The Flaming Lips...

Honestly, I'd choose Kesha over Deerhoof, too.

Taken from a Reddit AMA:

GrimyLittlePimp 3 points 2 days ago
What was it like working with Kliph Scurlock?
And how do you feel about all that... unpleasantness?

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GruffRhysVerified 3 points 2 days ago
Kliph is a genius! He's a great drummer, and the Flaming Lips a great band

I'll go with Gruff's take.

Man I just can't understand any Flaming Lips fan that considers Embryonic the start of some kind of decline, considering the terrible shitshow that came before it.

Most of their fans don't know any of the albums that came out prior to what, The Soft Bulletin? At War with the Mystics is like, they're favorite Flaming Lips record. They're usually 13-17 and also girls. Wayne can be seen posing with them regularly on Instagram...some might even be topless.

Oh yeah well girls what do they know about Flaming Lips albums.

I didn't mean it that way, but reading it back I sound terrible.

The Internet is hard.

Well then, feel free to clarify.

Wayne likes the ladies

that post was actually written by a famous Instagram dog

Wayne panders to teenage girls.

yah

And he seems to be using his art gallery to exploit pretty young girls.

that post was actually written by a famous Instagram dog

lols

What's with all the personal animosity toward Wayne here? I get that he might be an asshole – and he is clearly really, really pissed off in this article.

But unless I'm missing something, right now this seems like a lot of he-said/he said shit for people to be unloading on him the way they are.

idk didn't he just blame a dog for the fact that he was photographed wearing native headgear.

he said/dog said

he said/dog said

idk didn't he just blame a dog for the fact that he was photographed wearing native headgear.

I agree that going to RS is damage control – and poor damage control at that.

But "not a trustworthy person," "exploiting young girls" ... these are kind of serious accusations that seem to go beyond anger with him over this whole—weird—episode.

Again, maybe I'm lacking some important piece of context or evidence, but what makes Wayne such a dick?

I don't really know their music and read that interview because someone mailed me the link asking if i recognized certain behaviour , so I dont have any context or evidence. You say he sounds really pissed off in this article, but does that anger strike you as sincere, as in does he sound personally hurt or wounded by what has happened? To me he reads as someone who believes they are infallible and will not stand for any challenge to their perceived authority

"I regret that some people took it wrong"

by itself this doesnt always mean much, but its often a pretty big red flag for me, and in the context of this interview it says a lot. This is someone who is always right and will do whatever they want with no remorse or 2nd thought, and when they think they are caught out, will issue at best only this kind of non-apology that accepts no wrongdoing on their part

I dont know anything about this other than reading that interview (and havent even read the other guys thing), but that interview reads like the words of an incredibly manipulative person to me, but one that has misjudged how it will look on the page.

Obviously we can only judge for ourselves but i thought based solely on that interview showed a person I would be very wary about having in life. Does it matter, well not really for me, this type of music I never play!

I listened to half of The Terror yesterday. I found it pretty uninspired.

Clearly the ex-drummers fault.

this band used to be pretty cool, genuine love for much of it up through yoshimi, but ever since they turned into an erykah badu-baiting megaphone and beach ball day-glo coachella fodder act they've been pretty useless

Wayne Coyne comes across as kind of a dick really. It's probably partly because he's been happy to play the nice guy for the ten-plus years his band have had nothing but fawning critical goodwill, but the second he he's called out for doing something ill-advised or put under any kind of scrutiny he reacts incredibly badly.

people who have a happy go lucky good vibes public persona can never really keep it up forever, and the harder they try to maintain, the weirder it is when the veil drops. at some point shit is gonna get really ugly with Andrew W.K.

why is it gonna get really ugly with Andrew W.K.? the Steev Mike conspiracy has been floating around for years, but his reputation hasn't suffered too badly for it. "happy-go-lucky vibes dude turns out to be a manufactured popstar who doesn't party hard behind closed doors" is barely even newsworthy anymore, whereas "happy-go-lucky vibes dude turns out to be a vindictive, race-baiting asshole who steps all over his bandmates" is a justifiable cause for outrage. in Wayne's case people are calling him out because his behavior is malicious in a way that transcends simply failing to stay true to his public persona. I can't see Andrew WK coming under the same sort of fire unless it turns out he doesn't pay his songwriters or whatever; afaik none of the current accusations imply that he's done anything outright unethical.

I enjoy The Terror.

uh sorry unreg, comment rescinded i guess

When you read Kliph's Twitter, he just seems like some happy-go-lucky guy. I kind of used that as proof Wayne is full of shit, as that's pretty much his major argument against his old pal.

I would like to thank some dude and unregistered for the fantastic belly lol I just experienced

won't someone please think of Andrew WK?

Regardless of who said what, Wayne posted race-baiting photos of a dog in a head dress, ergo, he's an asshat.

We enjoy a good belly laugh

That is offensive to Buddha.

