It's been announced that Chatmonchy's drummer Takahashi Kumiko will be leaving the band in September.

On Chatmonchy's official website, Takahashi stated, "I am losing my power towards music. That's fatal to creating new music. I couldn't lie to myself and face songwriting while having this gap between my feelings and Ecchan and Akkochan's passion," as her reason for leaving the band. Meanwhile, vocalist Hashimoto Eriko and bassist Fukuoka Akiko commented, "Kumiko's feelings towards music slowly distanced. The two of us noticed relatively fast that her feelings were swaying."

Takahashi hinted that she will continue to write lyrics as she said, "I haven't decided what I will do in the future, but I will surely live around words." Meanwhile, Hashimoto and Fukuoka will continue activities as Chatmonchy.

The three are scheduled to perform for the last time at "TV Asahi Dream Festival 2011" on September 25th at Nippon Budokan, and at Tokushima club GRINDHOUSE in their hometown on September 29th. Chatmonchy will start their nationwide Zepp tour in November without Takahashi.

Source: natalie