Jesse from Lagwagon talks about his departure

Jesse Buglione, who has left Lagwagon, has posted an update on why he parted ways with the band after so many years:

I'm no longer in Lagwagon. And the fact that I have a son has a lot to do with it - I was gone for most of the time that he was two years old (he's 3 1/2 now) and missed a lot while we were on tour. It's no fun only getting to spend 10 minutes a day with him via Skype during his formative years. And, sorry to say, my son is much more important to me than Lagwagon. There are actually a number of other reasons that motivated my decision to finally leave, none of which I feel comfortable going into right now. Money isn't really among those, considering I'm making much less now working 50+ hours a week than I ever did with Lagwagon.

Overall, what it comes down to is that it's hard continuing with something if your heart's not in it. And for me, in a weird way, there's something a little more gratifying about doing my current job (art director for a magazine). Even though it's a magazine I wouldn't personally read and our monthly deadline is more stressful than Lagwagon ever was, doing new layouts every day has become a little more gratifying than playing Mr. Coffee for the 2000th time.

Jesse posted the message via the band's official message board. Check out his entire statement here.