Kasabian frontman Tom Meighan has announced that he is leaving the band after suffering with personal issues.
In a statement posted to Twitter, the band said Meighan wanted to “concentrate all his energies on getting his life back on track”, according to NME
The statement read: “Tom Meighan is stepping down from Kasabian 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.”
Meighan had been the lead singer with the group since their inception in Leicester in 1997.
Joined by an original line-up that included guitarist and close friend Sergio Pizzorno, the group went on to become one of Britain’s biggest rock bands – headlining Glastonbury Festival in 2014 and Reading & Leeds in both 2012 and 2014.
It is yet to be confirmed if Kasabian will continue to tour and record live music in the wake of Meighan’s departure.
The singer has previously opened up on his mental health battles, admitting that he had been “making himself ill” and suffered a secret breakdown in 2016.
“In every way, 2016 was great for Serge, great for Leicester City, shit for me,” he said.
“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.”
Last month, Meighan had confirmed that plans for Kasabian’s seventh album were in the early stages, with Pizzorno beginning to write material for the record.
“We need a seventh baby,” Meighan told Sky News. “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.”
