Stone Sour guitarist Josh Rand was recently interviewed by Lazer 103.3, and further opened up about his past struggles with Xanax and alcohol addiction. During the chat, he revealed that he was originally prescribed Xanax years ago for flying anxiety, but he ended up getting addicted without letting his bandmates and family know. He also talked about how he started drinking “over the course of the last couple years.” You can listen to the full chat and read an excerpt below:

Rand said the following about his issues [transcribed by The PRP]:

“I just had decided that I needed some help dealing with stuff. Really it’s been stuff that I’ve been dealing with—well one thing for a very long time, which surprised people. Nobody had any idea about it. I was basically… been on Xanax for like eight years and nobody knew at all.

And then over the course of the last couple years I started drinking and when we started touring, I was basically day-drinking. But not drinking to get messed up, but just to maintain, I guess. Or to be able to cope, to have this buzz.

And all that stuff started spiraling for me as we were touring. I just felt horrible and miserable and it really all came to a head for me on ‘ShipRocked‘.

We were flying from Florida back up to Canada and basically we were in the airport and I just had the made the decision that I had to come home.

Luckily I had the support of the other guys and my family to make that decision. I had hit a wall and knew that I needed to regroup and deal with my stuff. So that’s what I did. Seeked out help and it will probably always be a little bit of a battle for me on some days, but I have a great support group within the band, family, friends all that. It was just important…”

On another note, he also talked a bit about Stone Sour’s future plans, which include another Record Store Day release next spring and a new video for “Mercy” which might not surface until next year. However, the band are not expected to tour much in 2019, since Corey Taylor will be busy with Slipknot.

After previously checking into a treatment center, Stone Sour’s Josh Rand has issued a new statement regarding his decision to address his alcohol and xanax issues. You can read what he had to say below.

Rand:

“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.

Much love,
Josh Rand“