As part of a recent conversation with Rock Of Nations With Dave Kinchen And Shane McEachern, BUCKCHERRY vocalist Josh Todd answered a question about whether he shares the same experiences that DISTURBED vocalist David Draiman recently shared when he said he almost went down the path of Chester, Chris and Scott because of addiction and depression:
“Absolutely. I’m an alcoholic. I’ve been clean and sober from drugs and alcohol for 28 years. And although you get rid of drugs and alcohol, it’s only a symptom of the problem. The problem is in your mind. If you think about it, I’m different from the average guy walking down the street. So for that reason – I call it a “committee,” and the committee between my ears can be an asset or a liability. So you have to do a lot of things to deal with it and to understand those particular voices in your head that really want to isolate you from people and get you to drink and use.
I do a lot of things. I’m very active in Alcoholics Anonymous. I meditate. I come to meetings. I have a lot of meetings to this day. I’m still working on myself. I’m just working hard to stay focused on the fact that the problem that I have is always there for me, and I need to take it seriously, or else I can be influenced by dark thoughts. And I understand what he’s talking about.
Besides, I’m the child of a suicide. My father killed himself when I was 10 years old, and it affected me a lot. So for me, those kinds of issues are out of the question; there’s no way I would do something like that. I have children, and I know very well the impact it had on me as a child. It created a lot of problems in me about not having parents; I was very angry inside. I had a huge hole inside and I filled it with everything I could reach. So because of that I would never think about suicide, although sometimes I have suicidal thoughts. And I understand what David is talking about. It has to be taken very seriously, and I hope he gets help.”
