Drugs In Music

[Neil]

Morning Guys,

I was just reading the thread about 'The Rev' and it got me thinking about the availability of drugs etc in the music industry and why?
I remember watching the biography of Bon Jovi on the Biography channel and his mum saying that music exec's/managers were pumping steroids into her son so he had enough energy to perform each night. Why? I'd imagine it's so they protect the bottom line, canceled gig means no money right? So are drugs something that comes along 'hand in hand' with band performing sell out shows every night? Or is it that the sort of people have the talent to get to the top for instance Cobain/Hendrix and others had a self-destructive streak, lets face it to get to the top you have to make certain sacrifices perhaps for instance, schooling/social events/relationships etc that might 'normally' give you a decent grounding...

This is a question more for the pro's and the guys that have been around but are drugs really that obtainable at the highest level. I'm 26, drumming is my hobby but I'm well aware of the dangers these things present and I just wouldn't start down that road. If I were to reach that sort of level.

I mean this thread with the greatest respect to all those who have been affected by this and I think any replies should take the sadness of loss into account.

[wy yung]

I think it's no different from any other walk of life. Drugs are very real in society, alcohol, cocaine, trips etc are a part of life these days and have been for quite some time. I've known several non musicians who have died of drug overdoses.

[BassDriver]

"You see, I think drugs have done some good things for us. I really do. And if you don't believe drugs have done good things for us, do me a favor. Go home tonight. Take all your albums, all your tapes and all your CDs and burn them. 'Cause you know what, the musicians that made all that great music that's enhanced your lives throughout the years were rrreal fucking high on drugs. The Beatles were so fucking high they let Ringo sing a few tunes. " - Bill Hicks

You can hear this quote at the beginning of Tool's Third Eye, it's often mistaken for James Maynard Keenan.

When do you hear any really famous music acts without drugs being involved somewhere down the line.

Of course there are those that got famous for their talent without drugs getting in the way, some got caught and some didn't but many of the big ones got involved with drugs...I mean: Elvis, Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Sex Pistols, ACDC...list goes on.

Fame does things to people, a lot of pressure is put on these people to perform and they often don't have much time to relax and forget about deals and contracts and producing.

[Pollyanna]

It's been happening forever. Even as far back as Charlie Parker musos have been into it. Back then I imagine its introduction to the music scene stemmed from players raised on the wrong side of the tracks and were familiar with the drug scene. But there's more to it than just availability.

'Trane's example is illuminating. He was into hard drugs and then he stopped and got into spirituality. He was looking for a higher plane, perhaps a sense of, "Surely there's more to life than this dogfight". "Everydayness" clearly didn't do it for him; he was a seeker. My big sister fell off the spiritual cliff and went religious on me (sorry religious people, but it's not my thing) - another one looking for more.

In the 60s the Cain't-Get-No-Satisfaction dynamic was similar, but the Grand Search somehow ended up as hedonism. Ironic that "primitive" people generally used rather than abused their gear. With a lack of mainstream cultural drug lore - thanks to our collective denial - for as long as I've been aware of this stuff young people's first experiences with drugs are only guided by their peers and (now) the Internet. That's sad ... our current approaches do a lot of damage. It would great if politicians and the media etc were more knowledgable and simply talked about the whole thing without patronising us.

Whatever, most intoxicants I used in the 70s/80s made my drumming sloppy. Nor do I hanker for that super-high and rise grandly above mundanity. The garden-variety high of hearing my band playing well is enough for me.

I might change my mind if I can see The Reaper approaching though ;-)

[razorx]

I think it comes with the industry. It's one of the reasons why I don't want to get involved in it. I would rather play for my own enjoyment in my basement.

[Pollyanna]

Originally Posted by razorx

I think it comes with the industry. It's one of the reasons why I don't want to get involved in it. I would rather play for my own enjoyment in my basement.

Razor, not knocking basement drumming because it's fun, but there's no rule that says you HAVE to partake. Lots of musos are clean. My current band is clean (if you don't count moderate amounts of wine and beer) but we're no spring chickens.

