Kliph Scurlock | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Clifton Thomas Scurlock |
Born | June 16, 1973 |
Origin | Topeka, Kansas, U.S. |
Genres | Alternative rock |
Occupation(s) | Musician |
Instrument(s) | Drums, percussion |
Years active | 1991–present |
Clifton Thomas "Kliph" Scurlock [1] (born June 16, 1973) is an American musician. He was the drummer and percussionist for alternative rock band The Flaming Lips from 2002 to 2014.
Scurlock was born in Topeka, Kansas, the son of Roger W. Scurlock (born ca. 1946) and Linda Louise Rokey (September 6, 1944 – July 17, 1981). His love of music was inspired by his mother. Linda Scurlock was in the first all-female mariachi band, Mariachi Estrella. She also gave him his first Beatles album, which was on 8-track tape.
When he was eight years old, his mother died in the Hyatt Regency walkway collapse in Kansas City, where she was performing with Mariachi Estrella. [2] [3] After her death, Scurlock went to live with his father. He began playing in the school band and marching band in 6th grade. When he was in 11th grade, he began spelling his name K-l-i-p-h to distinguish himself from another student named Cliff. The spelling variant stuck and family and friends began spelling it that way.
At age 16, Scurlock bought a Ringo Starr series 1964 Ludwig Silver Sparkle Drum Set. [4] Within two weeks, he was in his first band—a cover band whose first show was at a Topeka strip club named the Golden Horseshoe. The following year, he joined his first "real" band, Slackjaw, based out of Lawrence. When he was 18, he moved there. He quit Slackjaw in 1993 and played in a lot of other bands, including Kill Creek, Sleeztax, Panel Donor, the Rohypnol Rangers, and Contortion Horse.
In March 1999, Scurlock was hired as a roadie for the Flaming Lips while the band was on tour to promote their album The Soft Bulletin . He remained with them on their next tour while they served as Beck's backing band in 2002. Scurlock was chosen to play the drums on that tour, to enable another band member, multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd, to play lead guitar. Scurlock then became the Flaming Lips' touring drummer so Drozd could continue playing guitar and keyboards live. Subsequently, there was a distinction between the Flaming Lips (Wayne Coyne, Michael Ivins, Drozd) and the Flaming Lips Live (which included Scurlock). However, upon the release of the Flaming Lips album Embryonic in October 2009, Scurlock was formally recognized in the liner notes as a full-fledged member of the band. In addition to the Embryonic album, he is credited on the 2003 "Fight Test" EP
In March 2014, Scurlock left the band. In May, Scurlock said that he had been fired for negative comments about Wayne Coyne's friend Christina Fallin, the daughter of Oklahoma's governor and leader of a band called Pink Pony. Fallin had recently been criticized for cultural appropriation after she wore a Native American headdress in a publicity photo. [5] According to Scurlock, his criticism of Fallin's actions led to conflict with Coyne and his dismissal. In response, Drozd said, "[t]his Lips/Kliph bullshit has gone too far. We parted ways because of the usual band musical differences. The rest has been blown way out." [6]
Scurlock toured alongside Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys, as part of Rhys's backing band on the 2014-15 American Interior tour. He's also played with the band Gulp, fronted by SFA bassist Guto Pryce, and was part of SFA's stage crew during their May 2015 gigs. Scurlock now resides in Cardiff, Wales and regularly collaborates with Welsh musicians such as Gwenno.
The Flaming Lips are an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1983 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The band currently consists of Wayne Coyne, Steven Drozd, Derek Brown, Matt Duckworth Kirksey and Tommy McKenzie (bass). Coyne and Drozd have remained the band's only consistent members since 1991, with Coyne being the only remaining founding member following the departure of bassist and keyboardist Michael Ivins in 2021.
Christmas on Mars is a 2008 independent psychological science fiction film from the alternative rock band the Flaming Lips, written and directed by the band's frontman, Wayne Coyne, and featuring the entire band in the cast, as well as many of their associates, including Steve Burns, Adam Goldberg, and Fred Armisen.
Embryonic is the twelfth studio album by experimental rock band the Flaming Lips released on October 13, 2009, on Warner Bros. The band's first double album, it was released to generally positive reviews and became their most successful album in the US, peaking at number 8 on the Billboard 200.
Zaireeka is the eighth studio album by the American rock band the Flaming Lips, released on October 28, 1997, by Warner Bros. Records. The album consists of four CDs designed so that when played simultaneously on four separate audio systems, they would produce a harmonic or juxtaposed sound; the discs could also be played in different combinations, omitting one, two or three discs. Each of its eight songs consists of four stereo tracks, one from each CD. The album's title is a portmanteau of two words: Zaire, chosen as a symbol of anarchy after Wayne Coyne heard a radio news story about the political instability of the African nation, and Eureka, an expression of joyous discovery.
Steven Gregory Drozd is an American musician. He is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter for the Flaming Lips, Electric Würms, and other projects.
