The Zutons frontman Dave McCabe partly ditched alcohol because he couldn’t sing as well.
The 43-year-old rocker has struggled with addiction, which was part of the reason why the ‘Valerie’ hitmakers have taken so long to reform, with their first album in 16 years, ‘The Big Decider’, set to be released on April 26.
They had also tried solo projects, but Dave admits nothing compares to the feeling of being in indie group.
Asked why it has taken more than a decade for them to reunite, Dave told Classic Pop magazine: “We didn’t split up, we fell out. I tried to do a solo thing but, to be honest, you only meet these people once in your life. Any other band I tried to get going just wasn’t as good as The Zutons and the feeling of playing live with them. I had problems with addiction, so l wasn’t in the best place for a long time.
“Maybe that’s why it took 16 years.”
He added: “We did a 15th anniversary tour for Who Killed… The Zutons? in 2019 and I realised I couldn’t sing as
well as I should be able to, so that’s kinda why I stopped drinking.”
Dave insisted they are “not back together for the money”, before going on to reveal that he penned one of the songs on the LP, ‘Best Of Me’, when he was still in rehab.
He said: “Most of this album was written while I was still drinking, but Best Of Me, the last song, was written in rehab and is kind of about sobriety. But the album is meant to be uplifting.
Though You Can Do Anything is a bit of a forgotten album, there was a bit of moaning going on so I just didn’t want to do any of that.”
The album is produced by studio wizard Nile Rodgers, and the trio – completed by Sean Payne and Abi Harding – have also reunited with original producer Ian Broudie of The Lightning Seeds.
It will mark the group’s first studio effort since 2008’s ‘You Can Do Anything’.