Flaming Lips' Coyne and Drodz become Wurms

Wayne Coyne and Steven Drodz have unveiled a side-project called Electric Wurms.

The band is made up of the Flaming Lips colleagues plus all four members of Nashville psychedelic rock band Linear Downfall: Charlee Cook, Chance Cook, Will Hicks and Dom Marcoaldi. They’ll launch their debut album Musik, Die Schwer Zu Twerk on August 18 via Bella Union.

A statement explains: “It all began in the 70s when someone invented the right kind of acid that could make you fly. Overly-optimistic freaks began flying into outer space in spaceships made of futuristic super-metal – but before long they didn’t even need ships.

“They became the ships, and called themselves Electric Wurms. Before they died they sent back to Earth a sonic bible of discoveries and failures. It was an unsolvable mystery of frequencies and rhythms.

“Two groups of determined musicians and weirdo thinkers set forth to decipher its message. Two members of The Flaming Lips and four members of Linear Downfall were the chosen ones.”

A rough translation of the album title is Music That’s Hard To Twerk To. The statement continues: “Some of it is indeed hard to twerk to – but some of it is not. There is a particular track called Transform!!! that closely resembles a drug-fuelled boogie freak-rock track by Miles Davis. Another track, Heart Of The Sunrise, sounds vaguely like a song by Yes. Of course Yes also turned themselves into spaceships, so it’s no wonder these songs share a similar vibe.”

But Electic Wurms deny they’re a supergroup, describing themselves instead as “like Sherpas climbing with you, to help you, to love you. All the secrets that they know, they tell you. That’s what love is.”

Not only is one-time online news editor Martin an established rock journalist and drummer, but he’s also penned several books on music history, including SAHB Story: The Tale of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, a band he once managed, and the best-selling Apollo Memories about the history of the legendary and infamous Glasgow Apollo. Martin has written for Classic Rock and Prog and at one time had written more articles for Louder than anyone else (we think he's second now). He’s appeared on TV and when not delving intro all things music, can be found travelling along the UK’s vast canal network.