Complex sentence: The Bombers'original drummer was Lancaster's ex-Status Quo band mate John Coghlan, but, ironically, Lancaster had been complicit in engineering Coghlan's departure from the band four year prior to his own.
Split into simpler sentences: The Bombers'original drummer was Lancaster's ex-Status Quo band mate John Coghlan. Ironically, Lancaster had been complicit in engineering Coghlan's departure from the band 4 year prior to his own.