Iggy Pop, Tommy Lee Helping Sum 41 Singer With Sobriety
Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley has credited Iggy Pop and Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee with helping him stay sober in a new interview with Kerrang! (via NME). Years of heavy drinking caught up with Whibley earlier this year when his liver and kidneys collapsed, leaving him hospitalized for a month.
Sum 41: Teenage Rock & Roll Machine
“Now I’m sober, I don’t get calls from certain people that I used to… the drinking friends,” Whibley said. “Now I’m the bum-out to them. Who wants to invite the sober guy to the party? Y’know who has been incredibly supportive? Iggy Pop. He had a lot of great advice; he’s been through it all. We’ve been friends for years.”
Along with Iggy Pop, Whibley said his sober circle includes Lee, who “told me what to expect from people, that not everyone will understand,” as well as Guns N’ Roses‘ Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum: “We go out for coffee and talk about shit,” Whibley added.
Whibley opened up about his alcoholism in a candid note on his website following his hospital stay. The Canadian punk rocker wrote that after sitting down with a drink one night, he suddenly felt ill and collapsed. His fiancée then rushed him to the hospital where he was sedated for a week.
“Needless to say it scared me straight,” Whibley wrote. “I finally realized I can’t drink anymore. If I have one drink, the docs say I will die. I’m not preaching or anything but just always drink responsibly. I didn’t, and look where that got me. (I never thought I would ever say that! haha).”
Despite the trauma of the incident, Whibley said it had inspired him to start writing music again, and that he hoped to finish an album and return to the road soon. According to recent posts on his website, Whibley has been tinkering away on new material at his home. Sum 41 has not released a record since 2011’s Screaming Bloody Murder.