On April 30, 2006, the band played the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. They were offered the opportunity after a fan, unbeknownst to the band, entered them in a contest held by the festival on MySpace in which voters were to "nominate their favorite band for an open slot at the festival".
All members are known to switch instruments live (for instance, Josh Lambert playing drums while Toto Miranda plays guitar, or Yvonne Lambert playing guitar while Josh Lambert operates the electronics), but each member can be said to play a primary instrument.
Yvonne Lambert is one of the few modern rock musicians to consistently play the theremin on recordings and in performances. The instrument appears on many of the band's tracks. The theremin is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without discernible physical contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device in 1928. The controlling section usually consists of two metal antennas which sense the position of the player's hands and control oscillators for frequency with one hand, and amplitude (volume) with the other, so it can be played without being touched. The electric signals from the theremin are amplified and sent to a loudspeaker.
Josh Lambert: guitar, bass, keyboards
Toto Miranda: drums, guitar, bass
Yvonne Lambert: samplers, keyboards, theremin, glockenspiel, guitar
Ryan Figg: guitar, bass, keyboards
Octopus Project toured with Explosions in the Sky in 2011 for US venues.
Queen
The Octopus Project Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Our favorite song of kings and queens
Flourescent sight, birds lapse in flight
Saluting tone, noise floating foam
Vermillion skies, clouds made of tea
We ride upon their harmony
Every cape and hood, gold suits the mood
Mansions full of wigs, hiding in her figs
Milk and honey please, softly proceed
Oh, little sphinx thats what you get
It's just the jinx of a dead brunette
Let's wrap ourselves with silver threads
And lay ourselves in golden beds
Let's eat the powder in the bread
And soon again well be undead
There's pointy caps all here and there
Figs are like cakes plucked from woven lairs
The lyrics to The Octopus Project's song "Queen" are dreamlike and mystical. The opening lines of "calling out mountains to sing our favorite song of kings and queens" conjure images of nature responding to a magical call. The chorus then goes on to describe vivid sights and sounds, including "Fluorescent sight, birds lapse in flight, saluting tone, noise floating foam, vermillion skies, clouds made of tea," inviting the listener to imagine a fantastical world. The lyrics then shift to more specific imagery, such as "mansions full of wigs, hiding in her figs," which creates a sense of hidden complexity and intrigue.
The final verse of the song introduces a more ominous tone, with the lines "Let's eat the powder in the bread, and soon again we'll be undead." This could be interpreted as a reference to substance abuse or addiction, with the idea of a temporary escape leading to a darker outcome. The song ends with the image of "pointy caps all here and there, figs like cakes plucked from woven lairs," which brings the listener back to the whimsical and eccentric nature of the world created in the lyrics.
Line by Line Meaning
They're calling out moutains to sing
The mountains are being summoned to sing, possibly our favorite song about royalty
Our favorite song of kings and queens
The song mentioned earlier is about royalty and monarchy, which we are fond of
Flourescent sight, birds lapse in flight
The sight is quite mesmerizing, causing birds to fly aimlessly
Saluting tone, noise floating foam
The sound is both pleasant and ethereal, evoking images of floating foam
Vermillion skies, clouds made of tea
The skies are a beautiful red color, and the clouds have a tea-like texture
We ride upon their harmony
The music is so good that we feel as though we are riding on its mellifluous waves
Every cape and hood, gold suits the mood
All clothing we wear is extravagant and justifiable to our current emotional state
His lips grew wings, hands reach for green
His lips must have appeared exceptionally big, and his hands went for a green color, possibly money
Mansions full of wigs, hiding in her figs
The mansion has a plethora of wigs, and someone is concealing themselves in figs, maybe as a hiding spot
Milk and honey please, softly proceed
A gentle request for milk and honey to be served in a soft tone
Oh, little sphinx thats what you get
The sphinx is quite small and is getting what it deserves
It's just the jinx of a dead brunette
It's not bad luck, it's just the state of things that resulted in the death of a brunette
Let's wrap ourselves with silver threads
We will decorate ourselves with silver threads, like exquisite wrapping paper
And lay ourselves in golden beds
We will rest in luxurious golden beds
Let's eat the powder in the bread
We'll consume the powder inside the bread, which is possibly a reference to a hallucinogenic substance
And soon again well be undead
After eating the powder, we will feel like we are no longer alive
There's pointy caps all here and there
Pointy hats are scattered everywhere
Figs are like cakes plucked from woven lairs
Figs feel like they are rich layers of woven cake
Contributed by Mateo F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.