{"id":97861,"date":"2025-01-08T20:01:40","date_gmt":"2025-01-08T20:01:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?p=97861"},"modified":"2025-01-08T20:01:40","modified_gmt":"2025-01-08T20:01:40","slug":"taking-back-sunday-mark-oconnell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/taking-back-sunday-mark-oconnell\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking Back Sunday Part Ways with Drummer Mark O\u2019Connell"},"content":{"rendered":"

Longtime\u00a0Taking Back Sunday<\/strong> drummer Mark O\u2019Connell has announced his departure from the band.<\/p>\n

Sharing the news on Instagram<\/a>, O\u2019Connell thanked fans for their\u00a0“love and support”<\/em> before adding\u00a0“my departure wasn\u2019t an easy decision, and it wasn\u2019t entirely my own”<\/em>.<\/p>\n

At the time of writing,\u00a0Taking Back Sunday<\/strong> are yet to comment on O\u2019Connell’s exit from the band. While eagle-eyed fans suggest the split hasn’t been amicable. O’Connell released<\/a> a solo track last week called\u00a0‘Follow The Money’<\/em>, tagging\u00a0TBS\u00a0<\/strong>frontman Adam Lazzara. Some fans have labelled it a “diss track” aimed at his former bandmate.<\/p>\n

Previously, former\/founding Taking Back Sunday<\/strong> guitarist Eddie Reyes stirred rumours on the\u00a0‘Caught On The Mike\u2026’<\/em> podcast<\/a> by saying\u00a0“he (Mark) walked away”<\/em> from the band.<\/p>\n

Mark O’Connell joined\u00a0Taking Back Sunday<\/strong> in 2001 and played on every release including 2023’s\u00a0‘152’<\/em> full-length.<\/p>\n

Taking Back Sunday<\/strong> will return to the UK in July as one of\u00a02000trees Festival<\/strong><\/a>‘s five headliners.<\/p>\n

Read Mark O\u2019Connell’s Full Message<\/h2>\n

\u201cAfter nearly 25 years as the drummer of Taking Back Sunday, I want to confirm that I am no longer with the band,\u201d reads the message to his followers and fans. \u201cIt\u2019s taken me some time to address this. Thank you for your patience as I\u2019ve reflected on how to share my story.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cFirst, I want to thank the fans \u2013 your love and support have meant everything to me. You\u2019ve been the heartbeat of TBS, and a huge part of my life for nearly a quarter of a century. I owe it all to you.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMy departure wasn\u2019t an easy decision, and it wasn\u2019t entirely my own. Over the past few years, I\u2019ve focused on my family and personal growth, including committing to my sobriety. Unfortunately, during this time, I didn\u2019t always feel the support from those I thought of as brothers, and creative differences made it hard to move forward together.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

As well as expressing his gratitude to those who have supported him, Mark also took time to look ahead to his future in music.<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m excited to share that I\u2019ll be releasing new music soon \u2013 both as a solo artist and with some old friends. I\u2019ve poured my heart into this project, and I can\u2019t wait to share it with you. This is a new chapter for me \u2013 one of passion, creativity, and hope. I hope you\u2019ll join me on this journey as we continue to be a part of each other\u2019s stories.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThat said, I\u2019m grateful for the incredible memories with each of my bandmates \u2013 and all of you, as well as all the opportunities along the way. I\u2019m choosing to focus on the good as I move into this next chapter.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The longtime sticksman for the emo rockers leaves after nearly 25 years, citing\u00a0“my departure wasn\u2019t an easy decision, and it wasn\u2019t entirely my own”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94418,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17559],"tags":[1777],"class_list":["post-97861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-taking-back-sunday"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTaking Back Sunday Part Ways with Drummer Mark O\u2019Connell - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The longtime sticksman for the emo rockers leaves after nearly 25 years, citing\u00a0"my departure wasn\u2019t an easy decision, and it wasn\u2019t entirely my own"\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Taking Back Sunday Part Ways with Drummer Mark O\u2019Connell - 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