FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH Bassist CHRIS KAEL Celebrates Two Years Of Sobriety

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH bassist Chris Kael celebrated the second anniversary of his getting sober on February 3. Kael posted a photo of his AA sobriety medallion, which has the words "To thine own self be true" and "unity, service and recovery" engraved around the roman numeral for 2.

He wrote: "I post this not as a pat on the back for myself. Rather, this is for you. To those who have less time than my two years - keep putting one foot in front of the other. We share the same path. And to those of you who have more sobriety time than I do - thank you for showing me the rewards that come with sobriety. We share the same path. And, for those of you who may be thinking of getting sober - We ALL start with one day. No better day than today to start with yours. There's plenty more room on this path to share. #GratitudeAsFuck #Surrender #Humility #TwoYears #Sober #SoberAsFuck #SoberthdayAsFuck #SFG"

Kael spoke about his decision to get sober in a new interview with Metalshop TV. He explained (see video below): "If I had not stopped on February the 3rd [of 2018], I would not be here today. Actually, I had a conversation with my girlfriend at about 18 months, and we were talking about what would life be like just for us — between her and I — if I had continued drinking and doing drugs. And I was telling her, 'You would be different because you would be much more fucked up than you are now…' She doesn't really get fucked up — she's a normal person, which kills me, because she's able to do it and stop; I can't. And she always tried to keep up with me all the time. She's a 110-pound young lady and I'm a 225-pound — right now, I think — dude, and she would keep up drink for drink for drink. I also had cocaine propelling me as well, so she tried to keep up with a dude twice her size also on blow. And it was not working. So I said that she would be different in that aspect. And then I thought about it for a second. And this was at 18 months sober. And I was, like, 'Man, I really think I would be dead.' And it hit me. I was, like, 18 months, I would be dead. That is absolutely crazy to me."

He continued: "The place that I'm in now, with the outlook I have on life and the perspective and all the work that I've done to correct some of the things I had inside that needed to worked on that I was covering up with drugs and alcohol… Drugs and alcohol weren't the [only] problem; there was definitely some inside stuff that I needed to deal with. But to think that I was that close to death because I couldn't stop drinking, I couldn't stop doing blow, it was a really sobering thought — in sobriety, at that point — that I was that close to dying. So thank God that last moment hit me, and I had that moment of clarity to call my buddy and have him drive me to rehab. Had I not had that split-second decision to text him to get him to take me to rehab, I would not be here on this camera today."

Back in April 2018, Kael told the KLAQ radio station that he was "going through about an eight-ball of cocaine a week" at the height of his addiction. "That got to be the biggest problem for me," he revealed. "That and depression, the two things, were not good. I didn't realize it until I got into rehab that I was self-medicating with cocaine to get my dopamine levels up to fight the depression. I never even thought about that. And then when you come off it, you crash hard."

Kael first revealed his battle with addiction in a series of tweets, saying that his then-wife played a "major role" in helping him get clean. "Had she not busted me trying to restock after burning through $1300 in blow in two days in late January [2018], I truly believe that I would not be here today," he wrote.

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's eighth album, "F8", will be released on February 28 via Better Noise Music.