Steven Drozd—the Flaming Lips’ longtime guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, and primary songwriter alongside Wayne Coyne—is no longer in the band, according to a since-deleted post Drozd made online. When replying to a fan on Threads who asked if he was “officially done with the FLips,” the musician replied, “They’re done with me – but we’re not talking about it. So yes I’m moving on. Just keep it to yourself for now. OK?”
Pitchfork has reached out to a representative of the Flaming Lips for comment.
Drozd joined the Flaming Lips in 1991 and has been a key member of the experimental psych-rock group ever since. Although he and Coyne have formed several side projects together in the past, Drozd has never parted ways with or taken a break from the band in those 34 years.
As Consequence points out, fans started speculating about Drozd’s status in the Flaming Lips several months ago when they noticed he was absent from their concerts. During the band’s recent string of shows, AJ Slaughter was covering Drozd’s parts in his place.
Read about the Flaming Lips’ 1999 LP The Soft Bulletin in “The 150 Best Albums of the 1990s.”