sickofliquor

any sober musicians? i personally love playing gigs and bringing joy to myself and others via music, but am typically drunk/high while doing so. the few gigs ive done sober were MISERABLE!!!!!!!!!!! does the joy come back? any tips?

Mark75

I am not a pro, but I play often and play informally for others. I have played live on the radio too.

I love to play for others, sober. I feel so much more control, expressiveness, subtlety.. All that.

Yea, at first it wasn't so good. Too self conscious. Those days are behind me, they will be for you too...

Dee74

I used to be a professional musician - I've had to give it up for health based reasons - plus the whole stay up late, dealing with drunk people lifestyle doesn't appeal to me anymore.

The best gigs of my life were the sober ones tho - how long have you been in recovery now SOL?

D

Username1

It really depends man, i know alot of bands that are sober that can go crazier than f*cked up bands. Personally I have more energy and i can lose my sh*t when I'm up there sober, most of the time playing shows drunk my showmanship has suffered.

sickofliquor

@dee74, only a few days this time around, but when i was sober for 5 months, i had gigs and they were awkward.

Dee74

Thanks SOL

I wonder if you're been doing what I did for years - trying to live my old life exactly as it was, just not drinking?

I was miserable - my old life was all about drinking, my friends were all about drinking...everything I and they did was still about drinking...it's no wonder I felt like an outsider really.

This time around I needed to make some real changes - I stopped playing for a while...I got myself together - I worked out being sober was really what I wanted - then I went back - when I was sure my sobriety wouldn't be affected by my surroundings.

Other people have done it the other way - just stop drinking...but I could never make that work.

D

DalyCityTrain

Hey guy, I play in a folk band on multiple instruments and my playing goes completely to **** if drinking. Sober is the only way I can do it. I've played in punk and rock bands that were just an exuse to get drunk, and they sounded that way.

Its like the famous musician who would drink alone in his hotel room and jam his heart out. In his mind he was giving it his all and playing some wild stuff. In reality the people down the hall thought a bunch of geese where making love.