Mark Kozelek invites War On Drugs to suck his cock tonight, releases Xmas album next month

Mark Kozelek, who made his name with somber, beautiful music recorded under the name Red House Painters, and continued his streak both as a solo artist and as Sun Kil Moon, has more recently found fame by publicly talking shit. (It seems a little incongruous, yes.) First, he told a noisy North Carolina crowd, “All you hillbillies shut the fuck up.” (And then started selling T-shirts with that line on it.) Next, at the Ottawa Folk Festival, Kozelek complained about sound bleeding over from The War On Drugs, who were playing on another stage, calling the band’s music “beer-commercial lead-guitar shit” and telling them to “suck my fucking dick.”

[Let’s pause for a moment and consider that this is the man who wrote the gorgeous, gutting “Katy,” about a girlfriend who died of cancer. Sample lyric: “a chance for calm / a hope for freedom / outlet from my cold solitary kingdom / by the forest of our spring stay / where you walked away / and left a bleeding part of me / empty and bothered / watching the water / quiet in the corner / numb and falling through / without you what does my life amount to?”]

In an effort to continue the feud, after a response from The War On Drugs, Kozelek offered to perform a new song tonight, at The War On Drugs’ San Francisco show, to be called “War On Drugs: Suck My Cock / Sun Kil Moon: Go Fuck Yourself.” Presumably, The War On Drugs either turned down this gracious offer or didn’t respond at all, because Kozelek announced that he will be streaming a song simply called “War On Drugs: Suck My Cock” from Sun Kil Moon’s site, tonight at 9 p.m. pacific. So… Cry for help from a curmudgeon whose biggest successes are behind him, or funny lark from a crotchety dude with nothing to lose? (C’mon Mark, Benji is your best-reviewed album in ages.)

Oh, and Kozelek also just announced the impending release of Mark Kozelek Sings Christmas Carols (out Nov. 4), which will feature melancholy, gorgeous readings of everything from “Christmas Time Is Here” to “Silent Night.” You can pre-order it—not coincidentally?—at the same website that will, tonight, debut a song he just wrote inviting another band to fellate him.