[Neil]

I think it's no different from any other walk of life. Drugs are very real in society, alcohol, cocaine, trips etc are a part of life these days and have been for quite some time. I've known several non musicians who have died of drug overdoses.

That's a shame, I'm sorry to hear that.

Regarding musicians, I guess we hear about it more as it usually ends up in the media, isn't there rumors going around that Michael Jackson was being prescribed a cocktail of painkillers after being burnt in that Pepsi ad? Sorry can't check my facts while at work.

Pollyanna makes an interesting point, about becoming sloppy when playing under the influence. I'm probably quite naive about the scene and the pressure these artists are under it seems there's always some story about an artist having problems etc I find it quite interesting what it is that makes people lean towards trying that sort of thing and risking everything.

However, I don't want to detract from the obvious truth that there is a wider problem in the general public that doesn't receive media attention.

[GRUNTERSDAD]

James Taylor's "I've seen Fire, I've seem Rain" about his heroin addiction. Since the beginning of time, man and musicians have looked for an escape.

[bermuda]

Originally Posted by wy yung

I think it's no different from any other walk of life.

Exactly.

We just tend to pay more attention to celebrities and musicians because they're in the spotlight and more exposed.

Bermuda

[Skulmoski]

Originally Posted by GRUNTERSDAD

Since the beginning of time, man and musicians have looked for an escape.

Might I take the liberty to expand what you wrote to "man and artists" such as Van Gogh and many others.

While I have dabbled, I have been fortunate to have not been negatively affected. My drug of choice these days is a nice groove!

GJS

[larryace]

Nearly all humans, it seems, have to do something from the list below. Can you name anyone who doesn't do too much, or is a slave of one of the following?

Mood altering drugs
Alcohol (should be in the drug category, really)
Food
Religion
Power
Money (which includes gambling)
Sex

All theses things alter mood.
It must be hardwired in, to not be satisfied with our "normal" moods.
What a great excuse!

[razorx]

Originally Posted by Pollyanna

Razor, not knocking basement drumming because it's fun, but there's no rule that says you HAVE to partake. Lots of musos are clean. My current band is clean (if you don't count moderate amounts of wine and beer) but we're no spring chickens.

I'm not saying that you have to. It breaks my heart to see people drink and do drugs and then see them die because they make stupid choices.. Even witnessing people drink at a concert bothers me.

[mcbike]

I think drugs are more prevalent in music than in regular society, certianly more accepted. Every single time I go to my practice space somebody is smoking weed in the building. Obviously weed is a different "drug" than hard drugs like coke or heroin. I have seen it all too in past bands I've been in. I remember one tour our van had red puke going down the passenger side, and bright yellow (what the hell is that?) going down the drivers side. I've even played a show where the bass player took a line of coke off a knife ON STAGE. Just ridiculous stuff that you don't see in regular society. In certain genres self destruction and violence are part of the music.

Free drugs are always available if you want them. People who do drugs socially don't like to do them alone and are always offering to get you high. for the casual user its their every once and a while chance to do drugs with the band. If your on the road for any amount of time It definatley catches up to you. Every band I've ever been on the road with the drinkers always end up drinking every night. Pretty much every place you play will give you free drinks, and at the end of the tour you have been drinking for 3 weeks straight it's a bad downward spiral. I've played in bands with guys who couldn't even keep their hand steady unless they had a few drinks.

I don't drink or do any drugs so I've always been the fly on the wall or the designated driver who lives to tell about it. I have a good radar for drug use too, even when I'm playing I can tell who in the crowd is making a few too many trips to the bathroom, or if they are just up to no good I can usually spot it.

I've only lost one musician to drugs and it was really hard, but his drug problem combined with cancer and he avoided treatment becuase he didn't want to stop doing drugs.

[arthurk1]

Sex, Drugs, and rock and roll baby!!!! I can't immagine a big elaborate tour with out extreme partying! How lame would Metallica have been if they weren't known as Alcoholica back then or the intense stuff done by Motley Crue, Ozzy, Aerosmith, and the list just keeps going. That is what makes Hollywood and LA the great place that it is, IMO. Everything in moderation is best, but sometimes it gets out of hand, but I think better to have lived like a wild rock star then to have been a boring, couch potato.

