Wayne Coyne's longtime musical partner on his decades in the Lips, his ouster from the band during addiction treatment, and his upcoming solo debut album

For 33 years — as they evolved from underground noise freaks to ’90s alternative darlings to symphonic auteurs to bubble-surfing festival spectacle to elder statesmen of weird — the Flaming Lips had one consistent secret weapon: Steven Drozd. Though he joined as a drummer, bringing a Bonham-esque intensity to 1993’s Transmissions From The Satellite Heart , Drozd soon expanded to other instruments, particularly after the departure of guitarist Ronald Jones, and played a crucial role in crafting the wide-eyed orchestral grandeur of landmark albums The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots .

The multi-instrumentalist’s skewed psych-pop sensibility, melodic instincts, and airy falsetto are embedded in the soul of the Lips’ discography.…