At War with the Mystics is the eleventh studio album by American rock band the Flaming Lips, released on April 3, 2006, by Warner Bros. Records. The album is more guitar-driven and features more politically themed lyrics than the band's previous two albums The Soft Bulletin (1999) and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002). It is the groups' first album featuring contributions from drummer Kliph Scurlock.
"The Golden Path" is a song recorded by English electronic music duo the Chemical Brothers, taken from their first greatest hits album, Singles 93–03. Featuring the Flaming Lips, the lead vocals were performed by Wayne Coyne with Steven Drozd performing backing vocals. The song reached number 10 in Spain, number 17 in the United Kingdom, number 20 in Ireland, and number 32 in Italy.
"Do You Realize??" is a song by the Flaming Lips, released as the first single from their 2002 album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. It is widely considered to be one of the group's most accessible and popular songs. It reached No. 32 in the UK Singles Chart and was adopted as the Official Rock Song of Oklahoma from 2009 to April 2013. The song was ranked No. 31 on Rolling Stone's 100 Best Songs of the 2000s. It is also the band's most popular live song, and has rarely been excluded from setlists since its inception into their live shows in 2002.
"The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song (With All Your Power)" is a song by The Flaming Lips, released as the second single from their 2006 album At War with the Mystics. It is their highest-charting single so far in the UK, peaking at #16.
U.F.O.s at the Zoo is a DVD by The Flaming Lips. The film was co-directed by Wayne Coyne, Bradley Beesley and George Salisbury. It was recorded September 15, 2006 at the Zoo Amphitheater in Oklahoma City, OK.
The Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs with Henry Rollins and Peaches Doing The Dark Side of the Moon is a collaborative studio album by the psychedelic rock group the Flaming Lips. The album is a complete track-for-track reimagining of Pink Floyd's seminal 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon.
The Flaming Lips with Neon Indian is an extended play by American rock band the Flaming Lips and American electronic music band Neon Indian. It was released on March 23, 2011 as part of The Flaming Lips 2011 series of monthly music releases. The 12-inch EP was a limited release pressed on special colored vinyl and distributed to select record stores in the United States. The song "Is David Bowie Dying?" was later included on the 2012 album The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends.
Gummy Song Skull is an EP released by The Flaming Lips as part of the Flaming Lips 2011 series of monthly music releases. This was a limited release contained on a USB keydrive and placed inside a brain-shaped gummy which was further encased in a gummy skull. The EP was only sold in a few record stores in the US, at a price of $150. It has yet to be officially released on any other format.
The Flaming Lips with Prefuse 73 is a four-track collaboration EP between the Flaming Lips and Guillermo Scott Herren. The EP was limited to between 1000 and 2000 copies, pressed on randomly colored 12" vinyls so that no two look alike.
Gummy Song Fetus is a three-track EP by the Flaming Lips, consisting of a USB drive embedded inside a gummy fetus. It was first hand-delivered to Love Garden record store in Lawrence, Kansas by Wayne Coyne before its official release date of June 25, 2011, where the early gummy fetuses sold out quickly. Being that the gummy fetuses are smaller than the $150 Gummy Skulls released previously in April 2011, they were originally priced at $30, as opposed to the former's price. Songs were recorded at Tarbox Road Studios in Cassadaga, New York, Steven's computer, Michael's musical M.A.S.H., and Wayne's house in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, March–May 2011.
The Terror is the thirteenth studio album by experimental rock band the Flaming Lips, released on April 1, 2013 worldwide and April 16 in the U.S., on Warner Bros in the United States and Bella Union in the United Kingdom. It is the first album for band member Derek Brown and last with drummer Kliph Scurlock. Lead vocalist Wayne Coyne described the album's general idea in a press release:
"We want, or wanted, to believe that without love we would disappear, that love, somehow, would save us that, yeah, if we have love, give love and know love, we are truly alive and if there is no love, there would be no life. The Terror is, we know now, that even without love, life goes on... we just go on… there is no mercy killing."
"7 Skies H3" is a composition by American experimental rock band The Flaming Lips, released on October 31, 2011.
Skating Polly is an American rock band formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, in 2009. The band was founded by multi-instrumentalist step-siblings Kelli Drew Mayo and Peyton Mckenna Bighorse, who were 9 and 14 years old respectively. Kelli's brother Kurtis Lee Mayo joined the band on drums in 2017 so that Peyton and Kelli could focus on guitar and bass respectively. The band is noted for their alternating instruments among each member, poetic lyrics, intense live shows, melodic arrangements, and an eclectic array of songs that vary in style from riot grrrl to grunge to piano-based indie pop.
Strobo Trip - Light & Audio Phase Illusions Toy is a toy box containing a stroboscope light and a memory stick with three tracks of music composed by the band The Flaming Lips.
Oczy Mlody is the fourteenth studio album by experimental rock band the Flaming Lips, released on January 13, 2017, on Warner Bros in the US and Bella Union in the UK. It is the first album to feature band members Jake Ingalls, Nicholas Ley and Matt Duckworth.