Rob Pope has announced that he will be parting ways with the group Spoon. The bassist has been with the band for 13 years, playing with the group through many of their biggest hits. The announcement was made through an Instagram post written by Pope, who stated that the decision was made in order to spend more time with his family and other musical projects. This comes as a blow to fans of the group, who have listened to Pope’s bass in the group for over a decade. 

While Rob Pope was not one of the founding members of Spoon, he was one of its longest running members. Behind Britt Daniel and Jim Eno, who founded the band and remain members of it today, he had one of the longest runs in the group. Joining in 2006, Pope came along just before the creation of their album Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, which contained the hit tracks “The Underdog” and “Don’t You Evah.” Pope stuck with the band through four full albums, and until now had seemingly planned to stay with the group. The artist was recently a part of the group’s recent release from last month, the track “No Bullets Spent.” 

Now that Pope is done with Spoon, he stated that he is still planning on getting out his musical creativity through his group The Get Up Kids. In his Instagram post, Pope wrote that his departure from the group was a personal decision and that there was no ill will between him and his former bandmates. The bassist looks back at his time with the group fondly, writing how grateful he was to fans from over the years. The full post made by Pope can be found below for those who want to read the full statement. 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A message from Rob Pope: . As Spoon’s bass player since 2006, I’ve never taken for granted the thrills and challenges that have come with being in this band. Now, after some serious thought, the timing feels right for me to leave Spoon in order to spend more time with family and personal projects. . I have nothing but love for ‪Britt Daniel‬, Jim Eno, Eric Harvey, Alex Fischel, and Gerardo Larios — the gentlemen dudes I was lucky to share the stage, bus, and studio with. . I’d also like to shout out the countless people who worked to make my life easier as our road crew and management, many of whom became my lifelong friends. The show can’t happen without them. . I’ll continue to work on new music, including touring and recording with ‪The Get Up Kids‬, but I’ll always be particularly proud of the amazing things Spoon accomplished over nearly 13 years of my involvement (and sometimes in spite of it). . Before I sign off, I have to thank all of you — the fans. It’s been an absolute honor to share this experience with you. If you are lucky enough to see Spoon on the road this summer, buy ‘em a few ice cream sandwiches for me. . For evah yours, Rob Pope (AKA Robert Pop, AKA Sherpa, AKA The Queen of Sheba, AKA The Last Living Member of the Supremes, AKA The Horizontal Striped Hustler)

A post shared by SPOON (@spoontheband) on Jul 9, 2019 at 5:35pm PDT