Kasabian frontman Tom Meighan has quit the band.
The 39-year-old singer has decided to step away from the rock group he formed with guitarist Sergio Pizzorno and bassist Chris Edwards to deal with "personal issues that have affected his behaviour for some time".
A statement released on behalf of the band on Monday (06.07.20) read: "Kasabian have announced today that Tom Meighan is stepping down from the band by mutual consent. Tom has struggled with personal issues that have affected his behaviour for quite some time and now wants to concentrate all his energies on getting his life back on track.
"We will not be commenting further."
Tom previously admitted to experiencing a meltdown in 2016 after he split from his long-term girlfriend Kim James and she moved out with their daughter Mimi Malone.
Referencing his local team Leicester City’s shock Premier League title win that same year, Tom said: "Basically my life changed. I’m by myself. Because I lost myself.
"In every way 2016 was great for Serge, great for Leicester City, s*** for me.
"I had to sort my head out. My attitude. Stuff I was doing. People I was associating with. Not bad people.
"I was the one that was bad, I was in the haze. I was very unhappy, just down. You block it out by just carrying on.
"I was making myself ill, I ain’t gonna lie, my mind was jolted.
"It might have been a build-up from years and years. I wasn’t taking responsibility and it affected everyone around me, horrendous."
This year, Kasabian were due to play a massive homecoming concert at Leicester’s Victoria Park on June 20, but they had to cancel the event due to the coronavirus pandemic.
With their live plans halted, Tom had revealed that the band had been writing tracks for a seventh studio album – their first since 2017’s ‘For Crying Out Loud’ – and that he’d been penning some "autobiographical" solo songs in lockdown.
The ‘Fire’ hitmaker recently said: "We’re going to try and make a new record as soon as we can but we can’t really do anything while we’re restricted. Serge has been writing songs for Kasabian so it’s all good."
Discussing his own solo plans, Tom added: "I’m writing loads of music at the minute.
"We’ll see what happens. I’ve got a few cookies in the jar … and they’re not bad, you know.
"It’s very autobiographical, like the story of my life. It’s kind of … heartbreaking. Well, not heartbreaking, just to the core, you know. Very real."
Serge, 39, debuted his solo side project The S.L.P. last year in 2019.