Fred Mascherino (ex. Taking Back Sunday) recently did an interview stating his reasons for leaving Taking Back Sunday. You can read a bit of the interview below.

Mascherino was happy to clarify when he sat down with the Daily Forty-Niner a few weeks ago before a show at the Glass House in Pomona. He is on tour with his new solo project, The Color Fred.

“I know that it comes down on me,” Mascherino said. “I wish it didn’t. It was ultimately my decision, but I wish it didn’t seem like my fault. [The MySpace bulletin] was weird. It was kind of cold and not even from the band members. It’s hard because I’m the only one speaking about it, so it’s kind of all on me, and I don’t know what other people want to be said as far as how much of the truth they want to come out.”

The visually concerned Mascherino did his best to explain the departure without badmouthing the band. He cited writing problems, bickering and proposed changes that couldn’t be agreed upon as reasons for leaving. The one thing he did not say, however, was that he was leaving to pursue his solo career, the one explanation given by the band’s management.

“The idea that I left Taking Back Sunday strictly to do The Color Fred is incorrect,” Mascherino clarified. “I had been planning to release this record at this time. It was already set up. I was going to release it and do a tour, which I’m on now, and then go back and write the next record with them and record it. But along the line of a few months before and then on the Projekt Revolution tour, things were getting sour. I said, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore.’ It was making me miserable. I felt like I was changing who I was.”

So Mascherino told the band at the end of the tour that he wanted out, and it was announced about a month later. Taking Back Sunday has refused interviews to several major media outlets, including The New York Times and MTV. The band did announce, however, that Fred would be replaced.

Via: daily49er.com