Terrible news.
MP's tweets over the last few weeks have mentioned DT now and then. One the other day was about him having a tatoo being done on a tour bus at 3.30am and that "this would never happen in DT". Maybe he wants to experience music and the all that comes with it with a new outlook.
Mike leaving DT can be very easily summed based on that experience;
Mid-life Crisis. Simple as that. He is playing with younger guys, partying probably, seeing what a popular American band pulls in money wise, seeing the groupies (which DT doesn't get). Heck I'm 42, if someone offered me a new job hanging with a bunch of 20 somethings, more money, and tons of groupies it might be fun for awhile.
I mean a 40-something father getting a tattoo on a tour bus at 3:30am? Come on, that's just pathetic.
DT never experienced the bombastic, groupie filled world that most rock bands enjoy. All married young, kids, and a mostly male crowd until recently.
Someday Mike is going to look back at this decision and see it for what it really is about. Psychoanalyze his statement, this is a mid-life crisis - no doubt in my mind.
If it really was about time off, he could have worked it out with the band. Or stated he will record, but sit the tour out. Honestly a compromise could have been reached.