Spiritualized founder Jason Pierce has told a music website in Australia that stories that he fired band mates Sean Cook and Damon Reece before recording ‘Let It Come Down’ are untrue. He told Undercover: "Cook and Reece are very bitter, fair enough. I can see how they would be very bitter. But to be honest, the only reason it was reported that way was because they put an album together [as Lupine Howl] and used the story to promote the album".
Pierce doesn’t deny friction though. "We weren't covering any new ground. I'm not a particularly reactive person. It got that it was very difficult to keep the band going with the members as it were. The way they wanted to turn the band around didn't fit with the philosophy of where the band came from. I went as far as I could with where they wanted to go but it was like they wanted to cash in. After you cash something in, the only goal you can have after that is how much cash can you make. No matter how much money you make after that you can't buy back your original ideals. The others demanded we only do gigs that paid the big money or we would only do deals that were financially beneficial to everyone”. The result was, Pierce says, that the original band line up parted company, though he disputes that he actually sacked anyone.
Pierce and the new Spiritualized line up are now working on a new album. "I think the band at the moment is absolutely on fire. The next album is going to be more about documenting the way we all play. I've been constructing an album with French horn arrangements and that is part to do with how great the band sounds but also I was asked to play guitar with Evan Parker, Kenny Wheeler and Paul Rutherford who are absolute giants of European improvised music. It just threw me somewhat that you could produce music over three days in a room and have people listening to what is going down and responding to it. It is definitely where we are going for the next record".