Andy Nicholson

The band announced in May 2006 that Nicholson would miss the band’s forthcoming North America tour as he was suffering from “fatigue following an intensive period of touring”, and would be temporarily replaced by Nick O’Malley of The Dodgems while Nicholson recovered.[6][7] However, on 20 June 2006, it was announced that he was no longer part of the band,[8] with Alex Turner later stating “we sorta found ourselves in a situation where we wanted to move forward”.[9] The band asked Nicholson to leave. Helders (?) later remarked: “It’s not for everyone, the traveling, I suppose … He didn’t get specific. We didn’t want to drag all of that out of him … We took [Nick] out to America and we just couldn’t see going back to the way things were for whatever reason.”[10]

It was not until 2019 did Nicholson himself open up on his departure. In an interview with podcast The Michael Anthony Show, Nicholson told the host that leaving the band that he co-founded was “soul destroying”. The bassist added that news of his imminent departure came as a huge shock and was far from mutual. Nicholson went on to detail the meeting which ended his time in the band and also painted a vivid picture of life in the years that followed which included struggles with mental health as well a new search for identity. Despite this, Nicholson did state that he has since been on good terms with his former bandmates, with them often meeting up whenever they return to Sheffield