Guitarist and co-founder of Fall Out Boy Joe Trohman is stepping back from the band to focus on his mental health.
The musician made the announcement via the band’s social media pages where without getting specific, he made it clear that he feels this is a necessary step for him right now.
Strohman’s statement comes less than 24 hours after the band’s announcement of a new album; a statement which he cosigned. The new album, “So Much (For) Stardust” drops March 24th.
The group also appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Wednesday night, performing as a trio without Trohman. They performed “Love from the Other Side,” their first single from the new album.
“Neil Young once howled that it’s better to burn out than to fade away,” he began his statement. “But I can tell you unequivocally that burning out is dreadful.”
He continued by stating that he would not be divulging details, but nevertheless “must disclose that my mental health has rapidly deteriorated over the past several years.”
He explained that the decision to step away from work, “which regrettably includes stepping away from Fall Out Boy for a spell,” is “to avoid fading away and never returning.”
With this, he assured fans that he fully intended to return, going so far as to say that he would be back “absolutely, one-hundred percent.”
“In the meantime, I must recover which means putting myself and my mental health first,” he added. “Thank you to everyone including my bandmates and family, for understanding and respecting this difficult, but necessary, decision.”
Trohman has been honest about his struggles with mental health, writing about anxiety and depression in his memoir “None of This Rocks,” which came out on September 13.
Speaking with People upon the release of his book, Trohman described himself as a “mentally ill person,” while acnkowledging how much he’s grown since the years he projected his dark emotions onto his bandmates.
“They were probably often subjected to a firestorm of like anxiety and depression. Depression isn’t just somebody sad moping on a couch, you get irritable, we get f—ing grumpy, make snide comments,” he told the outlet. “I wish I had my s— together.”
You can check out Trohman’s full statement below.
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