmed that his entire existence, 00:30:13.519 --> 00:30:16.099 his love, his family life, his art, it's all 00:30:16.099 --> 00:30:18.579 viewed through this lens of performative chaos 00:30:18.579 --> 00:30:20.960 and overwhelming theatrical presence. Totally. 00:30:21.240 --> 00:30:23.619 They've since welcomed two sons. Bloom Bobby 00:30:23.619 --> 00:30:27.079 coin in 2019, and Rex Roses coin in 2022. It 00:30:27.079 --> 00:30:29.160 feels incredibly fitting that a man who uses 00:30:29.160 --> 00:30:31.420 the bubble as a means of both theatrical entrance 00:30:31.420 --> 00:30:34.240 and viral health protocol. Right, during COVID. 00:30:34.500 --> 00:30:36.220 Would then use it as the sacred space for his 00:30:36.220 --> 00:30:38.500 own marriage. It just confirms the bubble that 00:30:38.500 --> 00:30:40.839 chaotic vessel is probably his most profound 00:30:40.839 --> 00:30:42.859 and recurring symbol. Hashtag tag, tag outro. 00:30:43.079 --> 00:30:45.809 OK, so. To try and summarize the findings of 00:30:45.809 --> 00:30:48.529 this deep dive, Wayne Coyne emerges as, well, 00:30:48.710 --> 00:30:50.710 the ultimate conceptualist, doesn't he? An artist 00:30:50.710 --> 00:30:53.349 whose foundation was forged not really in a recording 00:30:53.349 --> 00:30:55.549 studio, but maybe on the dirty linoleum floor 00:30:55.549 --> 00:30:57.950 of a Long John Silver's. Yeah. Confronting the 00:30:57.950 --> 00:31:01.200 pure arbitrary fact of random death. That moment, 00:31:01.259 --> 00:31:03.900 it created a kind of covenant, didn't it? Defining 00:31:03.900 --> 00:31:07.700 his entire artistic practices, one built on embracing 00:31:07.700 --> 00:31:10.079 that randomness and deliberately overwhelming 00:31:10.079 --> 00:31:12.259 the audience with intentional spectacle. Right. 00:31:12.380 --> 00:31:14.460 And this manifests in absolutely everything, 00:31:14.579 --> 00:31:18.220 from the floating bubble and the Miles Davis 00:31:18.220 --> 00:31:23.039 homage via fake blood, to the insistence on challenging 00:31:23.039 --> 00:31:25.220 the listener's role through these logistically 00:31:25.220 --> 00:31:28.279 complex projects, like the 40 car parking lot 00:31:28.279 --> 00:31:31.680 experiments or the... or CD simultaneous listening 00:31:31.680 --> 00:31:34.700 required for Zyryka. And he remains that singular 00:31:34.700 --> 00:31:37.380 constant force in a band that's dedicated to 00:31:37.380 --> 00:31:40.420 musical and thematic instability, all while anchoring 00:31:40.420 --> 00:31:42.759 himself firmly back in his Oklahoma compound. 00:31:42.900 --> 00:31:45.819 Yeah. He successfully bridges this high concept 00:31:45.819 --> 00:31:47.759 visual art like the King's Mouth installation 00:31:47.759 --> 00:31:50.140 or the screen print made with his own blood with 00:31:50.140 --> 00:31:53.299 this really profound intellectual honesty, exemplified, 00:31:53.359 --> 00:31:55.980 I think, by that radical graduation speech that 00:31:55.980 --> 00:31:58.420 prioritized raw life experience over any formal 00:31:58.420 --> 00:32:01.039 education. We've thoroughly analyzed how Coyne 00:32:01.039 --> 00:32:03.740 uses his physical body, his specific geography, 00:32:04.140 --> 00:32:06.440 and his unique philosophy of fear in his work. 00:32:06.539 --> 00:32:08.819 And it brings us back to maybe the most compelling 00:32:08.819 --> 00:32:11.460 contradiction we found, his expressed desire 00:32:11.460 --> 00:32:15.200 for the relief of belief, wishing God would somehow 00:32:15.200 --> 00:32:18.079 ease the burden of life, yet maintaining this 00:32:18.079 --> 00:32:21.859 fierce atheism. Yeah. So consider this as you 00:32:21.859 --> 00:32:24.329 leave this deep dive today. Does an artist who 00:32:24.329 --> 00:32:26.529 champions transformative spectacle, who strives 00:32:26.529 --> 00:32:28.849 so hard to create meaning in what he sees as 00:32:28.849 --> 00:32:31.750 a meaningless void, does that artist need to 00:32:31.750 --> 00:32:34.089 actively reject fundamental personal comfort 00:32:34.089 --> 00:32:36.210 and certainty? Do they need to hold on to that 00:32:36.210 --> 00:32:38.349 tension in order to maintain the necessary chaotic 00:32:38.349 --> 00:32:40.650 energy required to create true, meaningful, and 00:32:40.650 --> 00:32:41.450 unpredictable art?