WORKS IN PROGRESS
Austin’s Octopus Project got two nice surprises when they played the Coachella festival last month. First, they got their own trailer, and when they took the stage promptly at noon April 30, “We were expecting like 50 people to stagger in after waking up, but there were probably a couple hundred people sitting there,” says guitarist Josh Lambert. “Right when we started, 1,500 people ran up there screaming. It was really awesome.” The band tossed tambourines and stuffed animals to the enthusiastic crowd and, since they were the first band to play, had plenty of time to enjoy Sigur Rós‘ sunset performance and engage in a bit of celebrity-spotting. “At one point we saw the entire Coppola family hanging out together,” says Lambert, who also glimpsed Karen O several times and noted indie-rock fan Danny DeVito once. The theremin-powered quartet plays Emo’s outside Saturday before returning to the road for another month.This article appears in May 26 • 2006.