Ex-Shins drummer: 'I got sacked'

Ex-Shins drummer Jesse Sandoval has said that he was sacked from the band earlier this year.

Frontman and songwriter James Mercer had informed Pitchfork that Sandoval and keyboardist/bassist Marty Crandall's departures in May were the result of "an aesthetic decision".

Sandoval told The Portland Mercury that Mercer sacked him over the phone after the band failed to spend any time together following the tour of their last LP Wincing The Night Away.

The drummer said: "I understand that I unequivocally got fired, and it kind of confuses me why [Mercer] has a hard time saying that.

"I understand he's probably doing it out of respect for me reading interviews, it might be hard for him to say it, but... I got fired. There's no other way of looking at it."

He added: "I think about it and I have to own up to my own faults. I definitely see why he was seeking outside sources. There were some drum beats that he tried to do, that he asked me to do, and I just couldn't do them.

"Recording time is ridiculously stressful for James, I understand how internally he started to problem-solve how to make the recording process more streamlined. Working with Danger Mouse only exacerbated that fact."