Rockers The Flaming Lips have come clean about their new companion album to Pink Floyd classic Dark Side Of The Moon, confessing it was all part of an elaborate April Fools' Day joke.

Wayne Coyne and his bandmates revealed they had put together Flaming Side of the Moon, an "immersive companion piece" designed to be played simultaneously with the original 1973 release on Monday (31Mar14).

A statement detailing the project, which was streamed online, read: "Listeners are encouraged to listen to the new Lips album while listening to Dark Side of the Moon at the same time.

"For ideal listening conditions, fans are encouraged to seek out the original Alan Parsons-engineered quadraphonic Lp mix of Dark Side, but it will work with the album on any format."

The press release also suggested the ambient music would also work well when played as the soundtrack to 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz, but The Flaming Lips have now come clean about the hoax project, admitting it's all a big joke in honour of April Fools Day on Tuesday (01Apr14).

The musicians confessed to the prank in a video posted on FunnyorDie.com on Tuesday, revealing they had teamed up with bosses of the comedy website to pull off the ruse. The two-and-a-half minute footage, titled The Flaming Lips Sell Out, opened with the message, "Funny Or Die made an album with the Flaming Lips this weekend..." and was followed by press clippings of all the media outlets which picked up the fake news.

The bandmates then discussed plans to cash in on its brand by launching a Flaming Lips movie with Michael Bay and Shia LaBeouf, their own-labelled E-cigarettes and military-grade weapons.