It was very sad news to learn that Gerard Love was leaving Teenage Fanclub, especially as he wrote and sang some of their best-loved songs. Today he released his own statement on his decision to leave. From Creation Records Facebook page:

I thought I should say a few words about the Teenage Fanclub situation.

From the outset I didn’t want to do these particular shows, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, specifically because of the flying involved. I flew around the world last year and it’s not something that I would want to do too often in my life. I equally didn’t want to stop anyone from making a living and so it’s completely acceptable to me that the band and crew are able to go ahead with the tour. I didn’t leave the group and I wasn’t kicked out, the idea of this tour eventually became a fork in the road and we have just agreed to go our separate ways. It’s not ideal for any of us but it’s as amicable as it can possibly be. We played a couple of shows at the weekend and I think the group’s still sounding pretty good. We have a couple more festival shows next week and then in October and November we have our full album nights where we get the chance to hook up with Brendan and Paul again. All good.

Change is natural and constant and I completely welcome it. All I can say is that I feel very lucky to have met Norman and Raymond all those years ago. Good innings. Thanks.