Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne Questions the Impact of Tibet House Concerts

Earlier this month, the Flaming Lips played the 21st annual Tibet House benefit alongside the likes of Rufus Wainwright, Michael Stipe and Patti Smith at Carnegie Hall. The event, held on Tibetan New Year, is a reminder of the embattled country's occupation by China and the violence and oppression its people have suffered for decades.

Given the uprisings in the Middle East and other parts of the world, Tibet's tribulations are once again relegated to getting little media coverage. It's a subject Lips frontman Wayne Coyne has been mulling over, thanks to the event.

"Having not thought about it that much before and then we have been speaking about it a lot, I don't know how effective all this is," Coyne candidly tells Spinner. "I'm not going to put it down -- these are humane peaceful people trying to do something," he says of the non-profit Tibet House. "That being said, if I had been oppressed for [this long], I think I'd just accept it and say 'Who gives a s---?'"

Typically, Coyne sees an existentialist dilemma in Tibet's situation and the violent turmoil that continues to abound in the world.

"One way of looking at it is that the violence we do cause is a natural reaction that we can't turn on and off," he says. "It's just us. Maybe there's a good thing about it. Does it help us as artists? I don't know. Don't get me wrong -- I think it's horrible. Violence, pain, and destruction are all horrible, but I just don't know that being human allows it to be any other way. Certainly, being around these Tibetan monks, who are all very optimistic and happy and polite, kind people that make the world a better place, but I don't know if I'm like that. I don't believe in violence, but you don't defeat violence by being quiet about it. I wish people would be more honest about it and talk about it."

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