Idles frontman Joe Talbot felt “scared and lost” while making their album ‘Ultra Mono’.
The 39-year-old rocker spent years battling addiction issues before getting sober last year, and he’s revealed his issues both personal and professional became apparent in the lyrics he wrote for their successful third album which dropped in 2020.
He told The Independent newspaper: “I got to a place about two albums in where I was becoming too self-aware. I became detached.
“You can hear it in the words. I’ve always found violence to be a beautiful thing in art – but write those words down and you can see they are not the words of a healthy man. I was scared and lost and angry.”
Talbot started on the road to recovery after nearly losing his life in a horrific car accident, but he’s insisted becoming a first-time father had more of an impact on his decision to change his ways.
When asked if the crash was the wake-up called he needed, Talbot explained: “You’d think so, wouldn’t you?
“It wasn’t as steep a learning curve as that, I’m afraid. Not a Hollywood moment like that … Unfortunately it took me longer to take accountability. That’s not the only time I’ve almost died and it’s definitely not the only time I’ve nearly ruined my life and other people’s.
“Having a child was way more impactful.”
He added of giving up booze: “[I’ve been sober for eight] or nine months, something like that. I stopped counting; the worst thing about recovery is the meritocracy that comes with it. It’s good for some people to count, I guess, but I’m not not going to have a glass of wine ever again.”