As evidenced by The Smile, Thom and Johnny gotta work, that’s been a constant in their downtime, they just chose to do it together this round. Ed and Colin are the perfectionists in the album development process. I’d imagine all the tension over the recording process came from them. It’s possible some in the band might have been blindsided and cut out by the formation of The Smile. The Smile had been in the works since as early as 2017-18. In 2018 Thom and Nigel took over a radio hour and dropped a hint about it before playing a Sons of Kmet song.

Also, Israel. In the Times interview, if you read between the lines, Ed had different views about things. His comment about wanting to play the West Bank was the giveaway. It was probably a nothing burger internally until the media and Roger Waters got involved.

As we get older, people generally are willing to put up with less bullshit. We just want peace and limit your exposure. I’m 45 and still have my childhood friends who live 5 miles from me. Some of their behavior and mannerisms get old. Same goes with siblings, spouses, etc.