Flaming Lips multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd meets with ACM@UCO students after his master class presentation in downtown Oklahoma City on Wednesday. ADAM WISNESKI/Tulsa World
Flaming Lips multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd plays his favorite piece of equipment -- a vintage, 1967 Fender Jazzmaster -- during his ACM@UCO master class presentation on Wednesday. ADAM WISNESKI/Tulsa World
Flaming Lips multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd and his manager (and ACM@UCO CEO) Scott Booker speak to ACM@UCO students during his master class presentation in downtown Oklahoma City on Wednesday. ADAM WISNESKI/Tulsa World
Students watch as Flaming Lips multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd speaks to ACM@UCO students during his master class presentation in downtown Oklahoma City on Wednesday. ADAM WISNESKI/Tulsa World
Michelle Martin-Coyne, Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne and drummer Kliph Scurlock sit in the audience as as Flaming Lips multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd speaks to ACM@UCO students during his master class presentation in downtown Oklahoma City on Wednesday. ADAM WISNESKI/Tulsa World
: Tuesday, Feb. 16: Read the full story and see the video at
tulsaworld.com/SCENE.
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Yesterday, I ventured to
Oklahoma City to experience my first Master Class at the
Academy of Contemporary Music near the
University of Central Oklahoma's
Bricktown campus.
The ACM@UCO class featured
Flaming Lips multi-instrumentalist and songwriter
Steven Drozd. He spoke on his band, his life, creating music, quirky band experiences, his children, wife and family and his first memories of Lips frontman
Wayne Coyne.
PLUS!! More will come later in a full story and video from the event.
In the meantime, here are photos I'd love to share. They are by Tulsa World photographer
Adam Wisneski.
Cheers.
Fast facts:
1. His pre-show ritual: 15 minutes of yoga, a shot of bourbon and a cigarette.
2. First album he ever "stole." (From his brother.) Probably the first KISS album. First album he bought: Kiss, "Dressed to Kill."
3. He's never had a single formal music lesson.
4. His first studio album with the Flaming Lips was the 1993 studio work "Transmissions from the Satellite Heart."
5. His dream band lineup: John Bonham, Jimmy Page, Jon Anderson, John Paul Jones and Rick Wright.
6. If he could play only one instrument for the rest of his life, it would be a piano.
7. The one instrument he wishes he knew how to play: Trumpet.
8. The one project he still wants to do: Record with a full orchestra, and composing music with that specific purpose in mind.
9. The trick to learning/playing the Black Sabbath hit "War Pigs": "The silence is as difficult as the playing. ... Be ready to count and keep your cool."
10 One of his favorite songs to play live: "Convinced of the Hex," from the new Flaming Lips album, "Embryonic." "It's more about power than precision."
