Wayne Coyne Talks Shiz On Arcade Fire

Then again, Coyne has always kept it real from comparing Bob Dylan’s recent shows to dog food (well, fans are expecting pizza, but now he serves up dog food) to telling Esquire that Beck is self-obsessed and doesn’t really get rock ‘n’ roll.

So, it’s just Wayne Coyne being Wayne Coyne.

Anyway, on to the trash talking.

Here’s some choice words Coyne shared about the Canadian indie rock band, as told to Rolling Stone writer Andy Greene in a phone conversation:

“I’m a fan of them on one level, but on another level I get really tired of their pompousness,” Coyne said. “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.

“People treat Arcade Fire like they’re the greatest thing ever and they get away with it. … They have good tunes, but they’re pricks, so f*** ’em. Who does Arcade Fire think they are? … I’ve been around the Edge from U2 and he’s the f****** 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.“

Man, you’d think Coyne would have chosen his words a bit more carefully as to not jinx things since Oklahoma was about to announce a Lips tune for its official state rock song. That’s prestigious stuff! Guess Coyne isn’t superstitious about those things or knew that the Flaming Lips’ “Do You Realize??” had it in the bag.

Arcade Fire frontman Win Butler posted a response on the band’s Web site, entitled “I still like clouds taste metallic,” a reference to the Lips’ seventh album – 1995’s Clouds Taste Metallic.

“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),” Butler wrote. “I was really excited to meet Wayne. … 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. …

“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 Rolling Stone that a bunch of people I don’t know at all are really 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.”

Read the Rolling Stone articles here and here.

Read Win Butler’s response on the Arcade Fire Web site here.
(Click on “Win” in the upper left hand corner, and then click on “I still like clouds taste metallic”)

Read the Esquire piece here.