Flaming Lips

Flaming Lips

Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne has apologised for his foul-mouthed attack on rock rivals Arcade Fire - but insists his original comments were taken out of context.

In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine earlier this year, Coyne lashed out at the band, accusing them of being "pompous" and abusing their crew.

He said, "I get really tired of their pompousness. We've played some shows with them and they really treat people like s**t.

"Whenever I've been around them, I've found that they not only treated their crew like s**t, they treated the audience like s**t."

Arcade Fire frontman Win Butler hit back at Coyne in an online posting, stating, "The only time we have ever shared a stage with the Flaming Lips was... at a festival in Las Vegas (over three years ago).

"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."

But Coyne now regrets making the comments - and has personally apologised to the group for his remarks.

He tells Entertainment Weekly, "I really feel bad about it. I like enough of their music. The idea that I’m somehow against them… I’m not!"

"I didn’t necessarily mean it about the people in the Arcade Fire. I meant it about the guys that were running their stages at a couple of festivals. I wish whatever had been said wouldn’t have been taken as such a defiant statement from the Flaming Lips, because it wasn’t. I just assumed it was a joke."

FemaleFirst - Ruth Harrison

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