Lamb Of God guitarist Mark Morton has reflected on what it means to him to reach his sixth year of sobriety.
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The musician had previously been addicted to both alcohol and opiates and shared a message today on his social media reminding anyone struggling with addiction themselves that recovery is possible.
“I woke up this morning with 6 years clean & sober. This comes after decades of drinking nearly every day & with the final 10 years of that compounded by an aggressively progressive opiate addiction that almost killed me,” he wrote.
“I’m writing this just in case someone out there who feels as hopeless, helpless & crippled by addiction as I once did might read it & start to believe that recovery IS possible.
“You can get clean & live a life beyond anything you’ve ever dreamed of. Find an alcoholic or addict living in recovery. Ask them what they did. You’re worth it.”
— Mark Morton (@MarkDuaneMorton) December 27, 2024
In his recent memoir Desolation: A Heavy Metal Memoir, which came out earlier this year, Morton credited Slash for making “sobriety look cool” and helping him with his recovery journey.
“Slash has been pretty open about his experience with some of these things,” Morton continued. “And so when I was trying to get sober and well before I was able to accomplish any kind of sustained sobriety or recovery, Slash was very helpful. He was very compassionate, very kind and made himself available to me with some insight and perspective that he shared.
“Let me add to that, that I think Slash and some other people who have been open about their experience with addiction… I’m the kind of person that has to think something’s cool to wanna pursue it, because, see, I have a low self-esteem, so I want you to think I’m cool,” Mark explained. “‘Cause I’m not sure that I am. So when something’s cool, I’m gonna chase it ’cause I wanna be that. And people like Slash, who’s cool and people that put themselves out there and shared their story and shared their experience made it look cool, made sobriety look cool to me. And I’m grateful for that. ‘Cause that’s part of what it took. I’m just being genuine.
“It’s not an intellectual decision,” Morton added. “Addiction’s not an intellectual issue. Some of the smartest people I know are addicts and alcoholics. People that aren’t addicts and alcoholics tend to overlook that. It’s not a matter of reason or, in my experience, rational thinking or intellect. It’s something deeper than that. And so, for me, having an example of people that I admired that I said, ‘Hey, there’s something on the other side of this that can still be cool.’ Because, see, I thought being a drug addict and an alcoholic was what rock and roll was [and was] part of what it was supposed to be. And it turns out it’s not.”
Lamb Of God’s most recent album, ‘Omens’, was released in 2022. Their live commitments this year included shows at Hammersonic and Knotfest Australia.
For help, advice or more information regarding addiction in the UK, visit the FRANK website. In the US, visit SAMHSA.
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