{"id":434676,"date":"2026-01-24T15:11:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T15:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/434676\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T15:11:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T15:11:10","slug":"steven-drozd-explains-exit-from-the-flaming-lips-and-disagreement-with-wayne-coyne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/434676\/","title":{"rendered":"Steven Drozd explains exit from The Flaming Lips and “disagreement” with Wayne Coyne"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steven Drozd has shed light on his exit from The Flaming Lips<\/a>, saying he had hoped to stay a part of the line-up after \u201cstepping back\u201d from touring.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0Life, death, love, drugs and spider-bites: Wayne Coyne looks back on 20 years of The Flaming Lips \u2018The Soft Bulletin\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

During a recent appearance on FOX 23\u2019s One More Thing, the multi-instrumentalist and songwriter shed light on his decision for the first time, saying that, following a \u201cpersonal crisis\u201d at the end of The Flaming Lips\u2019 live outings in 2024, he decided he no longer wanted to tour.<\/p>\n

Per Consequence<\/a>, he noted wanting to remain an active member of the band as a studio contributor. However, \u201cWayne [Coyne, frontman] and I disagreed on what I should do moving forward, so we just kind of agreed that I would step back. Then, stepping back turned into not coming back.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of me hoped I could just be like a guy that doesn\u2019t tour but is still in the band,\u201d he added. \u201cI think that can work for some bands \u2014 I guess it worked for The Beach Boys \u2014 but we\u2019re not The Beach Boys. That just seemed like an odd fit. After 33 years, moving on felt kind of right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back in December, Drozd had initially announced his departure from the band in a now-deleted post on Threads<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re done with me \u2013 but we\u2019re not talking about it,\u201d he wrote last month. \u201cSo yes I\u2019m moving on. Just keep it to yourself for now. OK?\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking back on sharing that post, he described the move as a \u201cblundering mistake\u201d because he thought the message was private. \u201cBefore I knew it, it was on the timeline,\u201d Drozd recalled. \u201cSomeone screenshotted it and ran with it. I wish it had been handled differently, like an official statement, before I blundered with that post.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the months leading up to his post, he\u2019d been absent from the band\u2019s live shows and was replaced by AJ Slaughter, which wasn\u2019t publicly addressed until he took to social media to announce the exit.<\/p>\n

Coyne posted on Instagram shortly thereafter to provide an update to fans<\/a>, writing: \u201cFor anybody who read Steven\u2019s post about the reason he is no longer in the Flaming Lips \u2026 I can say that is absolutely not true.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason he left is sad, and infuriating,\u201d he continued. \u201cIt is HIS responsibility to tell everyone what happened\u2026 what he told everyone was a lie \u2026.I was trying to give him (Steven) his own space and time to let everyone know what REALLY happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drozd himself then followed up with another message explaining the split. \u201cAt the end of 2024 I started to think it would be best for me and my family if I didn\u2019t tour anymore,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, I didn\u2019t tour in 2025 and it felt right. Then, it just kinda went from there. Wayne and I have parted ways after 33-34 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m making some new music I\u2019m excited about and plan to have an LP out in spring or summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Flaming\u00a0Lips\u2019\u00a0drummer\u00a0Matthew Duckworth Kirksey has also previously addressed Drozd\u2019s departure,<\/a>\u00a0talking up the current incarnation of the band and teasing that \u201cthere is\u00a0new music\u00a0on the\u00a0way\u00a0and I think it\u2019s the best thing we\u2019ve done in ages\u201d.<\/p>\n

Among their upcoming dates\u00a0are next year\u2019s Latitude Festival<\/a>, where they will be playing alongside the\u00a0likes of\u00a0Lewis Capaldi<\/a>,\u00a0Teddy Swims<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0David Byrne<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steven Drozd has shed light on his exit from The Flaming Lips, saying he had hoped to stay…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434677,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,136,227128,1771],"class_list":{"0":"post-434676","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-music","12":"tag-psychedelia","13":"tag-rock"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434676","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=434676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434676\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}