Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody reveals how he almost drowned his career in alcohol
Back in 2011, Snow Patrol were at the peak of their career. Fresh off the launch of their sixth studio album 'Fallen Empires', the Scottish-Irish alt rockers were scorching the indie rock scene.
But suddenly, they went quiet, but made their comeback this year with their latest LP, 'Wildness'.
Now, a full seven years later, in a tell-all interview with The Big Issue Magazine, frontman Gary Lightbody has come clean to speak about his crippling depression and alcohol abuse over the last decade.
The 41-year-old musician revealed that he would be performing to packed arenas yet be crying on the floor of his hotel room just hours later.
"I could be playing to 15,000 people and three hours later be in a hotel room, crying on the floor. That's happened a bunch of times."
"I started drinking with a gusto that a professional boxer might train for a prize fight. It’d be mostly beer. I was quite a happy drunk. There was a hell of a lot of fun. Until it wasn’t," admitted Lightbody.
Lightbody also admitted in a recent in-depth interview on the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast that his battle with alcoholism was the primary reason for the delay of the aptly named new album.
"A lot of the reason why it took seven years to make this record was because for the first five of them I was hammered," Lightbody says.
"And then, you know, two years ago I quit. And lo and behold, as if by magic, we started working in earnest with gusto. I got to a stage with drinking where it wasn't fun anymore. It was creating too many problems for me and my health. I would go out and get drunk every every day and sometimes just be sitting in a bar by myself drinking and I always promised myself that I would never do that."
"I'm an American alcoholic; I'm an Irish drinker," Lightbody quips.
While he's been clean for the last two years, Lightbody recalls the noticeable change in his personality during his dark days.
"I have a depressive personality that has no relationship with reality," he told Big Issue magazine.
"I could be having the best time on the surface and yet my depression goes 'You're still a c***. Don't forget that. I'm dragging you down into the ink and the dirt and the darkness'".
"I'd get to 2am sitting on my own, have a cry, and then a glass of something. I didn't have any relationships and I wasn't having sex either. I was very hermetic. Around 2015-2016 I was drinking every day and also I was hating it."
Lightbody also spoke about what he learned from his battle with alcoholism and the importance of looking the addiction in the eye and saying enough.
"I've learned that, rather than running from it, which you can never really do - you can never run away from yourself - is you have to turn and face it and look it in the eye and say 'I'm not afraid of you anymore'."
Meanwhile, Snow Patrol will be hitting the road in support of their latest album and of course, Gary will be joining them through the hike. The Irish rockers will hit the road in December for shows in Newcastle, Belfast and Dublin. After a month-long break, the tour will then continue into January for shows in London, Leeds, Manchester and Glasgow.