[bermuda]

Originally Posted by arthurk1

...but I think better to have lived like a wild rock star then to have been a boring, couch potato.

I'm a boring couch potato... all the way to the bank.

I have great memories, and can still remember them. I also look and feel pretty good for my age. I know plenty of players 10 and 20 years my junior who partied hard and look like hell, and I can only imagine how their insides are doing.

Most of the survivors are a real piece of work, and in the end, their stories aren't much more interesting than mine.

And there are a lot more abusers who wish they had been smarter, than guys who wish they'd partied harder. I've never heard anyone say "I have a great career, money in the bank, and I'm in perfect health... what a waste."

Bermuda

[Bernhard]

Originally Posted by arthurk1

Sex, Drugs, and rock and roll baby!!!! I can't immagine a big elaborate tour with out extreme partying! How lame would Metallica have been if they weren't known as Alcoholica back then or the intense stuff done by Motley Crue, Ozzy, Aerosmith, and the list just keeps going. That is what makes Hollywood and LA the great place that it is, IMO. Everything in moderation is best, but sometimes it gets out of hand, but I think better to have lived like a wild rock star then to have been a boring, couch potato.

Sorry to say: you stupid you...and completely wrong. Consult the memories of Joey Kramer

Bernhard

Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll.

Sex - no havent had that at gigs.

Drugs - Aniden, or Nurofen when i have played my drums to loud.

Rock and Roll - always when i finish the 1st set and i am aloud to start drinking.

Or, other wise Drugs is a mugs game.

I work long hours, running a business, only really stop for 30 mins a day, stressed to the eye balls and wanting to kill people most of the time, but i do not need drugs, to keepme going.

[RollingStone000]

Originally Posted by Bernhard

Sorry to say: you stupid you...and completely wrong. Consult the memories of Joey Kramer

Bernhard

I remember one of Kramer's quotes, I think it was around the time the drugs really started taking a toll and stated some thing like, "I started as a drummer who dabbled with drugs to a druggie who dabbled in music".

And Motley Crue sucks.

[brownie1969]

Bad genetics........or, "good" drugs????
http://adage.com/songsforsoap/post?article_id=125478

[Ethan01]

Originally Posted by razorx

I'm not saying that you have to. It breaks my heart to see people drink and do drugs and then see them die because they make stupid choices.. Even witnessing people drink at a concert bothers me.

What? I'm sorry but I'll be honest... no one's asking you to be a performer. No one's asking you to goto concerts.

And don't feel sorry for us... I don't have to wear a suit every day to work =P

[DrumEatDrum]

There are a few factors at work here.

As someone mentioned in a prior thread, most bands perform around places where alcohol is served, being a bar, night club, or wedding. Churches and coffee shops being the main exceptions. So there is tie in from the start between performing and drinking.

The music business can be brutal, with the constant pressure to perform at a high level, knowing that every move can make you or break you. And even at the top, the pressure is immense to be able to stay there.

But overall, I agree with those that mention drug use is not really more used by musicians than the general public. Go down to skid row, or the Betty Ford clinic, or any drug rehab facility, and you'll see the majority of users are NOT musicians. The illegal drug trade is in the billions of dollars every year; musicians make up only a tiny fraction of that.

The media loves a good story about someone doing something wrong, so the musicians who have drug problems tend to over highlighted. Plenty of musicians don't do drugs, but they tend to not get featured on TMZ for being perfectly healthy.

[arthurk1]

Well I didn't think that I would get by on that post without some major criticism. I will say that I never play buzzed, even in the slightest, and certainly don't use heavy drugs, but as others mentioned, most of the hit records of the 60's,-90's we're made under the influence. Sad but true and those statements come right from the artist's mouths. Hendrix, Fleeetwood Mac, Santana, and on and on and on. Sure, is it bad for your body, YES, but those bands wouldn't have released those records had they been sober, PERIOD! I am in great shape, I also can remember every show I've played, and make very good money playing the drums, I'm saying a few drinks and a litle weed isn't the end of the world. A little debauchery isn't that bad and certainly one of the perks of this business. Do you really think guys like Mick Jagger or Rick Ocasik would get super models if they weren't in a famous band? Of course not. I date way above my level if it just based on looks but women love musicians and it works for me. Just sayin!

