STONE SOUR Guitarist JOSH RAND On Battle With Drugs And Alcohol - "I'm Starting To Really Feel The Best That I Have In Almost 10 Years"

May 20, 2018, 5 years ago

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STONE SOUR Guitarist JOSH RAND On Battle With Drugs And Alcohol - "I'm Starting To Really Feel The Best That I Have In Almost 10 Years"

Back in February, Stone Sour posted a brief update on Facebook stating "Unfortunately, Josh Rand has checked into a treatment center and will not be joining Stone Sour for the Canada/US tour. Though he will be back as soon as possible, we ask you all to keep him in your thoughts. Until then, the rest of Stone Sour will see you all on tour in Jan/Feb. Thank you."

Frontman Corey Taylor spoke with Dalby at Regina rock radio station 104.9 The Wolf about the situation shortly after that, but the reasons for Rand's absence were still not revealed.

Taylor: "We talk to him every day, and he seems to be doing really, really well, so that's really good. And this is not just somebody who I've been in a band with for a while; we've been best friends since we were 15 years old. We go way back. For me, it's not just the worry of my cohort, my partner, my songwriting guy, my lead guitarist, it's about worrying about my friend, my brother, somebody who let me sleep on his floor when I was homeless. So, for me, that's the biggest thing... worrying about him. But he seems to be doing really, really well. We just support him as much as we absolutely can, and when it comes to being a friend that's all you really can do; just be there for them."

Rand was in treatment for unspecified reasons, but he issued the following statement in April:

"As many of you may already know, in January of this year I made the difficult decision to step away from the Canadian leg of the Stone Sour tour. I hit a personal breaking point and it was imperative that I address it. My high anxiety and desire to feel comfortable in my own skin over the years led to an alcohol and Xanax dependency. That, along with aggression issues, made me feel miserable and I just could not continue to live that way. Thankfully, with the support of my band, family, and friends I was able to come home and seek help. Now (three months later) I’m doing well, but still a work in progress. I want to sincerely thank all of you for your thoughts, prayers, and positive words. It means a lot to me."

Rand guested on Chattanooga, TN radio station Rock 105 and opened up about his battle with addiction. Following is an excerpt from the conversation:

Rand: "I'm just trying to basically do a cleanse and eat a lot healthier and switch my focus from drinking alcohol to drinking alkaline water. I've completely changed my whole outlook on things, and now I work out for two hours. I had all these addictive traits with other things, and now, all of a sudden, I'm in there measuring grams of this and that, and I've got to work out for this many hours, which is good. I'm starting to really feel the best that I have in almost ten years. It's just one day at a time, like they say."



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