Wayne Coyne and Win Butler Squabble Like Babies

"I have opinions!"

Simmer down, OKC...

Yesterday we all got a good chuckle out from reports that Flaming Lips frontman, Wayne Coyne, was dissing indie darlings, Arcade Fire, for being "pompous" during a backstage meeting a while back. Why he decided to blab about this, randomly, to Rolling Stone is beyond me, but here's his beef (warning it's long):

"I'm a fan of them on one level, but on another level I get really tired of their pompousness ... We've played some shows with them and they really treat people like sh--. Whenever I've been around them, I've found that they not only treated their crew like shit, they treated the audience like sh--. They treated everybody in their vicinity like sh--. I thought, 'Who do they think they are?' I don't know why people put up with it. I wouldn't put up with it. I don't care if it's Arcade Fire or Brian Eno. If either of them walked into a room and treated people like sh-- I'd be like, 'F- you, get outta here.'

Win, the altar boy years.

"... People treat Arcade Fire like they're the greatest thing ever and they get away with it. Those sort of opinions change my view of their music. They have good tunes, but they're pricks, so f- 'em. Who does Arcade Fire think they are? I've been around groups. I've been around the Edge from U2 and he's the f-ing sweetest guy ever. I was around Justin Timberlake when he was young and he was just a normal, nice, kind person. Anyone can be polite and kind and people who have the privilege and money and attention should understand that. If they don't, then f- 'em."

Well then, Mr. Potty Mouth! Win Butler, the taciturn leader of the Canadian ubergroup hit back this morning with the following statement on ArcadeFire.com:

Wow,
I can't believe I am actually writing to defend my band's "real" personality. I wish I could not respond to something like this, but the reality is, is that people will be asking me questions for the next 5 years. I also fear that people will base their opinion of our band on the media quotes of a guy who doesn't even know us.

The only time we have ever shared a stage with the Flaming Lips was our last show on the Funeral tour at a festival in Las Vegas (over 3 years ago)...we arrived the morning of the show from Brazil, slept all day and awoke into some kind of surreal Vegas jet-lag dream in which we were playing after the Flaming Lips...how strange...I was really excited to meet Wayne. Clouds Taste Metallic was a huge record for me, and growing up in the weirdness of Houston, I always imagined Oklahoma City to be in the same universe. I was really nervous to meet him and I felt a little weird that we were playing after them. We traded a little hello, but he was a hard guy to get a read on. Steven Drodz was super nice, and I felt good after talking to him...

Stop: Hammer Time

So...I am not sure Wayne is the best judge (based on seeing us play at a couple of festivals) if we are righteous, kind and goodhearted people like The Edge and Justin Timberlake (who I am sure he knows intimately as well). 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 then I remember, I hope I was less of a "Prick" then telling Rollingstone that a bunch of people I don't know at all are really a bunch of assholes.
As a closing note, the main point that I am offended by in this whole thing is for Wayne to say we treat our audience like shit...

At times like these I am comforted by knowing that even though Wayne slammed Beck all those years ago, he seems like a really nice guy to me. I guess everyone has a different idea of what being pompous means.

Win

Jeeze, guys. When did the bands we love morph into 13-year-old feuding girls on Facebook? Did someone spike their brownies? Whatever the case, there's plenty of evidence that the Lips' frontman has a long history of bashing other artists he considers to be pompous.

Having seen the Lips and Arcade Fire live, I can say that neither appears to be pompous, but further discussion with friends has illuminated similarities in the AF performances and the Lips performances. Specifically, the creepy video projection onto the mannequin thing, four hundred and twenty people on stage, and the use of a theremin. Maybe Coyne's real beef isn't with Butler & Crew's attitude, but their performance style.

Egads, gentlemen, please let's not have turf war over the theremin. There's plenty of warbling, sprawling epics to go around.