I really didn't want to be the one to go into to all of this as Martin is still one of my bestfriends and his leaving the band really upset me but a few things have to be said so this forum disenchantment will end.
1. Martin for quite a while wanted us to stop doing gigs and just write which I agreed with but said we should fufill our commitments to July and then spend the month off but he didn't want to do that.
2. Martin got Tinnitus and couldn't play the 100 Club gig or the next few afterwards, to not disappoint people we went ahead with Drew and then subsequently Seb.
3. For a while now Martin and certain other members of the band have not seen eye to eye, thats nobodies fault but when a band gets to loggerheads and can't work then something has to change, unfortunately for me and you that meant Martin was asked to leave.
4. Martin is a genius musician and the two years that myself and him spent playing and writing together is a lot of what you hear in the set and it improved my playing immensly. Though in the months before he left a lot of the writing was left to me.
5. Seb is a fantastic musician and works well with everyone in the band. Since he has joined the band he has learnt the set and a the other tracks and wrote his own parts for the new song Chrome Heart which we've been playing recently, the recording of which hasn't been finished. I think Seb has done brilliantly as its a big ask not just to fill Martin's shoes but also that of a friend and to then get up and play a gig a week to people who are analysing his every move.
6. Martin was very popular with pretty much everyone on this forum and will be missed in many ways but I think its particularly unfair to judge and comment on Seb this early (unless of course you want to praise him!)
7. With some time off coming up hopefully there'll be a whole lot of new material written and you can then judge Seb's abilities.