Rupert, I feel for you! That's no way to live...
Since you asked about alternatives to AA I'm just going to add that I use SMART Recovery and it's been wonderful for me. I just looked and you're lucky enough to live in a large enough metropolitan area for you to have a variety of meetings to choose from. Look it up and give it a try! The people are very welcoming!
Good luck and I know about that "needy" feeling. It really sucks. It will get better once you are off of the booze a bit. I'm on Day 5 after a relapse and am just beginning to shake it off. Take care, Rupert!