The Flaming Lips shocked fans last night (October 24) by announcing that they were to split.

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The Oklahoma-based band apparently changed their minds 18 minutes later.

The news came via two tweets from the band’s official Twitter account, which have both since been deleted. The first, as Rolling Stone reports, said: “We have sad news. We’ve broken up…”.

As fans and media reacted to the shock news, a second Tweet appeared reading: “lol just joking guys.” A spokesperson for the band confirmed that the first announcement was “not true”.

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A further tweet, which remains on the page, says “That last announcement was a bit premature,” accompanied by a picture marking the band’s 30 year anniversary this year. Amid the confusion, singer Wayne Coyne tweeted from his personal account: “The Flaming Lips twitter has been hijacked!!!!”

Flaming Lips recently recorded a four-track EP with Tame Impala, with each band covering two of the other’s tracks. The EP is a special release marking shows the bands are joint headlining in October and November in Boston, Philadelphia, New York and Columbia.

Flaming Lips meanwhile, are working on an “extended play 6 song thang..” to go with a track they’ve written for the upcoming film adaptation of military science fiction novel Ender’s Game, Coyne recently revealed.