Drozd Rig Rundown featuring The Lips' JM

[rhythmjones]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwvz8vhHGcA

[Embenny]

Just watched that yesterday. It was pretty entertaining. Interesting that a guy who has always made really weird and diverse sounds is so not into gear.

[marqueemoon]

What an interesting journey that band has had.

Yeah, a very utilitarian setup really. Not that surprising. It’s the interplay between the members that makes that band’s sound.

[Unicorn Warrior]

What an interesting journey that band has had.

Yeah, a very utilitarian setup really. Not that surprising. It’s the interplay between the members that makes that band’s sound.

I’m finding this to be the real answer. The people we love as musicians just found well functioning gear at a reasonable price and made music and that’s all they did. There was no hunt for the holy grail guitar or amp. They just got what worked

[nashmaster]

That's a wild JM. Not so sure about the hot rail mounted in the pickup cover.... But I suppose it works for him! lol.

[Embenny]

That's a wild JM. Not so sure about the hot rail mounted in the pickup cover.... But I suppose it works for him! lol.

He wasn't sure about it, either. Wayne Coyne did it to the guitar while borrowing it and it really pissed him off at the time. I can understand why.

Goes to show how chill a guy he is that he didn't strangle him. If a bandmate did that to my Jazzmaster without consulting me I think they'd be the one ending up with a hot rails pickup mounted in the rear position.

[Jaguar018]

If a bandmate did that to my Jazzmaster without consulting me I think they'd be the one ending up with a hot rails pickup mounted in the rear position.

If it was one of my former bandmates of my actual bands I would be upset as I was always the biggest gear nerd in my bands. HOWEVER, if I was in a band that had the career arc of the Flaming Lips and my bandmate was the frontman/woman and as popular as Wayne Coyne I'd probably roll with it.

[Embenny]

If a bandmate did that to my Jazzmaster without consulting me I think they'd be the one ending up with a hot rails pickup mounted in the rear position.

If it was one of my former bandmates of my actual bands I would be upset as I was always the biggest gear nerd in my bands. HOWEVER, if I was in a band that had the career arc of the Flaming Lips and my bandmate was the frontman/woman and as popular as Wayne Coyne I'd probably roll with it.

Back in the summer of '92, they were still a year away from releasing "She Don't Use Jelly," so their career arc and Wayne's popularity were nowhere near what they'd become.

They were 6 years into fighting their way up the indie ranks at that point, just getting their first crack at a commercial album (it had been tracked but not released when he bought the guitar, so the timing of Wayne's mod would have been right around when it was being released).

If Wayne came to him today and said, "I took some acid and thought your Jazzmaster was a beautiful swan, so I tried to float it into the lake but it sank and I couldn't go get it because that was where the Medusa lived and I'm not ready to be a statue yet," the answer would probably be a sigh and, "Well...try not to do that again, OK?"

But that $700 Jazzmaster was probably a much bigger deal to him in '92, and they didn't have the history they do now (Drozd joined in '91 as their drummer and wouldn't switch to guitar for a few years yet). My understanding is that they have a really strong friendship now, but those were very early days.

Clearly Steven Drozd is a chill guy, but you can tell by how he recounts the story 30 years later that it was a huge deal to him at the time. He had owned it for all of two weeks when it happened.

I've taken longer than that to post NGDs . My eye would be twitching to have to report, "So, I just got this '65 Jazzmaster two weeks ago...here's a photo from before the singer in my new band stuck a Hot Rails in it without asking me."

Of course, it's not the end of the world, and he clearly moved past it. I just would have given the dude quite a dressing down, and it sounds like that may have been what happened back in '92 as well. Water under a decades-old bridge. In fact, I'm sure it's been a "fun band story" for at least a couple of decades at this point.

[mcbrandt]

That thing has a tuneomatic bridge on it, doesn't it? I posted a comment about it and some dude got all pissy with me. Reminded me to never post comments on videos.

[seenoevil II]

Lost a whole thing I typed.

Love Drozd. There's so much to love with the Lips.

Love that they called Paige a hero when https://youtu.be/3aUy659ExJw

[rhythmjones]

That thing has a tuneomatic bridge on it, doesn't it? I posted a comment about it and some dude got all pissy with me. Reminded me to never post comments on videos.

Oh shit, I never even realized that!

[Pacafeliz]

Yeah his "otherwise all original" comment make me chuckle... thing has lotsa mods.
Love it. Definitely in the top 5 of hottest offsets

[distressed]

The first thing I've noticed in the video is Drozd's smack teeth.

[rhythmjones]

Yeah, he's a recovering addict.

[clintburgess]

Flaming Lips, Key Arena in Seattle, early 2000's, what a show. Super cool rig run down, as we all knew it would be. And of course the jazzmaster story is the highlight for this crowd. As has been noted, hotrails pickup swap woulda been pedestrian back in the 90s but the "permission" of such a "commission" is something that's needed no matter the decade...