[Bernhard]

Originally Posted by arthurk1

Well I didn't think that I would get by on that post without some major criticism. I will say that I never play buzzed, even in the slightest, and certainly don't use heavy drugs, but as others mentioned, most of the hit records of the 60's,-90's we're made under the influence. Sad but true and those statements come right from the artist's mouths. Hendrix, Fleeetwood Mac, Santana, and on and on and on. Sure, is it bad for your body, YES, but those bands wouldn't have released those records had they been sober, PERIOD! I am in great shape, I also can remember every show I've played, and make very good money playing the drums, I'm saying a few drinks and a litle weed isn't the end of the world. A little debauchery isn't that bad and certainly one of the perks of this business. Do you really think guys like Mick Jagger or Rick Ocasik would get super models if they weren't in a famous band? Of course not. I date way above my level if it just based on looks but women love musicians and it works for me. Just sayin!

Ok, yes, that's also very true - imo

Bernhard

[Spinozalove]

Originally Posted by BassDriver

When do you hear any really famous music acts without drugs being involved somewhere down the line.

Fugazi are one intensely imaginative, creative, and hard working band who do not allow drugs to control them. They are not the biggest band in the world, but they have always stayed independent purposefully, controlling the way they do things rather than allowing the music industry to control them. It is because they do not do drugs that they have the energy and organisational skills to maintain complete creative control over their music, as well as the way they run the band. Rather than allowing this joke of a music industry to control how we do things, they show that it is possible to create another kind of music industry that is genuinely more concerned with making music than some kind of banal consumer product. Drugs are just a distraction. They are fun, and there is nothing wrong with having fun. But they are just a distraction, and they give us no deep insight into the nature of life, music, or anything else.

[BassDriver]

I'm going to refer back to that Bill Hicks quote.

I'm not saying drug abuse is good but have you considered that it is used by the musos to take them to a creative level where they are at their best of creating their music.

Imagine if Bob Dylan wasn't on drugs or if he didn't introduce The Beatles to weed...what would their music be like? Would they achieve music that would sell?

I know that there are ways of having psychedelic experiences without drugs but drugs seem to be the method of choice for big-time musos.

Not just that, MJ and Elvis took drugs to keep themselves performing (sleeping pills, pills to keep them awake, painkillers etc.) and eventually they OD-ed on them...there was that much pressure from managers, producers and record companies for them to sell more.

[jim_gregory]

Drugs suck!
I got caught up in it and it nearly killed me now my kid is caught up in it and I have to hope he doesn't die. Half my friends died. HALF!
I hate drugs, and drug dealers, and everything else about it. My bass and guitarist both smoke till they cant do anything. It's stupid. It isn't cool. It's retarded. It didn't HELP any of those guys back in the day. They just did it cuz it was there. No way it HELPS anybody.
Drugs suck!
Zappa managed to make music without drugs. So did plenty of others. Gee..what do ya know.
When your only child is an addict you bastards who think drugs are OK tell me how you feel THEN. Till then you have no idea. I watched these kids grow up and start playing music, start smoking pot and then WHAM, heroin everywhere. I can't describe how I despise it. I saw it happening and just couldnt do a thing. Some are dead now and more to come.
But ya man..dont worry. It won't happen to you. It's cool. Party Dude!

[Pollyanna]

Originally Posted by Spinozalove

they give us no deep insight into the nature of life, music, or anything else.

They don't give insights in themselves, but psychoactive intoxicants in moderation do get you thinking different thoughts, and not all those thoughts are worthless. That's why, as I said before, tribal people have long used them. They can be quite useful in that sense. I also remember getting through a gig that I would have been otherwise too sick to play with the help of ... stuff.

In this society we seem compelled to say "No, ALL drugs in ANY doses are useless" because of the danger that some naive kid will read it and think "Oh cool! I wanna do it!".

That would seem logical except that those same kids generally experiment anyway. Then they find out in their first few experiences that the world hasn't fallen in. They figure they've not been told the truth by authority figures and this results in them completely disregarding any warnings.

