Guitarist Peter Buck says: "We were in Bergen, Norway (in 2008). I really like Bergen. I wanted to see the town. I had four hours off. Instead, we had a three-hour band meeting. I was really pissed off.

"We were talking about adding some shows to the tour. It was a lot of money, but I didn't want to go. I won't say where it was. I looked at them and said, "If this is our last tour, I don't want to end with two half-full shows in a state you couldn't pay me to set foot in." And they went, "OK."

He goes on: "The last show - we were in Mexico City. We're like the Beatles there. It was great for us. And I went, "This is kind of sad." And Michael goes, "Yeah, a little. We're probably never going to play these songs again." And I went, "You might be right."

"But we were doing the last record, [2011's] Collapse Into Now. We hadn't made an announcement or anything. We got together, and Michael said, "I think you guys will understand. I need to be away from this for a long time."