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WAYNE Coyne, the main lip of the Flaming Lips, thinks just watching three grown men guys on stage playing heavily produced music can be dull.
So he’s constantly looking for ways to keep fans amused.
Videos, hand puppets and — perhaps — pyrotechnics are all part of the band’s stage shows, but who knows what’ll happen when the band hits Irving Plaza on Monday night?
When The Post caught up with Coyne, he was in a Nashville hotel room, surfing the Web to buy smoke bombs for a stage show. “We’re creating a big moment with a bunch of sounds and visuals, a moment you can immerse yourself in,” says Coyne.
For the last year, the Lips have been touring the globe, perfecting their stage act to support “The Soft Bulletin,” a CD full of heartbreaking tales with evidence of staggering genius.
“The Soft Bulletin,” while complex, is easier to perform than their previous release “Zaireeka,” a set of four discs all meant to be played at the same time.
The band’s theatrics don’t obstruct the emotional impact of the sad “Feeling Yourself Disintegrate” and “What is the Light” — or even “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” which the band surprised audiences with last year at Tramps.
The tunes sound otherworldly sometimes — and Coyne can’t disagree. “We do music we’re not capable of doing,” says Coyne. “We’re not fully responsible for the way songs come out.”
Coyne, lead singer of the group — which had an MTV hit with “She Don’t Use Jelly” — says he doesn’t mind if listeners aren’t totally on his wave length.
“I want people to gravitate toward us because they like us, not because they understand us,” says Coyne.
The Flaming Lips play on Monday night at Irving Plaza (17 Irving Place). Scotland’s lovely Looper opens.
Tonight: Get in a snarly mood for the Sex Pistols documentary “The Filth and the Fury,” at the Film Forum (West Houston and Varick streets.) Visit the art-filled lobby of the Chelsea Hotel (222 W. 23rd St.), where Sid Vicious killed his girlfriend in room 100, then have a cocktail at El Quijote restaurant or Club Serena, both in the hotel.
Wednesday: Buy drinks from the Rodeo Bar’s horse trailer and tune into some country rockabilly with Sleepy La Beef, who, oddly, grew up on a melon farm, on Tuesday on Wednesday. No cover and the peanuts are free. (375 Third Ave., at 27th Street).
Thursday: The Kids in the Hall’s Kevin McDonald is obsessed with Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys. But he probably won’t address it at Town Hall. The five middle-aged, recently reunited KITH guys, back in New York, will be too busy crushing heads, one hopes. (123 W. 43rd St.).
An alternative for the curious would be Duncan Sheik singing “Pink Moon,” an album by the late melancholy crooner Nick Drake, at Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater (425 Lafayette St., at Astor Place).
Friday: The Handsome Family husband-and-wife team Brett and Rennie Sparks bring their drum machine, banjo, guitars and autoharp to the Mercury Lounge (217 E. Houston St.). Their slow-core country songs are beautiful, eerie, disturbing and hilarious.
Saturday: PATH it over to Maxwell’s (1039 Washington St., Hoboken) for the Loud Family’s brand of high-impact pop, with Leidersdorff and Blue Channel.
A personal favorite ever since the first album “Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things” hit in 1992, the Loud Family’s new “Attractive Nuisance” promises “track after track of tasteful, artistic nudes!” Whatever. Just go, because you’ll miss them at the Knitting Factory on Monday night while you’re at the Flaming Lips/Looper gig.