So drugs are not used, but abused. For psycho-actives the law of diminishing returns cuts in at more than about one a week or fortnight - and NOT binged. However, people so often do this stuff every day AND binge on it. That's a sure way of reducing any possible insights. But since this society says in its naivete that intoxicants are never about insights and only about "having a good time" they get abused like crazy and sad things happen - deaths, wasted potentials ...

THAT's when it's dangerous because drugs + lack of knowledge = danger. Aspirin is dangerous when overused. So is paracetamol. Even sugar (obesity/diabetes) and salt (arteries). Water too; hyper-hydration can kill you.

GD put it well "Since the beginning of time, [wo/]man and musicians have looked for an escape". That's the reality and musicians - through the subculture and the search for transcendent creativity - tend to do it more. Earlier someone pointed out that musicians are under pressure to perform at a high level all the time. Most jobs don't require peak performance - where you give it your all - as often or as intensely as live music does. I think it's a factor.

But not all musos ... Frank Zappa sacked band members who used mind altering drugs (but he lived on cigarettes and coffee). Robert Fripp lives clean. Bill Bruford only liked booze. 'Trane quit all the stuff. All massively creative people. There's no formula.

[BassDriver]

Cigarettes and Coffee aren't much different to Coke or Weed.

Nicotine is the most addicted to drug in the world and to a degree alters the mind in that it is a stimulant and releives stress, I'm sure Frank Zappa was under stress as well, although I have to admit he was very talented to achieve the success he did.

Caffeine addiction also happens. If Zappa lived on Coffee it would be used for the same reason as ciggarettes, releives stress.

The harder drugs just have stronger effects and people easily go off the edge with them.

When do you ever hear in the mass media of someone dieing from nicotine addiction as opposed to that kid that went over the edge with coke?

More people die from lung cancer and emphacema from smoking cigarettes than people die from weed or coke or opium or any other hard drugs...smoking deaths are less televised because the tobacco industry has power.

Just like the discussion of whether driving or flying is safer? Hundreds of people around the world die every day from car accidents, but the plane crashes are more televised.

[Ian Williams]

All in - excess - is a drug.

[jim_gregory]

Originally Posted by BassDriver

Cigarettes and Coffee aren't much different to Coke or Weed.

Nicotine is the most addicted to drug in the world and to a degree alters the mind in that it is a stimulant and releives stress, I'm sure Frank Zappa was under stress as well, although I have to admit he was very talented to achieve the success he did.

Caffeine addiction also happens. If Zappa lived on Coffee it would be used for the same reason as ciggarettes, releives stress.

The harder drugs just have stronger effects and people easily go off the edge with them.

When do you ever hear in the mass media of someone dieing from nicotine addiction as opposed to that kid that went over the edge with coke?

More people die from lung cancer and emphacema from smoking cigarettes than people die from weed or coke or opium or any other hard drugs...smoking deaths are less televised because the tobacco industry has power.

Just like the discussion of whether driving or flying is safer? Hundreds of people around the world die every day from car accidents, but the plane crashes are more televised.

So..OK..but whats your point? I'll take lung cancer at 65 over heroin OD at 22. Must we choose? I drink coffe and I don't think it wll kill me. I also smoke and I DO think that will kill me.

[tbmills]

honestly, i used to never take part. i actually used to look down upon those who would even drink. now, i play live full time and am very thankful i have a job that doesnt give drug tests. i dont abuse anything. i have a few drinks and smoke a little every night... sue me.

[harryconway]

Originally Posted by Neil

I was just reading the thread about 'The Rev' and it got me thinking about the availability of drugs etc in the music industry and why?

Drugs and/or alcohol dependency can be found in all aspects of society. I think the public just accepts, even tolerates, such behaviour from musicians. Example: You probably wouldn't want your hip replacement surgery done by a doctor strung out on heroin, but you might tolerate paying big money to go to a concert to see a band play who are known to be "blasted" at all their shows. Certain jobs, you almost expect to see a presence of drugs and alcohol. The music industry is given a wide berth.

