Examiner.com's Elliot Levin has issued a new interview with DOWN / CROWBAR guitarist Kirk Windstein. The following is an excerpt:

Q: So over the summer you checked into rehab...

A: "Actually I didn’t ‘check in...’ it was time to stop drinking. Time to do a 180 and get my life together."

Q: In college I remember a couple of friends going to rehab, and coming back and saying that was the most fun they ever had. But I think my friends missed the point of rehab.

A: "They probably did. It’s real simple dude, it’s one of those things where it gets to the point where not only is it not fun anymore but it’s a problem, when it starts affecting all aspects of your life it’s time to stop. So everybody’s going congratulations, I’m like don’t congratulate me. People fall off every day, 90% of people that stop, start again. So, you just go day by day. It’s actually easier, believe it or not, on this particular tour, because we’re doing 23 shows in a row. Staying busy keeps me away from being bored, which used to be a lot of my problem. I’m touring and I’m bored and it’s an off day or I’m travelling and boom, there ya go, it’s fun again cause I’m drunk. And it’s not like that, today I was up before daylight shooting the video, we were playing in Trenton, NJ last night I didn’t get to bed until 3am, slept like three hours, did that, took a nap, got up, did photo shoots all day, the whole nine yards. MTV Headbangers Ball hosting, anything, just keep me busy."

Q: And you weren’t worried about going right back on the road with all the partying that goes on there?

A: "Well, yes and no. And what I mean by yes is because you’re obviously surrounded by it. But no because let’s be honest, my drug of choice is beer. It’s not only socially accepted, you can’t even watch a football game without having it shoved in your face a thousand times. In New Orleans it’s literally a way of life. Drinking goes with everything, there’s always an excuse to drink. We sell beer and liquor 24/7/365 everywhere, you can buy a 5th of vodka at 3am on Easter Sunday if you want. So it’s one of those things, where it’s not like cocaine or heroin or whatever, when you’re on those kind of drugs you quit calling the dealer, you quit hanging out at the places you used to frequent or you quit hanging out with those people. You can’t get away, I can’t fill my car up at a gas station without Coors Light, Bud Light, Corona, whatever, it’s just the way it is."

Read the full interview at this location.