15 years ago, director Bradley Beesley (Lips' video regular and director of US indie cult classics Hill Stomp Hollar, Okie Noodling) began filming the exploits and performances of neighbour Wayne Coyne and his experimental, post-punk rock band The Flaming Lips in their hometown of Oklahoma City. More than a decade later, after sorting through 400 hours of tape representing fame and failure, breakups and breakdowns, love and loss, 11 albums, one Grammy® award, one drug addiction, a lot of very loud music and good clean fun, Beesley's long-awaited film is finished. 

The Fearless Freaks captures The Flaming Lips' deep-set Oklahoma roots with never-before-seen home movie footage and Coyne family photographs in this startlingly intimate feature-length documentary. Performance footage begins with the band's early punk/noise phase, and continues throughout the years as the band's shows become increasingly avant garde with the appearance of puppets, light shows, animal suits, theatrical blood, balloons & confetti, and even a huge Coyne-inhabited plastic ball. Included are insightful interviews with band members past and present, giving the viewer an inside look at The Flaming Lips 20-year transformation from Oklahoma outsiders to the elder statesmen of the weird and wonderful. Features cameos from Beck, Jack White, Mercury Rev's Jonathan Donahue, Juliette Lewis and Liz Phair as well as outtakes from the long-awaited Lips movie Christmas on Mars (due out Dec '06).

"So good, they should make an Oscar category for it" ***** Record Collector

"A joy to watch" **** Guardian

"Bradley Beesley delivers a beatific epic that's on a par with the greatest rockumentaries of all time" Observer Music Monthly

"A thoroughly compelling film" ***** Uncut DVD of the Month

"Hands-down music DVD of the year" Uncut

"A groundbreaking portrait of a band" ***** Q

"Fearless Freaks represents a renaissance of the modern music documentary" NME

"A truly vibrant and exciting slice of virtuoso filmmaking" ***** Record Collector

"A brilliant example of how good band documentaries can be" 9/10 Classic Rock

"A helpful induction into the gloriously bizarre world of the Flaming Lips" Daily Telegraph

"The Fearless Freaks is the most intimate portrait of a band you're likely to see… as heartwarming and heartbreaking as the band’s music itself" Rolling Stone

The Flaming Lips - The Fearless Freaks - double DVD set (region 2, PAL) was released on 16 May 2005 via the High Coin label.

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