Taking Back Sunday's Mascherino leaving.

Taking Back Sunday's Fred Mascherino, called by some (mostly just me) affectionately as the Masch, has announced he will be leaving the band to focus on his other project the Color Fred, which was started prior to his TBS membership and dates back to his days with Breaking Pangaea. Taking Back Sunday's response was somewhat formulated.

"After four great years and two successful gold albums together, Fred has decided to leave Taking Back Sunday to pursue his solo career. We wish him well and we are working on the next Taking Back Sunday album as we speak."

The Masch diplomatically revealed the following to MTV:

"I hoped to write another record, for sure. But there wasn't a lot of writing going on between the five of us, honestly ... We weren't really coming together. I felt like it was just a good time to move on, because I was pretty sure I could never make another record with these four guys."

The debut album for the Color Fred, Bend to Break, is set to drop October 31.