So what happened to Steven Drozd? A month ago, it was reported on several websites that the Flaming Lips had cancelled 3 shows in Florida, Tennessee and Alabama because Steven had been hospitalized:
The April 28th show for the Sunfest festival in West Palm beach, FL, the May 1st show for the Beale Street Festival in Memphis, TN, and the May 15th show for the Hangout Festival in Gulf Shore, AL have all been canceled and not rescheduled because they were part of festivals.
No details have been released about Steven’s condition or illness. Although the Flaming Lips publicist said he was expected to make a full recovery, it seems quite serious because they were forced to reschedule other Florida shows only in October!
May 12: Saint Petersburg, FL, rescheduled for Oct 13
May 13: Lake Buena Vista, FL, rescheduled for Oct 14
May 14: Saint Augustine, FL, rescheduled for Oct 15
They have a date on June 6th for the Summerfest in Houston, TX and on June 11th for the Bonnaroo festival during which they are supposed to perform Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ in its entirety, with Stardeath and the White Dwarfs, and so far they are still part of the lineup.
Steven Drozd has been with the Lips since 1991, first as a drummer, but then Kliph Scurlock was asked to play drums during their 2002 tour, and this enabled him to use his other talents. Multi-instrumentalist, Steven plays lead guitar and keyboards often alternating between the two during the same song. He also was the main character of the long awaited Flaming Lips film ‘Christmas on Mars’.
Last April 29th Steven Drozd posted the following sentence on his twitter page:
“Thank you, everyone, for your concern. I had to do this and I’m getting it together’
A sentence that has led to a lot of speculations…
Steven has been twittering a little more on April 30th about the Thunder-Lakers game, which could show he was in good spirit, but nothing since that date.
No one can forget the scene in the documentary ‘Fearless Freaks’, this poignant scene that shows Steven shooting heroin; it was probably the most shockingly honest part filmed for a documentary. After getting clean, he said he got exploited at the time because he ‘was so desperate’ and ‘didn’t really care’. The filmmaker told him he could get some money in exchange of ‘some real cool footage’. Steven recognized afterwards there was nothing cool about it. It was filmed at the end of September 2001 but he got clean shortly after this and has stayed drug free since.
The following was posted on Kliph facebook:
“Kliph Scurlock wants everybody to know that Steven will be just fine as soon as he gets some rest. He (and the rest of us) really appreciate your kind thoughts and well wishes, but please don’t worry yourselves.”
And this to put an end to the fans’ speculations:
“All 4 of us (and Dave Fridmann) were completely sober during 100% of the making of the record. Steven, Michael, Dave and I enjoyed a couple of drinks when we sat down to listen to the final master of the record, but that’s it. Happy now?”
Also a source close to the band has declared that, though Drozd has had some serious drug addiction in the past, this hospitalization was not drug-related in any way.
Let’s hope this is true and especially let’s wish Steven Drozd a fast and full recovery just in time for these summer festivals.