{"id":433291,"date":"2026-01-24T00:07:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T00:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/433291\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T00:07:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T00:07:11","slug":"steven-drozd-says-flaming-lips-exit-followed-his-decision-to-stop-touring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/433291\/","title":{"rendered":"Steven Drozd Says Flaming Lips Exit Followed His Decision to Stop Touring"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steven Drozd, the former co-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist of the Flaming Lips<\/a>, has given his first interview on his sudden exit<\/a> from the band. He told<\/a> FOX23 News Tulsa\u2019s Nathan Thompson that his departure followed a decision to retire from touring and spend more time with his family. \u201cWayne [Coyne] and I disagreed on what I should do moving forward,\u201d he said, noting that he would have liked to remain on as a studio member. \u201cSo we just kind of agreed that I would step back, and then step back turned into not coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Further details on the split remain vague. When Drozd broke the news last December (in a since-deleted reply on Threads), Coyne said<\/a> his former bandmate\u2019s explanation\u2014that the group was \u201cdone with\u201d him\u2014was a lie. \u201cThe reason he left is sad, and infuriating,\u201d Coyne added. \u201cIt is HIS responsibility to tell everyone what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last March, Rolling Stone Japan published an interview<\/a> with Coyne about Drozd\u2019s absence from the band\u2019s Japanese tour lineup, stating he\u2019d been been concerned about his bandmate\u2019s drinking and drug use. \u201cIt never really affected his performance, until the end of the tour last September and October, when he couldn’t even play at all,\u201d said Coyne, according to Pitchfork\u2019s translation of the article. The frontman added, \u201cI really thought if the band continued as it was, he might not survive. But now that it seems like he’s gotten through the worst of it, I think we made the right decision at that time, though I don’t know what’s going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the new interview, Drozd alludes to \u201csome personal crisis things\u201d at the end of the Lips\u2019 2024 tour with Weezer. (He was absent from the band\u2019s subsequent tour dates, including the Japanese run, but returned for a string of U.S. shows.) \u201cPeople know some about it,\u201d he said, \u201cbut I don\u2019t wanna get too much into that.\u201d He added that he \u201cblundered\u201d by revealing the news on Threads, not realizing it would spread so quickly.<\/p>\n

Asked if the decision to part ways with the band was mutual, he responded, \u201cI\u2019d just keep it at mutual. Part of me hoped I could be a guy that doesn\u2019t tour but is still in the band. I think that can work for some bands\u2014I guess it worked for the Beach Boys\u2026. but that just seemed like an odd fit that wasn\u2019t gonna work. After 33 years, moving on felt kind of right.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also poured cold water on hopes of reconciliation. \u201cI\u2019m working on a record [\u2026] that will probably come out in the summer,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m working with some people, but it won\u2019t be the Flaming Lips.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steven Drozd, the former co-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist of the Flaming Lips, has given his first interview on his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433292,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,5296,136],"class_list":{"0":"post-433291","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-interviews","12":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/433292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}