Photo: Richard Gray
Bring Me The Horizon frontman Oli Sykes has spoken frankly about his battle with drug addiction - revealing that fighting his demons and shedding false friends brought the band much closer together.
Watch our interview with Bring Me The Horizon discussing his battle with drugs below
Sykes made headlines when he shocked fans by confessing that he had a severe ketamine problem prior to the recording of previous album, Sempiternal. Now, with a clear head and on the brink of topping the charts with That's The Spirit, the frontman tells Gigwise that conquering his demons made the band tighter as friends and enabled them to make their 'best album to date'.
"Going through drug addiction and recovering really does separate the people who really care about you from the people that don't because it's the hardest thing ever to stand by someone when you're going through something like that," Sykes tells Gigwise. "You get no recognition or thanks while it's happening. If you tell a drug addict that they've got a problem, all you get back is 'fuck off' basically - that person shuts themselves off from you and go with the people who will let you get away with that stuff."
He adds: "It really did separate the people that really didn't care for us from the people that did. That showed how close the band are because everyone stayed there, everyone helped me and we supported each other throughout it. Who I thought were my friends just weren't, and they disappeared afterwards."
Watch Oli Sykes and Jordan Fish discussing beating drug addiction below
Synth player Jordan Fish continues: "This was our album - I think that's why we decided to produce it ourselves as well. It felt like, DIY in a way."
- MORE: Watch Bring Me The Horizon tell us about leaving metal behind and moving on here
Sykes goes on: "Going into writing this album, we really just felt like best friends. We always have, but like, we're all comfortable."
"For the first time, we were like 'we can do this ourselves'. We feel like we wrote Sempiternal despite everyone else, despite the people that we paid to work with. That's quite disrespectful in a sense, it's not because the people we worked with were great but we know what we want, so working with anyone else is a compromise."
In her broadest Yorkshire drawl, he sums it up: "If you want summat doin' reet, you gotta do it yer'sen.
The band, who are currently sitting at No.1 with new album That's The Spirit as they battle it out with Stereophonics and The Libertines, have added new shows in Southampton, Glasgow, Birmingham and Bristol to their upcoming UK run.
Bring Me The Horizon's full list of upcoming UK tour dates are as follows. For tickets and more information, visit here.
Oct 31 - SOUTHAMPTION, Guildhall
Nov 24 - GLASGOW, O2 Academy
Nov 25 - EDINBURGH, Corn Exchange
Nov 26 - DONCASTER, The Dome
Nov 27 - CARDIFF, Motorpoint Arena
Nov 29 - BIRMINGHAM, O2 Academy (matinee)
Nov 29 - BIRMINGHAM, O2 Academy (evening)
Nov 28 - LONDON, Alexandra Palace
Nov 30 - BRISTOL, O2 Academy
