Animal Collective star Avey Tare has blamed an "intense" bout of strep throat for crippling the band's North American tour.

The rockers called off a number of shows in Canada and the U.S. earlier this month (Mar13) due to "sudden illness" and this week (beg18Mar13) they postponed the rest of the American leg, axing seven shows, including stops in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Salt Lake City, Utah.

Frontman Tare has now revealed he has been suffering from a nasty throat condition but hopes to recover in time to restart the band's tour in Europe in May (13).

In a post on the band's Facebook.com page, he writes, "It kills me to have to postpone all these shows and it's something I could never even have imagined happening... But because of the strain on my voice that's being caused by an intense case of strep throat, I am unable to play any of these shows. Unfortunately, I wasn't diagnosed soon enough and haven't been able to kick this in the right amount of time.

"We promise you all that we are doing everything we can to reschedule all these shows Asap... We hope you can all understand and sympathise with the situation. It's been really fun for all of us to be playing these days and the energy you all give us makes us want to take it further and further with you and give it right back. Hopefully, we can continue to do this together soon. Until then. Stay Well."

Animal Collective's European tour kicks off in Nimes, France on 22 May (13).