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"A deluge of metaphysical paranoia" is flowing out of a "hippie, drug-culture underground" in America, fueled by the "exaggerated, evil powers of George W. Bush," Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne notes in the band's latest press kit. While this sentiment illustrates a major influence on The Flaming Lips' forthcoming CD, At War With the Mystics, fans of the band may notice some different influences -- namely, the fluid and stern guitar riffs of Yes and Black Sabbath.

"We were doing [The White Stripes'] 'Seven Nation Army' live, and we got a high out of that," Lips multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd says in a telephone interview. "Then, we covered [Black Sabbath's 'War Pigs'], which I think was Wayne's protest response to the Bush administration, and it lit a fire for us. That's what At War With the Mystics is. There's plenty of the symphonic pop we've been playing for the last couple of records, but there's also three or four songs that are amped-up guitar rock."

While the lyrics on the new album find the band at its most political, fans needn't worry about Coyne's turning into Sean Penn. "There's nothing that's out-and-out against George W. Bush. But for the Lips, there's definitely more heavy-handed stone-throwing at The Man than we've done before," Drozd explains, admitting that the album's first single, "The W.A.N.D.," could be perceived as political. "I take that song as, yeah, we're talking to W and Cheney and the whole Bush administration, but I think Wayne wanted to be more open-ended than that. It can also be your own existential fight for your own life and your own space."

The title of "The W.A.N.D.," stands for "Will Always Negates Defeat." The track is a combination protest song and salute to a Vietnamese homeless man Coyne saw fighting off imaginary demons with a magic stick. The song, which the band will play live for the first time at Langerado, conveys an authentic lo-fi vibe reminiscent of early-'70s Yes. While At War With the Mystics boasts a throwback fuzz-tone rock sound, it doesn't come at the expense of the psychedelic fluidity to which The Flaming Lips' fans are accustomed.

"I'd say the record's about half-and-half," Drozd says. "Some of it is frivolous rock, and some are prettier songs with Wayne's deeper messages. But the two play off each other really nice, because we did a few of these rock songs, and that's new and fresh for us. We always want to do something different, but we drag a bit of our past along with what is new."

The Flaming Lips embrace an unusual recording process to accomplish their distinctive sound. While the brand is technically a three-piece (Michael Ivins rounds out the trio), Drozd played all the instruments on the band's previous album, 2002's Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. He also plays most of the instruments on At War With the Mystics, though Coyne takes up the guitar and Ivins the bass on certain songs.

"That's what we've arrived at over the last few years, because it's a more efficient way of working for us," Drozd says of his performing the majority of the band's instrumental duties. "Ten years ago, we were a four-piece. We had a guitar player named Ronald [Jones], and when he left, Wayne became the overseer guy. I'm the musician guy, and Michael is the computer-programming guy. I love it because I love playing the instruments, and Wayne would rather have someone else have a great idea and have to execute it and say yes or no than to actually have to come up with ideas."

If The Flaming Lips' music and work ethic are idiosyncratic, their performances are even more so, involving animal costumes, confetti machines, giant balloons, mirror balls and a host of other props. For a major-label band without commercial aspirations, The Flaming Lips clearly enjoy a great deal of freedom within an often tightly managed industry.

"We're in this position with Warner Bros. where they give us X numbers of dollars to make the record we really want to make," Drozd explains. "They're not making any demands on us. If they say anything, it's, 'Can we do a remix of this song?' or 'Can we release this as the first single?' We still get to make the record we want to make."

As an illustration of how supportive Warner Bros. has been, the label has funded a film Coyne is directing titled Christmas on Mars. The band has been working on the movie for five years now and plans to release it on DVD by year's end. Christmas on Mars, which Coyne also wrote, stars Drozd as the leader of an expedition that has colonized Mars and depicts his efforts to organize a Christmas pageant in order to improve morale among the colonists.

"Wayne had been itching to make a movie for a long time, a feature-length sci-fi Christmas film," Drozd says, describing the movie as Eraserhead meets 2001 meets It's a Wonderful Life. "We started shooting in 2001, then he realized it was a lot more involved than we originally thought. Yoshimi came out, so we were on tour for two years, and the movie got put on hold. Then, we had to work on a new record, so the movie got put on hold again. Now, Wayne's done filming, which I'm glad because I gained, like, 30 pounds over four years. There could have been some serious continuity problems, but in his foresight, the suit he bought for me had enough leeway where it can hold an extra 30 pounds."

Coyne will edit the film during breaks in The Flaming Lips' current tour. In the meantime, the band will focus on promoting At War With the Mystics. Judging from "The W.A.N.D.," the band is likely to be facing many pleased fans in the near future. The album was recently leaked onto the Internet, and Drozd checked out the Lips' Internet message board to gauge the reaction. He learned that whether a band tries new things or stays the same, whether it emulates Black Sabbath, Yes or no one at all, it can't please everyone.

"There's a song on the record where the bass line is reminiscent of 'One of These Days' by Pink Floyd," Drozd explains. "This one thread on the message board starts out, 'Man, that bass line is wicked on that song. It reminds me of Pink Floyd.' That starts it. Then, a couple of people later, it goes, 'Yeah, that's bullshit, they stole that. Fuck those guys for ripping off Floyd.' And it just careens out of control from there. So you never know which way it's going to go."

The Flaming Lips will perform 5:30 p.m. Saturday at the Langerado Music Festival. See the full schedule.