Artist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Particle Kid has released “Velocirapture (The Serpent Flew)” [feat. Sean Ono Lennon & Mickey Raphael]. Micah Nelson’s self-described “experimental future-folk solo project” is currently on tour with The Flaming Lips and he and Sean Ono Lennon spoke to Rolling Stone about the new single.
“Micah Nelson and Sean Ono Lennon speak the same language: psychedelic, experimental, exploratory, and just a little unhinged,” said Rolling Stone. (READ MORE HERE)
Micah expands on the track, “One night I ate a weed edible and got really really high. I was up all night and couldn’t sleep because there were all these weird movies playing in my head. Sometime around 3am lying awake in bed this whole story just flashed in my brain about a lonely velociraptor…. it was a very human story. He is misunderstood by his parents and friends and becomes an outcast in his community and is exiled. I started thinking about dinosaurs, but as if they had very human egos, complete with fears and doubts and dreams and culture. The story of this velociraptor became like an epic personal journey in which is forced to face those fears and doubts and psychological delusions (or maybe they are real?). His whole family thinks he’s losing his mind and maybe he is. I started thinking about what he must have felt during his own extinction event and how surreal and psychedelic it must have been…like a prehistoric rapture/apocalypse. It was as if I lived his life story in my mind as I wrote the lyrics down frantically. There was no melody or music until a day or so before we recorded it. I believe the version on the record is our second or third take ever, just running through it trying different arrangements live in the studio. It’s got plenty of great fuckups on it. I feel like it captures the flawed and tattered spirit of our lead character, the velociraptor. Steve Chadie the engineer always gets such great sounds (especially his drums sounds!!). Sean (Ono Lennon)’s brilliant sonic painting and Mickey (Raphael)’s dinosaur screams on harmonica really fleshed out the world of the story.
“I heard on the radio the day after we recorded it that some archeologist discovered the ancient fossil remains of a previously unknown feathered dinosaur… !!! Weird.”
Described by Rolling Stone as a “trippy troubadour” and a “musical polymath who combines an indie DIY aesthetic with a questing hippie spirit and a relentless work ethic,“ Particle Kid is a constantly absorbing and evolving musician who has both musical DNA and professional experience backing Neil Young (along with his brother Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real), collaborating with John Doe, Tinariwen, and the Flaming Lips and working on his own projects like the psych-punk orchestra Insects vs. Robots. Micah’s dad, Willie Nelson, helped name his band: Micah rolled into the house one day and Willie meant to say, “Welcome home Prodigal Son!” but he had just burned a fat one and it came out as, “Welcome home, Particle Kid!” instead.
Particle Kid Tour Dates (all shows with The Flaming Lips)
Nov 09 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Steel
Nov 11 – Pittsburgh, PA – Stage AE
Nov 12 – Syracuse, NY – The Oncenter Civic Center Theaters
Nov 13 – Albany, NY – Palace Theatre
Nov 15 – Boston, MA – House of Blues
Nov 16 – Washington, DC – The Anthem
Apr 10 – Royal Oak, MI – Royal Oak Music Theatre
Apr 25 – Denver, CO – Mission Ballroom
Apr 26 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Union Event Center
Apr 28 – Boise, ID – Knitting Factory Concert House
Apr 29 – Portland, OR – McMenamins Crystal Ballroom
Apr 30 – Spokane, WA – Knitting Factory Concert House
May 02 – Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom
May 03 – Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom
May 04 – Seattle, WA – Showbox SoDo
May 06 – San Francisco, CA – The Warfield
May 07 – San, Francisco, CA – The Warfield
May 09 – Los Angeles, CA – The Wiltern
Oct 22 – Montréal, QC – MTELUS
