In one fell swoop, Kliph Scurlock brought renewed attention to the sometimes taut relationships in The Flaming Lips.
Penning a letter to Pitchfork, the drummer revealed he had been sacked from the band and opened up about recent events.
"I put up with endless verbal (with threats of physical) abuse from Wayne because I absolutely loved the music we were making and playing (and also because I love Steven, Michael and Derek.) I turned a blind eye when he pulled several of his (what I consider to be) tasteless publicity stunts."
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Wayne Coyne responded by labelling Scurlock 'hateful'. The singer said: "The only thing that we would have to say about Kliph leaving is that he just was not very significant to us. And all the things he's saying about the reason he was fired, it's all just made-up lies. He knows we struggled with him for years and it didn't occur to us that it seemed that significant."
"I don't even use the word 'fired.' He just doesn't play drums with us anymore – that's the way I'd put it. I don't like having any hate go anywhere. I absolutely loved Kliph, but he had a lot of problems with being immature and he would just hate everything."
Elsewhere, Wayne Coyne discussed a recent incident which led to many Native Americans taking offence. The singer supported Christina Fallin's decision to wear a Native American style head-dress, and went as far as to post an Instagram picture of his dog in a head-dress.
Apologising, the frontman said: "I realise now that it goes deeply to the heart of some Native Americans. And I definitely regret it."
(via NME)
