The Fearless Freaks: The Wondrously Improbable Story of The Flaming Lips (DVD)
Directed by: Bradley Beesley

The Flaming Lips have been around for over 20 years now, but have really only come to be known in the last 10 years starting with their surprise hit “She Don’tUse Jelly”.

I was too young at the time to see the Lips as anything more than a novelty act, and it wasn’t until the critical brouhaha surrounding 1999’s “The Soft Bulletin” that I bothered giving them a chance. Since then they’ve become one of my favorite bands, and their upcoming album is one of the years most anticipated releases.

So it was with great excitement and fascination I sat through the newly released to DVD documentary “The Fearless Freaks” by Oklahoman fan and band friendBradley Beesley. A compilation of vintage homevideos (Michael Ivins punk hair = wow), live performances, and interviews with both current and former members, “Freaks” is not really a definitive”VH1 Behind The Music” – esque history. Nor does it focuson the band at one important point in their career a la Wilco’s “I am Trying to Break Your Heart” film. Instead it is basically a character study of the band, and that includes the countless other members who have come and gone spanning 3 decades.

Only the early portions of the film submit to any sort of narrative, as we are led through the members’ childhood and how the band came to be, into the early years where Waynes jock brother fronted the group. From there we move right into a number of stories and vignettes, such as frontman Wayne Coyne stopping at his old place of work and having some Vietnamesechildren re-enact a robbery. Coyne also takes thecamera around as he works on his independent film “Christmas on Mars”, a very “American Movie” type set of segments which also involve former Blues Clues host/Drozd disciple Steve Burns and Adam Goldberg. As charismatic and watchable Coyne is, and surprising as it is that he says he hasn’t done drugs in over 20 years, the most amazing chapters though belong to the story of Stephen Drozd.

As Butthole Surfers leader Gibby Haynes attests, Stephen is Coyne’s secret weapon. The film is revelatory in this respect. Coming from a family life where several direct family members died tragically, multi-instrumentalist Drozd is shown to be the bands true marvel, and despite Coynes vision, it becomes clear that the Lips really took off because Drozd hadjoined the group.

A surprise to me was the story of Drozd’s massive heroin addiction and recovery. Shot in stark black and white is a long scene where Drozd is preparing to shoot up, speaking incredibly matter of factly of his addiction and how it is hurting him. He also speaks honestly of heroin’s draw and why he’d been unable to kick it.

There will be those who complain of some important things in the bands history not being covered, specifically how Drozd nearly lost his arm due to a Spiderbite in the second half of the 90s, but theres enough in this doc for any Lips fan not to worry so much about what isn’t. As essential viewing as this is for any Lips fan though, it probably wont appeal very much to people who already aren’t in the cult. Unlike the Metallica doc of last year, which had a narrative, more tension, comedy and frankly, better filmmakers.

A second disc of special features includes half an hour of deleted scenes and outtakes, including another take of Coyne telling the robbery story and a number of scenes detailing the making of the “Clouds Taste Metallic” album. The commentary track on disc one is quite entertaining and moved along mostly by Coyne, who tells an even better robbery story than the one in the movie. — Goon