'Tortured' Blur guitarist escapes to the country after sacking

In the words of the song that handed Blur victory over Oasis in the Britpop battle of 1995, their guitarist is off to live "in a house, a very big house, in the country".

Graham Coxon, one of four original members of the band that won the battle but lost the war against Oasis, ended weeks of rumour yesterday by announcing that he had been sacked after a year when drink and psychological problems made him a self-confessed "nasty, bitter piece of work".

His departure could mean the end of the band that led the rise of Britpop in the mid-1990s and whose rivalry with Oasis was so intense that their race to number one became a matter for the BBC evening news.

Blur won the battle when "Country House" reached the top spot first and were hailed as the most influential band in Britain. However, while Oasis went on to win the war and laugh off the effects of rock and roll excess, Blur's path was more tortuous and Coxon was the most tortured of the band.

The rewards of fame led to alcoholism and while other members enjoyed cavorting with models in videos, Coxon was more likely to be photographed collapsing severely the worse for wear.

He is renouncing the pop star lifestyle for the peace of rural Kent after two stays in psychiatric hospitals. "I used to wake up and think, 'two hours to the pub opens, what am I going to do?' I was always pissed off with myself that I wanted to drink. I was angry with everyone. The Blur boys had to put up with me being completely insane with anger," he says in an interview with next month's Q magazine.

Blur's future has looked precarious for some time after singer Damon Albarn's solo project Gorillaz out-sold the last Blur album, and Coxon's departure will increase speculation that their new album will be the last.

Coxon says he was sacked in May by the band's manager, Chris Morrison, after four days recording. He said: "It was something to do with my attitude. Although I felt I was going about my work honestly, perhaps they mistook honesty for attitude."

He said the sacking followed a year when he spent two months suffering from alcohol and depression problems in psychiatric hospitals, one the celebrity-packed Priory in south-west London. Coxon said he had not spoken to anyone in the band since he had been sacked and added: "When we started, we needed each other an awful lot, but now sometimes I don't really think it matters who is involved." Blur were intimately associated with the London music scene around Camden Town, but Coxon says he is weary of the city and is moving to Kent to learn to use a plough and to buy a house with a garage large enough to tinker with his motorbike. He insists he will not be buying a mansion to adopt the lifestyle satirised in "Country House", claiming it will be more of a "shack". In another interview yesterday, Coxon said the move was for "survival purposes" and so he would not have to walk his daughter to school past drug dealers.

Some fans pointed out that both Blur and Coxon have records to promote. One correspondent to an internet message board commented: "Don't be at all surprised if they do sort things out – just in time to tour."

However, Mark Blake, deputy editor of Q, said there had been tensions for some time, with Coxon wanting to move to a more experimental, guitar-based sound against Albarn's pop instincts.

Andre Paine, news editor of NME, agreed Blur's future was in doubt. He said: "Graham was important to the band. Even Noel Gallagher said he was the only one he had any time for."