Wayne Coyne: Arcade Fire Are "Pricks"

03/04/09 5:08pm

by Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

Wayne Coyne might like his home state of Oklahoma for making The Flaming Lips' "Do You Realize??" the state's official rock 'n' roll song, but he seriously dislikes Arcade Fire.

Coyne told Rolling Stone magazine that the Montreal band "treat people like shit" and called them "pricks."

"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. I thought, 'Who do they think they are?'

"I don't know why people put up with it. I wouldn't put up with it. I don't care if it's Arcade Fire or Brian Eno. If either of them walked into a room and treated people like shit, I'd be like, 'Fuck you, get outta here.'

"People treat Arcade Fire like they're the greatest thing ever and they get away with it. Those sort of opinions change my view of their music. They have good tunes, but they're pricks, so fuck 'em. Who does Arcade Fire think they are?

"I've been around groups. I've been around The Edge from U2 and he's the fucking 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 fuck 'em."

Word to the wise: Don't piss Wayne Coyne off!

Arcade Fire collaborator Owen Pallett fired back with a tweet on Twitter.

"Win [Butler] might not be all hugs and rainbows and kittens, but neither is he drug culture, confetti, pot paraphernalia and bullshit," said the post, which has since been removed, according to Pitchforkmedia.com.

In its place, Pallett posted this: "[Insert snarky comment about Flaming Lips here.]"

Pallett also wrote a Twitter response to Stereogum.com, which originally posted the story, that said: "AF are the sweetest people I've ever had the pleasure of working with."