Clean Bandit say Neil Milan left because he found it "difficult" being away from home on the road.
Clean Bandit
The 'Rockabye' group's cellist Grace Chatto, 31, has claimed the violinist left the band for a number of reasons, but being away from his friends and family was one of the big reasons for his departure.
She told The Sun newspaper: "There are lots of things he didn't like about it. He didn't like travelling that much.
"When you start a band you don't really think about what it entails.
"And it entailed being away from home for three years pretty solidly, and he found that quite difficult."
The electronic pop stars are still friends with Neil but they haven't been able to spend much time with him because of their hectic schedule.
Bass player Jack Patterson added: "We have been away so much we haven't seen him."
Neil left last August and told his band mates he was leaving via an email.
But the remainder of the band weren't too surprised as they knew it hadn't been Neil's long-term goal to stay in the group.
Grace explained: "There has always been a lot of strings to his bow...
"We've always been quite committed to making it a big project. [Wasn't Neil?] Well, he was when he was."
Luke added: "He'd had enough."
And the trio haven't seen much of Neil since he left, apart from a few unplanned meetings.
Of his encounter with the musician, Luke laughed: "I was half-naked to be honest. The wrong half too.
"We were in the changing room at the gym."
Despite them carrying on as a trio, third member Luke Patterson recently admitted they had "problems" that almost led them to split.
The 'Rather Be' hitmakers once considered going their separate ways, but Luke insists it wasn't as a result of Grace and Jack ending their romantic relationship, although their split did make life in the band awkward for a while.
He recalled "It was a bit weird. With Jack and Grace, I always had to pick and choose when to stay out of the way and when to try and help, but that time [when they split] I totally stayed out of the way. It was turbulent."
Asked if they had considered splitting, he added: "No, not in relation to that...[Why?] Just other problems."
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