Over the last four decades, the courageous and creative Flaming Lips have put out 16 studio albums. Their genre is an alphabet soup that ranges from acid rock and ambient to zany psychedelia, all while pumping on a pop heartbeat. They’ve won three Grammys, written and filmed an alien colonization movie and soundtrack (Christmas on Mars), reimagined Dark Side of the Moon with Henry Rollins, had their hit “Do You Realize??” named the official rock song of Oklahoma, and of course, performed in bubbles before and during the pandemic.
As members of one of rock’s most adventurous bands, founding frontman Wayne Coyne and his longtime collaborator, multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd (who originally joined the band in 1991 as a drummer), have tried almost everything, including transforming their sensitive-smash album, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, into a Broadway musical. And Yoshimi was back in the spotlight this spring as the Lips toured for its (delayed) 20th anniversary, playing it front to back for their show dates later in the season.
Before the band delighted a sold-out crowd at the Ryman Auditorium with Yoshimi and 11 other of their greatest hits, Drozd invited PG’s Chris Kies onstage to catalog his bizarre-yet-basic setup. Steven details the origins and deterioration of his 1967 Fender Jazzmaster (and why there’s a Hot Rails in the bridge), explains the superficial reason why his doubleneck only has one fretboard, and shows off a pedalboard that’s probably smaller than yours.
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1967 in Heaven
If you’ve seen the Flaming Lips over the last 30 years, you’ve witnessed this guitar slung over either the shoulder of Coyne or Drozd. Steven purchased it during the summer of 1992 from Horn Trader Music in Oklahoma City. What was the price tag? $700!
He talked to PG in 2010 about the experience of meeting the guitar: “[Horn Trader] sold all this vintage gear, and the moment I walked in the store, that ’67 Jazzmaster just called to me. It’s weird to say, but there are times when you walk into a store and it just hits you—that urge or voice that says, ‘This is the one.’ Just to make sure I wasn’t nuts, I picked it up and played it for a minute, and all that did was confirm my subconscious urge. It is just one of those guitars that anyone who picked it up would comment on the neck and just how easy it is to play.”
Shortly after the purchase, he took it over to Wayne’s house and left it there. When he returned to reclaim his offset, there was a big surprise for him.
“I was still the drummer when I bought that guitar, so I had left it over at Wayne’s for a few days and he tinkered with it. I think he got the idea he was going to use it for touring, so he dropped a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails in it. I came over later and I was pissed because I had this idea of keeping it original and pristine. But the fact of the matter is that the Hot Rails were a saving grace. The original setup with JM pickups would have just howled with all of our fuzz boxes.”
Long ago the Jazzmaster’s rhythm circuit was removed. It takes .010–.046 strings and stays in standard tuning. All of his guitars share a single Sondery Wireless Guitar Transmitter Receiver System.
Rust Never Sleeps
A close-up proves that the ’67 has been a part of every Flaming Lips show since 1994.
Double Made Single
Drozd believes this is an Epiphone G-1275 Double-Neck guitar, but if you look closely, the truss rod cover reads “Gibson,” just like the neck plate. He removed the bottom 6-string neck for a repair, and both he and Coyne agreed that the guitar looked way cooler with just the single 12-string neck on the doubleneck body. Another peculiar thing is that Drozd only puts 11 strings on it (losing the second G string) to prepare it for a particular song—where he uses the doubleneck with a Line 6 FM4’s Octisynth setting—because having only one string for a specific note of the scale allows the pedal to track clearer.
Sign Me Up
A zoomed-in shot of the G-1275 reveals a pair of signatures from Stephen Colbert and Mick Jones.
The Only New One
During his 2010 interview with PG, Drozd mentioned that he had never bought a brand-new instrument. He still hasn’t, with the exception of this 2011 Gibson SG Standard he bought the following year in Oklahoma City. It splits stage time with the Jazzmaster during the Yoshimi set. The new kid on the block takes .009–.042 strings.
Rolan' on a River
Drozd had been a user of Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus combos since the mid 2000s, but has since downsized to the compact JC-40 models using a pair in stereo. He doesn’t use the reverb or modulation circuits, and instead relies on just the clean tone, opting to color his tone with pedals.
