Fleet Foxes were an indie rock sensation in the 2000s. Their 2008 EP and eponymous album made them critical darlings, and led to the creation of a fanbase that's still going strong today. Fleet Foxes has gone through some notable lineup changes, however, despite their success.
Founding members Robin Pecknold, Skyler Skjelset and Casey Wescott are still part of the band. Josh Tillman is not. The musician, better known as Father John Misty, played with Fleet Foxes from 2008 to 2012, but decided to leave and pursue a solo career. It was not a messy split per say, but it also wasn't the smoothest in terms of what was said after the fact.
Josh Tillman left Fleet Foxes in 2012
Tillman, who played drums and sang on the Fleet Foxes album Helplessness Blues in 2011, decided that he was tired of the band's approach to music, and he wanted to experiment with different song styles. Plus, he said that the difference in taste led to tension with his peers.
"We all started hating each other," Tillman told The Guardian in 2015. Plus, the singer/songwriter would be the opening act for Fleet Foxes, and he found that the audience didn't connect with his sound. "I’d play my sad bastard stuff, be ignored, then go sit at the back," he recalled. "There’s no better illustration of how little worth I had."
Tillman, who had struggled to gain attention as a solo act, initially relished the chance to play with a popular band. He quickly realized that being the drummer was not something that was going to be satisfying in the long term.
Tillman admitted he never fit in the band
Pecknold co-signed the claim that Tillman was disinterested, but went on to add that the drummer was unpleasant to be around because he didn't dig the Fleet Foxes sound. "I had to endure being around a lot of substance abuse, sabotaged shows, just general ill-treatment, sh*t-talking, all while paying him for songs he didn’t have anything to do with," the frontman claimed during a Reddit AMA. "It sucked."
Tillman has never reunited with Fleet Foxes. He was replaced by a rotating roster of drummers, and has gone on to become of the indie rock's critical darlings over the last decade. He even, allegedly took digs at Pecknold on his 2012 song "Well, You Can Do It Without Me." The arrangement never sounded like it was going to last. On the bright side, both outfits have thrived, and that 2011 album they put out still sounds pretty darn good.