Mark Kozelek Takes Aim At The War On Drugs

Professional surly man and Sun Kil Moon mastermind Mark Kozelek was none too impressed with the main-stage sound bleed interrupting his set at this past weekend's Ottawa Folk Festival, reportedly taking time out from playing to chastise the cause of the ruckus — Meredith Music Festival-bound outfit The War On Drugs.

According to reports, the famously terse Kozelek, backed by the members of Sun Kil Moon, was doing his best to combat the "extremely loud" (according to one punter) main-stage crossover, but finally had enough just before they were to play particularly introspective track Dogs, from the band's most recent, lauded, LP, Benji.

"Who the fuck is that?" Kozelek reportedly asked the crowd. Upon being informed that the responsible party was the Philadelphia-bred Americana/indie rock luminaries, Kozelek offered a scathing assessment — "I hate that beer commercial lead-guitar shit" — before going on to offer a vitriolic lead-in to Sun Kil Moon's next song: "This next song is called The War On Drugs Can Suck My Fucking Dick."

The War On Drugs has since addressed the controversy on Twitter, in a pair of posts this morning (AEST), that express — more than anger — a deep sadness over the reported tirade.

In the response to The War On Drugs' original tweet, several other attendees at the festival corroborated the original account of events.

This is not the only controversy to plague Kozelek of late - he was recently lambasted in the press for referring to a talkative North Carolina audience as "fucking hillbillies"; however, amid the corroborative responses to The War On Drugs' tweet (and to reports around the internet), several punters expressed sympathy for Kozelek, confirming that sound bleed from the main stage was indeed flowing through at an unreasonable volume.

Kozelek is yet to publicly respond to the reports.

There is no footage of the incident (yet), sadly, but you can make your own Kozelek/TWOD battle by playing the two YouTube clips below simultaneously. You're welcome.