Steven Drozd's Pedalboard
Given the nature of the band’s expansive and deranged sounds, you wouldn’t be blamed if you thought Drozd would have a rack of pedals or three tethered boards. But you’d be wrong—as he’s currently touring with nine stomps and an Ernie Ball volume pedal. Doing a lot of the heavy lifting is the Boss GT-1000CORE. The other sonic scalpels and sizzlers are a Subdecay Liquid Sunshine, a duo of Universal Audio units—a Starlight Echo Station delay and Golden Reverberator—a TC Electronic Spark, a ZVEX Fuzz Factory, a Source Audio Nemesis Delay, a Keeley Electronics 30ms Automatic Double Tracker, and a Boss EQ-200 Graphic Equalizer.
![Rig Rundown: Rival Sons' Scott Holiday [2023]](https://www.premierguitar.com/media-library/rig-rundown-rival-sons-scott-holiday-2023.jpg?id=33810150&width=1245&height=700&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C0)
It’s all about the yin and yang … and the heavy guitar tones when Scott Holiday of Rival Sons plugs in and rocks out onstage. This year, the band has got something special cooking: a pair of albums, the just-released Darkfighter and the upcoming Lightbringer, speaking of yin and yang.
On the current Darkfighter tour, Rival Sons recently stopped at Nashville’s Marathon Music Works and invited PG onboard their stage for a tour of Scott’s gear. He’s made some changes since his 2017 Rig Rundown. He’s still a Firebird devotee, and that epic moustache is untouchable. But there are plenty of 6-string additions and some big changes in the amp department. Check it out!
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Original Recipe
This 1999 Gibson Custom Firebird VII, aka “Bluebird,” is Scott Holiday’s first avian. He uses a custom set of Dunlop strings—typically .011–.050.
This custom-built Yamaha is tuned to C#-F#-C# F#-A#-C#—essentially, a variation on open C sharp.
Double the Fun...
He also has a few specially made doublenecks, including a Banker Custom that gives Holiday a baritone tuned A to A and a second standard-tuned neck.
And Double to Love!
Plus this semi-hollow Kauer Super Chief doubleneck that gives him a 12-string/6-string combination. Surprise! Both necks are tuned to DADGAD.
King of Birds
Holiday calls this ’Bird-inspired Kauer his “Excalibur,” for its comfort, dependability, and big, dominating tone.
More Hot Wings, Please
This Banker Custom Flying V features a Bigsby, at the risk of writing the obvious, and it stays in standard tuning. Thank you, Lonnie Mack!
Ice Bird
This custom-built Gretsch Penguin lives in D-standard tuning and has Gretsch’s own flair on the classic whammy formula.
Peacocking
This custom Gretsch Falcon lives in Standard tuning. (Notice the unusual bird adorning the pickguard per Holiday's request in keeping with Gretsch's fowl flags on their instruments.)
Offset Flier
This 1962 Fender Jazzmaster is tuned C#-F#-C#-F#-A#-C# and was Holiday's first major vintage-guitar purchase.
Spiral Flier
Holiday crunches like a tube amp player, but what you are hearing is a Line 6 Helix into a Seymour Duncan PowerStage pedal amplifier, which drives an Orange 4x12 and a Supro 2x12. But it also has a lot of effects going into it. Read on!
Scott Holiday's Amps and Effects
Here’s the break-down of Scott Holiday’s multiple-board system. At right, there’s a Custom Audio Electronics Wah, ZVEX Fuzz Probe, a Way Huge Attack Vector, and a Custom Audio Electronics Line Driver, plus a juiced-up kitty cat delivering the power. The middle board holds the Line 6 Helix, with four Dunlop expression pedals. And the final board is a Custom Audio Electronics RS-T MIDI Foot Controller that is used to patch in effects from offstage boards that contain an Electro-Harmonix Micro Synth, a Way Huge Atreides Analog Weirding Module, a Deep Trip Hellbender, a kossekFX Kraken multi-octave fuzz, a Victory Kraken Preamp, a Keeley Synth 1, an Isle of Tone fuzz, two Vox Time Machines, an Electro-Harmonix POG, a Way Huge Ring Worm, a Sweet Sound Mojo Vibe, a Strymon Mobius, a Line 6 DL4, and a Caroline Guitar Company Météore Lo-Fi Reverb.
