April 10, 2013 – (Burbank, CA) – Steven Drozd, multi-instrumentalist of THE FLAMING LIPS will premiere his experimental project, The Mutating Cell Ensemble, which features more than a dozen students at Oklahoma City’s Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma (ACM@UCO), on Saturday, April 13th, as part of the school’s annual music festival,ACM@UCO Rocks Bricktown.
The free, one-time only performance, which also features LIPS’ guitarist-keyboardist Derek Brown, will take place at 11 p.m. at the ACM@UCO Performance Lab: 329 E. Sheridan Ave., Oklahoma City, OK, 73104. A sneak peek of the performance is posted here.
The festival is ACM@UCO’s end-of-term opportunity for students to play around the Bricktown district with their bands. Sixty bands will perform on more than 14 stages that night, with Chic’s Nile Rodgers headlining the Main Stage. Click here for the full schedule.
As a result of THE LIPS long-time association with SXSW and their recent attendance-breaking performance at Auditorium Shores Park along with their intimate performance at The Belmont were among this year’s most impressive and memorable in the history of SXSW, THE FLAMING LIPS have been named one of the winners of the First Annual Grulke Prize. The Prize is named after the late, venerable Brent Grulke; SXSW’s Creative Director and considered the heart and soul of Austin’s annual SXSW Music Conference since its inception (see Boilerplate below).
Taken from SXSW’s official announcement: “The Grulke Prize winner for Career Act is THE FLAMING LIPS.. The Lips and their storied career have a long intersecting path with SXSW. They debuted their new album, The Terror, in its entirety along with a new stage production. — and a packed to the ends of Auditorium Shores outdoor stage concert. They also played an intimate show at The Belmont performing Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots in its entirety. Wayne Coyne and the band are masters of reinvention whose beginnings, in Oklahoma City, date back to 1983.”
Winners of the Grulke Prize have been awarded a cash donation. THE FLAMING LIPS graciously accept the generous award and have chosen to donate the prize to The Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma as a way of investing in their local community and supporting the students and campus of the ACM@UCO.
As previously announced, all who pre-order THE LIPS new studio album, THE TERROR (April 16th release) through the Official Lips Store will receive an instant download of non-album track, “Sun Blows up Today.” As an added bonus, you’ll now receive a second non-album instant download of THE LIPS version of The Beatles’ classic “All You Need Is Love.” Pre-order the Limited Edition double LP pressed on Silver vinyl exclusively via The Lips Store and also received both digital Bonus tracks as well as the album on release date. Click here to have a look at the vinyl package as displayed by Wayne, himself. Quantities are limited so don’t delay – these will disappear fast.
About The Grulke Prize:
The Prize, awarded in three categories, was developed in honor of our friend and colleague Creative Director Brent Grulke, who passed away on August 13, 2012.
Brent’s love of music and the spirit of the festival is reflected in the three Prize categories: Developing US Act, Developing Non-US Act and Career Act.
The Developing Act Prize is for artists who are breaking new ground with their creativity and show the most promise in achieving their career goals. The Career Act Prize is for an established artist who appeared at SXSW 2013 to reinvent themselves or launch an important new project.
Brent Grulke had a lengthy career in many aspects of the music industry from music editor at the Austin Chronicle to sound engineer or tour manager for many Austin bands as well as production and sound engineer in clubs in San Francisco. He later moved to Los Angeles to become the manager at Spindletop Records which eventually led him back to Austin where he was the longtime Creative Director of the SXSW Music Festival.
Jurors for the Grulke Prize included music critics, industry professionals and SXSW staff who knew and worked with Brent over the years”.
The Grulke Prize winner for Developing US Act is Haim (Los Angeles). Winner for Non-US Act is CHVRCHES (Glasgow, Scotland). Winner for Career Act is The Flaming Lips (Oklahoma City, OK).
