FILTER's RICHARD PATRICK Celebrates 21 Years Of Sobriety

FILTER's Richard Patrick is celebrating the 21st anniversary of his getting sober.

Earlier today (Friday, September 29), the 55-year-old musician took to his Instagram to write: "Today, marks 21 years of continuous sobriety!! 21 years ago, I was sick of being sick. I took my life in my hands and went to a special institution called 'promises' and started the greatest journey of my life. Without my sobriety, I would not be alive. Now I get to raise a family and make music all the time without being a slave to a substance. #sober #grateful #recoveringaddict #recoveringalcoholic".

Richard touched upon his previous substance abuse issues while discussing his inspiration for the song "Obliteration" in a recent interview with the 97.7 QLZ radio station. The track is taken from the band's latest album, "The Algorithm", which arrived on August 25 via Golden Robot Records. He said: "'Obliteration' comes from a place where I was at before I quit drinking. I was a horrible alcoholic and I quit drinking back in 2002 and I've been sober ever since.

"It's pretty bleak when your mind is trying to kill you," he continued. "And so I wrote from the perspective of what it was like when I was using back in the day when I was suicidal and I wasn't a healthy person at all. And I like to be able to go back and reference that, because I think there's other people out there in the world that will hear this and maybe they'll stop drinking or they'll stop hurting themselves, because we all feel bad at certain points in life, and I think it's okay to reflect that and process that."

Asked if this is a song that he has had since 2002 and is just now getting it out there now, Richard said: "No. I put myself in my shoes back in the day when we were writing lyrics. I was writing lyrics with, Sam Tinnesz and Mark Jackson and Ian Scott, the other songwriters on the record. And we were just talking about like how bleak it is when you're an alcoholic and how hard it is. Most people die from this disease — 95% of us die from this disease. Look at the famous ones — Scott Weiland, Chester Bennington, Chris Cornell, Layne Staley, everybody, They're dying from addiction. And there's a very small percentage — there's about five to 6% — that actually can beat it and go on and live successful lives, prosperous lives. And I just feel like when you bring that stuff out in music and you talk about it, you're shedding a light on it so other people that are feeling maybe that they have a chance and they can believe in themselves enough to quit drinking or to quit doing drugs or whatever it is that's ailing them. I think it's just a good way to process being a human being you."

In a 2013 interview with MyRecovery.com, Patrick stated about his recovery: "When I checked into rehab, the doctor told me my kidney was failing, my liver was damaged and I had a 74% capacity for breathing. Basically, I was dying. I was scared to death. When I came back from my physical six months later, after having quit smoking, my lungs were at 95% and the doctor said it was the biggest turnaround he had ever seen. It was amazing. I honestly can't believe my heart could withstand the amount of drugs that I did, especially since so many of my friends who were drug addicts are dead now."

Patrick went on to say that even though he got sober in September 2002, his "mental health issues were only addressed" a little over a decade ago. "My wife finally confronted me about about them because even something as simple as writing a letter would become overwhelming," he explained. "I was tested for ADHD and ended up off the charts for that. The doctor gave me Adderall for ADHD and then Klonopin for anxiety, which is what they gave me when I went to rehab. Obviously, there was a concern that I could get hooked on these and become a drug addict again. My wife doles out the medicine for me though, and it's been a night-and-day improvement with my music, my business and my relationships. It was like everything fell into place."