BOOKCHERR Singer Josh Toddwho celebrates his 30th anniversary of sobriety in November, spoke to Australian magazine Heavy about the benefits of abstinence, including improved physical and mental health, better relationships, greater financial stability and an increased sense of achievement.
“Without a doubt, being sober throughout, everything is so much better,” he said (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). “And that’s the nonsense that addicts tell themselves: ‘Oh, I can only be creative when I’m so worn out and do X, Y and Z.’ And that’s all nonsense. You become more successful…
“I’ve been sober for almost 30 years, it’ll be 30 years in November. And now that I’ve not been drinking and doing drugs for so long, I sometimes regret how much time I spent doing it because I just thought, wow, I wasted so much of my young life where you’re bulletproof, where you’re at the peak of your career, the best you’re ever going to be – with your body, your mind, your instincts, your voice, everything,” he continued. “And I’ve devoted so much time to drinking and doing drugs, which I would rather not have done, but I had to do what I had to do to get where I am today and I just have to stay in the here and now. But yeah, I’m undoubtedly more creative without it. I get more done. It’s my biggest asset, my sobriety. Without it, I have nothing.”
In May 2023 Todd told “Rock Of Nations with Dave Kinchen and Shane McEachern” about his abstinence: “Even if you cut out the drugs and alcohol, that’s just a symptom of the problem. The problem is your mind. Between your ears, I’m different than a normal guy on the street. That’s why I call it ‘the committee,’ and the committee between my ears can definitely be an asset or a liability. So you have to do a lot of things to deal with that and understand those certain voices in your head that really want to isolate you from people and make you drink and do drugs.
“I do a lot,” he continued. “I’m very active in Alcoholics Anonymous. I meditate. I attend. I have a lot of meetings to this day. I’m not done yet. I’m just working very hard to focus on the fact that this something I have is always lurking, and you have to take it really seriously, otherwise you can give in to these dark thoughts.”
“I too am a child of a suicide” Josh added: “My father took his own life when I was 10, and it Really, Really affected me. So that’s non-negotiable for me; I’m not going to do that under any circumstances. I have children and I know what that did to me as a child. It caused a lot of abandonment issues and made me very angry inside. I had a big hole inside me and I filled it with anything I could get. And so it’s just not something I’m ever going to consider, even though I do have occasional suicidal thoughts… It’s something that has to be taken very seriously.”
When asked if it was difficult to stay sober while on the road and to surround yourself with enough like-minded people to stay on the right path, Josh said, “It’s not really hard. If you really work on your fundamentals of recovery, you can be around people who… I don’t preach that. I don’t tell people not to drink or do drugs; I’m not that kind of guy. But I have a lot of sober people around me. Stevie (Dacanayguitar) has been dry for a long time. Francis (Ruizdrums) is sober; he doesn’t drink anymore; he hasn’t drunk the whole time I’ve known him. Billy (Roweguitar) – I think he drinks occasionally, but he’s a normal guy.
“I don’t want to talk about other people, that’s their business.” Josh continued. “But we have crew members and band members who occasionally use drugs. If it’s a problem, then we talk about it; we address it. I don’t turn anyone away because they have a problem. But if it starts to affect their work, then we have something to talk about.”
Todd He previously discussed his sobriety in a 2021 interview with Niclas Müller-Hansen from RockSverige. At the time he said: “The part about staying sober, not drinking or doing drugs, is not the hard part. The hard part is getting a grip on your mind, because the mind is broken. The alcoholic and addict mind is the problem. The drinking and drug use are just the symptoms of the problem. The only solution is the spiritual one, and I don’t want to sound crazy, but that’s the truth. It’s about being spiritual in life and all those things, and how do you do that? Well, for me it’s annual stocktaking where I get everything out of my head, write it down and tell someone else what’s going on with me. I meditate every day, I work with others, I go to meetings and things like that.
“Drugs and alcohol are everywhere,” he continued. “If you’re a rich businessman, there’s a lot of it. Drugs and alcohol are everywhere, not just among musicians.”
“I have people in my crew who smoke a lot of weed and I would roll you a joint. It doesn’t bother me. I don’t like being around people for long periods of time. I don’t want to be around someone who is totally wasted because if I’m not wasted, I don’t enjoy it. I like to really beat people up and then go (laughs) and let them fool you.
“I don’t preach about my sobriety,” Josh added. “If getting drunk works for you, God bless you. It didn’t work for me after a while. I was really drunk from 13 to 23. You wouldn’t have recognized me. I was a terrible drug addict and alcoholic and it just didn’t work for me anymore. I did really well.”
When asked if he managed to stop drinking on his own or if someone else took him to rehab to help him quit drinking, Josh said: “There were a few things that happened in my life at the same time that made me sober. My first daughter was born and she had just turned 27. I was a broke musician at the time. I was terrified and didn’t know how to be a father. I hadn’t had a father since I was 10. I didn’t know anything about it. I was trying to pursue my dreams but it wasn’t working out and I had a massive drinking and drug problem. Intuitively I just thought, ‘Man, I’m at a crossroads and something has to change. I don’t know what to do.’ I just said that out loud and thought about it every day.
“I got arrested for drunk driving in Orange County and was assigned all these AA meetings for my DUI program,” he revealed. “I started going to the meetings and at one point a guy stood up who didn’t look like me. He was just a guy who worked nine to five, shirt and tie, and I didn’t know people lived sober lives. He basically told my story. He talked about how he drank and did drugs and it was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s me.’ That gave me the courage to just raise my hand and say ‘newbie.'” And then everything changed. I knew that was the last stop. I was on my way to jail, an institution or death. I had had alcohol poisoning before when I was 23 and at one point my hands were paralyzed for a good hour and I didn’t know it was alcohol poisoning. I had been drinking and using crystal meth for three days, got alcohol poisoning, and was scared out of my mind. I had a lot of these moments of clarity while I was drinking and doing drugs, but I couldn’t stop. So I got sober and never looked back. I knew that as long as I put abstinence at the top of my list, everything else in my life would work out. And look at me – it all worked out.”
BOOKCHERR released his tenth studio album, “Volume 10”in June 2023.