Just about evey name above...musicians who started out very young, and bam, success. So I think, a lot of it is youth, suddenly given more money that gawd, make 'em a rock star, fly 'em around the world a couple of times, and if they have that pre-disposed addictive personality within', there's gonna be trouble.

Metallica, Aerosmith and Motley Crue, I see, have all been mentioned. And they were, at one time, all way out of control, by their own admission. And they all had to clean up. If they wanted to survive.

The media, of course, loves to report celebrity "bad behaviour". Because that's what sells. But go into any AA, NA, or CA meeting, and you're not going to find a room full of movie stars and rock stars. No, your just gonna find "regular" folks, for the most part, from all walks of life, sharing the "commonality of addiction", and trying to find a better way to live.

[con struct]

My experience has been that musicians have a lot of spare time and there aren't a lot of things to do with that time. So much of what we do is just waiting around, waiting for sound check, waiting to play, waiting in the hotel, sitting on a bus, and then there are all the little stresses that come with that sort of life.

Sleep was always the thing for me. I never got any sleep on the road. Everything is too frenetic. Anyway it's far from living "normally." So if someone gave me a "bump" I'd take it. That was a long time ago.

There are plenty of people who live off of musicians, people who make their money selling drugs to musicians, people who hang around. It's been that way ever since I started working professionally.

The guys I knew who really messed themselves up, though, did it with alcohol. There was always pot around, of course, and there was a big cocaine thing going on during the seventies and eighties, but I don't think I've lost any musician friends to drugs. No, there was one. But mostly it was the booze.

Edit: I do not advocate any of this.

[MNdrummer21]

"This is the reason why bards love wine, mead, narcotics, coffee, tea, opium, the fumes of sandal-wood and tobacco, or whatever other species of animal exhilaration. All men avail themselves of such means as they can, to add this extraordinary power to their normal powers; and to this end they prize conversation, music, pictures, sculpture, dancing, theatres, travelling, war, mobs, fires, gaming, politics, or love, or science, or animal intoxication, which are several coarser or finer quasi-mechanical substitutes for the true nectar, which is the ravishment of the intellect by coming nearer to the fact. These are auxiliaries to the centrifugal tendency of a man, to his passage out into free space, and they help him to escape the custody of that body in which he is pent up, and of that jail-yard of individual relations in which he is enclosed. Hence a great number of such as were professionally expressors of Beauty, as painters, poets, musicians, and actors, have been more than others wont to lead a life of pleasure and indulgence; all but the few who received the true nectar; and, as it was a spurious mode of attaining freedom, as it was an emancipation not into the heavens, but into the freedom of baser places, they were punished for that advantage they won, by a dissipation and deterioration. But never can any advantage be taken of nature by a trick. The spirit of the world, the great calm presence of the creator, comes not forth to the sorceries of opium or of wine. The sublime vision comes to the pure and simple soul in a clean and chaste body. That is not an inspiration which we owe to narcotics, but some counterfeit excitement and fury. Milton says, that the lyric poet may drink wine and live generously, but the epic poet, he who shall sing of the gods, and their descent unto men, must drink water out of a wooden bowl."-Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Poet

[Pollyanna]

Wow, for a minute I thought you were some amazing genius, MNdrummer. Great quote.

These are auxiliaries to the centrifugal tendency of a man, to his passage out into free space, and they help him to escape the custody of that body in which he is pent up, and of that jail-yard of individual relations in which he is enclosed. Hence a great number of such as were professionally expressors of Beauty, as painters, poets, musicians, and actors, have been more than others wont to lead a life of pleasure and indulgence; all but the few who received the true nectar; and, as it was a spurious mode of attaining freedom, as it was an emancipation not into the heavens, but into the freedom of baser places, they were punished for that advantage they won, by a dissipation and deterioration.

Wow!

[theindian]

Lets see, I am a recovering opiate addict, (really anything but mostly oxycontin & heroin)
I started smoking & drinking right around the same time I started playing music. I thought it was just part of becoming a musician. In the begining years drugs opened my eyes, changed my perspective and allowed to see new horizons, both musically & realisticly. It made me who I am.

