(Adobe Stock)
COVID really changed a lot of things for people. The sudden isolation. Figuring out how to be alone with your thoughts. For a lot of people this really made them check their substance intake. The government had considered liquor stores an “essential business”. What an interesting insight to just how much alcohol affects the body.
Suddenly take it away and you have a huge part of the population suffering withdrawal. And alcohol withdrawal DOES exist. We facade it as a hangover one day, and then just odd tiredness in the days to come. But each time it enters the body, it takes longer to get out than you think. Agitation, trouble sleeping, shaky… I used to just brush it off as normal, smoke some weed, and stabilize out.
Kinda smacked me in the face to be given this information (that feels almost redundant but needs to be heard) that I was in an endless cycle of one thing to help the other. Paradoxical action.
A lot of people during COVID were able to take this sudden realization of their relationship with alcohol the other direction. They were seeing how much it was drowning out their joy, and they were using this opportunity (of being directly with yourself always) to kick the no good feeling.
This was a point of topic that I had enjoyed hearing on the No Apologies Necessary radio show before I was welcomed as a co-host. Eventually we worked together to stop asking questions about COVID to our guest musicians, because the pandemic overload seemed like so much and we didn’t need to add another stick to the pile. But before this happened we got a surprising mix of reviews. Some of the musicians found themselves face to face with themselves and got deeper into their substance. Some musicians found the strength to absolve substances all together. No “Sober October” but raw genuine getting a clear look at what something is doing to you. The next question became what would it be like when bars, clubs, and venues opened and it was back to being a liquor-first, music-second world??
(Adobe Stock)
Here’s the facts. Venues survive on drink sales, not ticket sales. In fact lots of bands are paid in drink tickets and exposure. When a fan comes up to a musician post-show, the way lots of them want to show gratitude is by buying their idol a drink. Bands even partake in pre-stage drinks to loosen each other up and get psyched to go on stage. It affects who gets booked, how long sets are, and even the crowd venues cater to. The epicentre of what SHOULD be music is actually about drinking.
Redundant to some. But others need to see it spelt out like I did. It was an “aha!” moment that I cannot be unaware of.
Now these days, with COVID assisting a lot of people towards sobriety… the question comes into play of how will they continue on sober in this drink-forward society? It’s not just about playing music, its about selling the vibe. When finances are tailored to it, your career means being surrounded by it, it is a very real difficulty for musicians to start or maintain sobriety!
Unfortunately this is not a question I have found an answer for. Addiction therapy says eliminate the temptations. But when music is your life… then what? It takes some pretty insane willpower that I commend anyone who has it, but I imagine it feels like a big dumpster of something you wish you didn’t have to deal with.
Something that brings me ease and hope is tapping into my sci-fi/speculative fiction brain. What would a society look like where alcohol wasn’t such a driving force? Tbh I think that it is albeit a name, but a concept that would ring true through the multiverse.
(Adobe Stock)
I am sure there are many ways to the correct answer of how to deal with this. I am sure there are many more ways for all the different lives and how they experience it. But ultimately I hope it brings relief that this live music lifestyle was designed around alcohol. It will take that knowledge to find the tools you need to navigate through it.
For help and free resources Vancouver check out the links below:
Written by Volante Matheson, Radio Arts & Entertainment Program at BCIT
Contact: vmatheson1@my.bcit.ca