A Q&A with Flaming Lips' frontman Wayne Coyne

Eclectic rock group the Flaming Lips is playing the 25th annual Tibet House US benefit concert in New York on Thursday. USA TODAY caught up with frontman Wayne Coyne ahead of the show to get his thoughts on collaborator and friend Miley Cyrus, filmmaker David Lynch and his upcoming collaboration with Yoko Ono.

Q: You mentioned that you're heading into the studio with Miley Cyrus and Yoko Ono. What can you tell us about that?

A: It's a track that Cyrus and the Flaming Lips have been working on probably since the beginning of our time together. We recorded this little piece of (Cyrus) doing some singing and some rapping, but mostly singing over this little beat. We've always envisioned Yoko being a part of this rage that sort of talks about peace and tolerance and smoking pot — it's like a new hippie revolution. I think Yoko really likes it. We sent it to her a while ago and got a good response, so I think it's going to be great.

Q: Next month, you're taking part in a David Lynch tribute show in Los Angeles. How did you get involved with that?

A: These are the sorts of things that you kind of say yes to, and you think you'll sort of figure it out as it goes. We're set to play a little section of the Eraserhead soundtrack, and as we (rehearsed, bandmate) Steven (Drozd) was very intrigued by the movie The Elephant Man, which wasn't a David Lynch composition, but we feel it's connected to him enough, so we could sneak it in there. I forget the composer's name, but it's this very emotional, melodic, symphonic section of a song (in that film). I think it'll be quite powerful. That's one of the secrets of David Lynch's stuff. A lot of people just think of him as a weirdo, but there really is a very emotional, very expressive core to most of his stuff, and I just think he's one of the greatest filmmakers there could be, to me anyway.

Q: Do you have a favorite Lynch film or work?

A: The Twin Peaks series I like more than the (followup) movie, although that was pretty great. Eraserhead and Blue Velvet — there's a few of them that were pretty high up there when we were younger, that we probably watched 100 times once they became available on video and stuff like that.

Q: Have you seen any crossover in the Flaming Lips' and Miley's fan bases since you started working with her? As in, do you think younger fans are discovering your music because of your connection to Miley?

A: I don't know about that. A part of her fan base are people who are really into music and ideas and art, and the whole gamut, but like any really popular artist, there's a big segment of her audience that is solely interested in her, and her boyfriend and stuff like that. I don't think it'd have too much of an effect on them who she's writing songs with and who's producing her record. She's already worked with probably hundreds of different artists. I think most of her audience is more like, "What's Miley wearing today?" As opposed to, "Who's the Flaming Lips?" ... We like her and want to work with her because of her ideas and music.

Q: Many people were surprised by Miley's performance on SNL 40 last month, when she covered Paul Simon's 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover — although for those of us who have followed her for a while, we already knew she's been doing these kinds of impressive, interesting performances for years. What did you think of the reaction to it?

A: Well, I didn't really know much about the reaction, and I don't think we saw the reaction. But I think you're exactly right, that it's something she does all the time with her group. They work out their own version with her way of sort of doing the song. When you're with her, she does that with all kinds of songs all the time, but I can see where that's not the stuff that gets everybody's attention, like the twerking at the VMAs and stuff. And I think she's very aware of that. I think that's why I was always interested in her, especially after the VMAs.

She knew these things would have an impact and there would be a backlash about it, and for her to say, "I don't give a (expletive), I'm doing what I want, and I'm sometimes very outrageous and emotional, and sometimes I'm (expletive) crazy and sometimes I'm not crazy." That's the reality of what artists really live for. You really do want to be free to evolve and take chances, and I think she's amazing at that.