Ian tells Loudwire: "People always say Persistence Of Time was a dark album. I definitely was a darker person. So much of that goes into why the decision was made that I couldn't move forward any more with Joey in the band.

"Up until that point I never had a problem with the way Joey was singing the words I was writing. I thought he got it across perfect. But once we got to Persistence, it wasn't working for me any more.