Rachel Mannes is interning for KXT 91.7 FM this summer. She’ll be providing an advanced look at the station’s Summer Cut concert as well as other posts about music this summer.

Any band can tell you that being a headliner for any concert, much less a music festival featuring multiple artists, is a huge deal. Each band wants to create an experience that will stand out among others. One band that embraces its unique qualities is the Flaming Lips. With modest beginnings in Norman, Okla., in 1983, it is inspiring to see how successful these artists have become worldwide.  The five current members – Wayne Coyne, Michael Ivins, Steven Drozd, Kliph Scurlock and Derek Brown – have come together to create an eclectic sound.

The Lips have steadily released albums every few years since 1986’s Here It Is.  And the band’s also released oddities like a 12-part pieces intended to be played simultaneously on YouTube, or a microchip embedded in the gummy brain of a seven pound limited release gummy skull. Yes, I said gummy skull. Seven pounds of it. These guys don’t mess around. That almost makes the 24-hour and six-hour-long songs released in 2011 seem tame. Almost.

The Flaming Lips have been nominated for six Grammys, winning three. Many of their songs have been featured in movies, such as Spiderman 3, Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, The Heartbreak Kid, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie and a few others. In 2008, the Flaming Lips released an indie movie of their own, Christmas on Mars, written, directed and filmed by the band and their friends and family. They played the movie at various rock festivals during the summer of 2008 before it was released on DVD.

June 1, the Flaming Lips will headline KXT’s Summer Cut Happy Funtime Fest at Gexa Energy Pavilion. Get more information and your tickets online. See for yourself the show that this band presents, including balloons, lights and a human size plastic ball. No, I wouldn’t want to miss that either.

Find out more about the Flaming Lips at their website.