{"id":196744,"date":"2025-12-22T18:01:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T18:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/196744\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T18:01:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T18:01:11","slug":"the-flaming-lips-drummer-addresses-steven-drozds-departure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/196744\/","title":{"rendered":"The Flaming Lips Drummer\u00a0Addresses Steven Drozd\u2019s Departure"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tMatthew Duckworth Kirksey, drummer for the Flaming Lips<\/a>, addressed the departure of long-time band member<\/a> Steven Drozd over the weekend, claiming the group\u2019s live show is now \u201cbetter than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLast week, Drozd appeared to reveal he\u2019s no longer part of the band group a tenure of more than 30 years. Drozd let the news slip on Threads after he posted about a new drum machine. In the replies, someone asked Drozd \u2014 who hasn\u2019t performed with\u00a0the Flaming Lips\u00a0since last year \u2014 if he was \u201cofficially done\u201d with the band.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThey\u2019re done with me \u2014 but we\u2019re not talking about it,\u201d Drozd replied in the now-deleted post. \u201cSo yes, I\u2019m moving on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter speculation about the status of the band began to circulate, Duckworth Kirksey responded in a post on Instagram. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMan\u2026 hard\u00a0to read a lot of these comments,\u201d wrote Duckworth Kirksey, who has been part of\u00a0the band since 2014. \u201cBeing in a band, for a long time, that never really stops touring is hard. Some people can hack it for 5 years, some people can hack it for 25 years.\u201d He added that \u201ca lot of great friends\u201d have \u201ccome and gone\u201d throughout his time with the band. \u201cI still love them, and miss them, and some of them are my family,\u201d he wrote. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe drummer continued, \u201cIf you haven\u2019t heard this newest iteration of the band, give us a shot. The music, and the show is better than ever.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tDuckworth Kirksey also addressed claims that Drozd was the creative soul of the group, rather than frontman Wayne Coyne<\/a>. \u201cAnd remember\u2026NONE of this ever happens without Wayne,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThis idea\u00a0that\u00a0Steven was THE musical genius, and Wayne is just some weirdo artist\u2026It\u2019s\u00a0just not true. Wayne pushes the creativity, the sound, and the show forward, like no artist\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0ever been around.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe added that while being part of the Flaming Lips is \u201chard,\u201d it\u2019s \u201cWayne\u2019s drive to be great that makes it all possible. Always has, always will.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe drummer concluded, \u201cThere is new music on the way and I think it\u2019s the best thing we\u2019ve done in ages. I can\u2019t wait for you to hear it. Come see us this summer if you get a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\tDrozd appears to have\u00a0played his last show<\/a>\u00a0with the Flaming Lips on Oct. 12, 2024, as the band wrapped up their tour with Weezer at the Acrisure Arena in Thousand Palms, California. When the Lips returned to the road in January 2025, they were joined by guitarist A.J. Slaughter, who\u2019s performed with the\u00a0group throughout the year<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tDrozd joined the Flaming Lips in 1991, after the group had already been active for about eight years. He started as the group\u2019s drummer, but eventually turned more to other instruments, especially guitars, keyboards, and bass (while still playing some occasional percussion). Drozd also provided backup vocals and made significant contributions as a songwriter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matthew Duckworth Kirksey, drummer for the Flaming Lips, addressed the departure of long-time band member Steven Drozd over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196745,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,157,111,139,69,119057,121530],"class_list":{"0":"post-196744","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz","13":"tag-the-flaming-lips","14":"tag-wayne-coyne"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}