Everything was cool for years until I got really wasted totaled my car & had severe injuries requiring me to take pain medication for several months. I was never able to stop taking it and finnally got off of it about a year ago. I still like to have a beer here & there but I try to stay away from the hard stuff. I have a life again and wish I had never gotten that bad on drugs. It had nothing to do with playing music but it was b/c I was an addict and I wasn't happy with my personal life.

Drugs are just as prevalent in any other industry, especially the food service industry. But its not rock star party free drugs, its work all week long to blow your check on a 3 day binge, then do it over again. This is probably my longest post on DW but its somthing that I have really experienced and want to talk about. I'm playing in a band now and we are playing local clubs/bars, I know there are drugs but I choose not to partake anymore. Most of the guys in my band don't really mess with anything harder than weed,, so it is possible to play music regularly without using drugs. For some reason really creative people are drawn to hard drugs. I thought I was living a rock star life style, but I was really living a loser junkie lifestyle. Now that I am off that shit, I have money, a gcool job, and my playing is much better than it used to be!

[Neil]

They don't give insights in themselves, but psychoactive intoxicants in moderation do get you thinking different thoughts, and not all those thoughts are worthless

I agree with this statement and possibly a lot of creative people would site this as being a reason they take it. Just to be pain and counter that though... sitting at the top of Primrose hill (big hill in the middle of London) and sitting on a busy tube both give me different thoughts, my point being, just changing my location can have influence on my thoughts and therefore creativity? Admittidly I probably wouldn't ever write an album like Pet Sounds sitting on a hill or in a tube train :)

You probably wouldn't want your hip replacement surgery done by a doctor strung out on heroin, but you might tolerate paying big money to go to a concert to see a band play who are known to be "blasted" at all their shows

That's an interesting concept I'm not sure I would stop going to a festival just because I knew a band was performing who had a history of substance abuse..I saw Motley Crew this summer, Tommy Lee was doing shots of Jagermeister on stage and passing the bottle out to the crowd and doing shots with people. Does mean I condone drugs via proxy? Even though I feel quite strongly against them... not sure about that one.

I guess it's human nature to be inqusitive and try these things out and for some they find the relief of awakening they've been looking for.

[jim_gregory]

Originally Posted by theindian

Lets see, I am a recovering opiate addict, (really anything but mostly oxycontin & heroin)
I started smoking & drinking right around the same time I started playing music. I thought it was just part of becoming a musician. In the begining years drugs opened my eyes, changed my perspective and allowed to see new horizons, both musically & realisticly. It made me who I am.

Everything was cool for years until I got really wasted totaled my car & had severe injuries requiring me to take pain medication for several months. I was never able to stop taking it and finnally got off of it about a year ago. I still like to have a beer here & there but I try to stay away from the hard stuff. I have a life again and wish I had never gotten that bad on drugs. It had nothing to do with playing music but it was b/c I was an addict and I wasn't happy with my personal life.

Drugs are just as prevalent in any other industry, especially the food service industry. But its not rock star party free drugs, its work all week long to blow your check on a 3 day binge, then do it over again. This is probably my longest post on DW but its somthing that I have really experienced and want to talk about. I'm playing in a band now and we are playing local clubs/bars, I know there are drugs but I choose not to partake anymore. Most of the guys in my band don't really mess with anything harder than weed,, so it is possible to play music regularly without using drugs. For some reason really creative people are drawn to hard drugs. I thought I was living a rock star life style, but I was really living a loser junkie lifestyle. Now that I am off that shit, I have money, a gcool job, and my playing is much better than it used to be!

Good for you. Well done.

[jim_gregory]

Originally Posted by tbmills

honestly, i used to never take part. i actually used to look down upon those who would even drink. now, i play live full time and am very thankful i have a job that doesnt give drug tests. i dont abuse anything. i have a few drinks and smoke a little every night... sue me.

Pot should be legal and rum is. You will get no law suit outa me!
Though I may sound it, I'm not at all puritanical. I just want the kids(read "mine") to survive long enough to wake up and enjoy a real life. Life is very good.
I have a couple of drinks during shows. Too serious without.

Apoligies for the earlier drama. Sometimes I get real pissed off.

[zboye]

It's all about discipline and listening to your body talking/screaming at you.