Pride Tiger and bassist Mike Payette have separated. The amicable split comes after a year of solid work promoting the East Van group’s debut for Capitol/EMI, The Lucky Ones. There’s no word on who will replace Payette in the band he founded with guitarists Sunny Dhak and Bob Froese, and drummer-vocalist Matt Wood, in 2005.

An e-mail to the Straight from Froese promised that a statement from the band will be coming soon. Payette told the Straight, “It’s nothing too interesting. We have musical differences, and so we’ve parted ways. People and their tastes change. It’s part of life.”

Pride Tiger emerged from Vancouver’s East Side in 2005, quickly becoming one of its flagship bands, along with Black Mountain and Ladyhawk. After the independent release of a quickly recorded album, Wood, Dhak, Froese, Payette, the quartet was featured in the Straight’s Best of Vancouver issue in 2006, and then scored a cover story with the release of The Lucky Ones in June 2007. The album was also nominated for a Juno.

Payette’s immediate plans include a trip to New York to temporarily rejoin his old partner from S.T.R.E.E.T.S., Dr. Jonny Molson (now known as Jonny Rad), for “a couple tours” doing bass duty with Rad’s current band, Children.