Flaming Lips singer Wayne Coyne has left fans astonished after he heavily criticised Canadian band Arcade Fire labelling them “pricks”.
Two of North America’s most esteemed acts, The Flaming Lips and Arcade Fire played a show together some time ago. Lauded by fans, the groups are both sensational live acts, but according to a new interview Coyne was less than impressed with his co-headliners attitude.
“I’m a fan of them on one level, but on another level I get really tired of their pompousness,” Coyne told American magazine Rolling Stone.
“We’ve played some shows with them and they really treat people like shit. Whenever I’ve been around them, I’ve found that they not only treated their crew like shit, they treated the audience like shit. They treated everybody in their vicinity like shit.”
Coyne adds that while he still likes Arcade Fire on a musical level, he can’t tolerate their attitude. “They have good tunes, but they’re pricks, so fuck ’em. Who do Arcade Fire think they are?”
Arcade Fire member Win Butler responded to the attack with disbelief. In a blog posting he wrote:
“Wow. I can’t believe I am actually writing to defend my band’s ‘real’ personality.”
“I can’t imagine a reason why we would have been pompous towards The Flaming Lips, a band we have always loved, on that particular night, all those years ago. Unless I was way more jet-lagged than I remember, I hope I was less of a ‘prick’ than telling Rolling Stone that a bunch of people I don’t know at all are really assholes.”