Joke. Coyne is an epic ass, and this whole chapter is coming at the toilet end of a well documented stream of missteps, mistakes, inappropriate stuff and a whole bunch of bs that has made the music seem an afterthought.

Are you describing their live show?

What's with all the personal animosity toward Wayne here? I get that he might be an asshole – and he is clearly really, really pissed off in this article.

My "personal animosity" started when he released that vido with the nude footage of the Badu sisters without their permission and, subsequently, completely came off like an entitled asshole during his "apology" in which he seemed completely blind as to why that might not have been an okay thing to do.

Remember when he posted a picture of glitter all over his lips after she told him to kiss her ass?

I nearly forgot that particular bit of class.

Did anyone have major complaints about Coyne before the Badu thing? Because either he was a dick all along and covered it up brilliantly, which makes me feel really uneasy, or he's taken a weird turn in the last couple of years, including the divorce and the coke habit. The recent behaviour is so out of step with how he previously came across that I don't know what to make of it.

can someone tell me what exactly happened with the badu thing

ehh ill just google it

My lone interaction with him came in the form of a random conversation before one of his shows and he was a REALLY nice guy, he approached me and I didn't realize he was the singer/guitarist of the FLips until about midway through our conversation. I must emphasize how nice and down to earth and charming he was...

But it was also 22 years ago, so there's that (plus I got off the bus around Zaireeka)

"Believe me, I was warned and knew that she was an unpredictable freak," says Coyne, who was on a plane when the online melee occurred and suspects that Badu's remarks were spurred by her fans' reaction to the clip. "A lot of the Erykah Badu audience does not know or give a shit or will ever care about the Flaming Lips. That's the side of it that she fights for," he explains. "I didn't take it serious. I took it as, she's being controversial. A lot of the things that were said I thought were just fun, and it was fun to play along with. That's the beauty of Twitter."

Wayne and Badu recorded "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" for a collab album curated by Wayne. Wayne wanted to make a video for it that involved Erykah naked in a tub while fake blood and semen was poured over her. She demurred but said her sister would do it on condition that they would get a say in editing and final approval before it went out to the public. Wayne agreed, they shot the video, he edited it, Erykah didn't like it and exercised her veto, Wayne released it anyway, Erykah got pissy about it on Twitter, Wayne egged her on and crowed about the triumph of art while behaving like the whole thing was a fake controversy created to generate interest in the project, Erykah got even more pissy, Wayne pulled the video, Amanda Palmer popped up and said "hey, you can pour fake semen and blood on ME ME ME ME ME ME" and then that video was released and as far as I know no one cared anymore.

22 years of "worship" can do that to a bloke.

In 1989, touring to support the release of their third album, 'Telepathic Surgery', the Flaming Lips fell in with Jonathan Donahue, a young student who booked gigs for the university in Buffalo. 'We're a lot alike' reckons Wayne Coyne 'I'm not a drug-addled, self-destructive megalomaniac, though...I have a little megalo, but no maniac. But I think initially he liked us because we did things ourselves, we weren't helpless rock stars.

Nathan Roberts, who was the Lips' old drummer back in the day, posted a message of support on Kliph's Facebook:

Nathan Robertsposted to‎Kliph Scurlock
about an hour ago
"Take heart Kliph... Remember, he said the EXACT same thing about me...almost word for word."

It sounds like Wayne really likes trashing anyone who steps to him.

Did anyone have major complaints about Coyne before the Badu thing?

i remember thinking it was ~odd~ and slightly discomfiting that their live show onstage audience participation had shifted from a variety of fans in animal costumes to young women in nothing, though yeah that was relatively recent and seems an early marker in that shift we see now rather than something that's necessarily always been there. tho the other day a friend pointed out this quote about jonathan donahue from 1999 that doesn't sound like the kind of thing a pleasant good vibes guy would say: "'We're a lot alike,' reckons Wayne Coyne. 'I'm not a drug-addled, self-destructive megalomaniac, though... I have a little megalo, but no maniac'.""

ha, xp on that quote.

I'd be inclined to say it's a weird turn. I've seen all kinds of speculation for this - midlife crisis, death of his mother - but who knows. Apparently there's stuff in the Derogatis book suggesting he's always had a more ambitious and controlling side to him, but then band leaders often need to be like that and it doesn't necessarily make them assholes. Perhaps fame and life problems have brought that side out more.

helluva drug

xp He's always been more complicated than a pleasant good vibes guy and happy to admit it too. He has quite a tough moral streak which is why he laid into Beck and Arcade Fire years ago, and good luck to him when his targets are people treating crew and supporting musicians like shit BUT it's pretty grim when he turns on his own drummer. I know some people itt are sure that he is categorically a hateful human being but I find this genuinely puzzling. I've interviewed WC a few times, including some hanging around with him and the other guys, and it's hard to square those impressions with this current shitshow.

It's 100% possible to be charming and pleasant and still categorically be a hateful human being.