Good morning Radicals! Here’s what’s up in music news today:
Five Finger Death Punch bassist Chris Kael celebrated his 57th day of sobriety on Sunday, April 1st, revealing in an Instagram post that he hasn’t had a drink or done drugs in almost two months. The 43-year-old musician, who joined the band seven years ago, wrote, “Sober for 57 days. I do this for solely for myself. A great by-product is to also show to any of you struggling that you too can do it.”
Kael added in a series of tweets that his wife played a “major role” in helping him get clean, saying, “Had she not busted me trying to restock after burning through $1300 in blow in two days in late January, I truly believe that I would not be here today . . . She has silently and bravely dealt with far more than what would have crushed any other woman. Her loyalty, patience, TRUE love and resolve are unmatched by any other woman I’ve ever known.”
Kael also said, “Throwing my hands to the universe and admitting I was at a f**king low and no longer able to do it myself was one of the most humbling and powerful things I’ve ever done in my life.”
Kael is not the first member of Five Finger Death Punch to publicly discuss his struggle with addiction. Drummer Jeremy Spencer, who’s been sober for seven years, admitted that staying clean while working as a rock musician is tough: “When you get sober, at first you just think, ‘Well, I’m sober now, I’m not drinking anymore, I’m fixed, right?’ But there’s a lot of stuff that you have to learn how to deal with. It’s about living life sober and especially being in a successful band, like I woke up, you know, one day I’m sober, now I have to learn how to deal with all this stuff, which is, it’s a great problem to have living this lifestyle, but I had to learn how to do it because I honestly didn’t know how.”
Meanwhile, singer Ivan Moody‘s own substance abuse issues have caused him to miss a couple of the band’s tours, with the singer later apologizing to fans and revealing that he had been in a treatment facility “addressing the addiction issues that have interfered with everything in my life.” Five Finger Death Punch will release its seventh full-length studio album, And Justice For None, on May 18th.
Linkin Park is auctioning off more than 200 pieces of used musical gear, including guitars, keyboards, a megaphone, samplers and other equipment from the band’s personal arsenal, with all the proceeds going to benefit the group’s Music for Relief non-profit organization, which provides aid to people and communities affected by natural disasters. Reverb.com will host the April 4th sale.
All the gear being offered for auction has been used by Linkin Park either in the studio or on tour. Featured items up for bidding include the Moog Etherwave Plus Theremin that singer Mike Shinoda used during Linkin Park’s 2010 concerts, a sticker-covered road case, an Electro-Harmonix EHX V256 Vocoder Pedal and the band’s Yamaha KX5 Keytar, featured in the “What I’ve Done” video.
Whitney Showler from Music For Relief partner Entertainment Industry Foundation said in a statement, “Throughout the last 13 years, Linkin Park fans have been incredibly generous supporters of Music for Relief, truly enabling our mission to help survivors and communities in the wake of natural disasters. Music for Relief is honored to be the beneficiary of this rare opportunity Linkin Park is offering to own a piece of their history.”
Reverb, an online marketplace for new and used musical gear, has recently hosted sales of equipment belonging to Smashing Pumpkins frontman William Corgan and ex-Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher.
Mike Shinoda will release his debut solo album, Post Traumatic, which is due on June 15th. Linkin Park has not announced its future plans following the death of vocalist Chester Bennington last July.