Former Elbow drummer Richard Jupp on walking away from the band for sobriety and helping others: “Addiction is a disease and it’s terrifying”

Former Elbow drummer Richard Jupp has opened up about his decision to leave the band.

• READ MORE: Elbow tell us about Manchester ‘Asleep In The Back’ 25th anniversary gigs and new music plans

Jupp announced he’d be leaving Elbow in 2017, after 25 years with the band. A statement at the time said he would be pursuing other projects, including work with his drum school and various charities.

Now, Jupp has spoken about his life since, as well as his decision to leave the band.

“From the outside, I had everything you’re supposed to want,” he said in a new interview with BBC News. “I was travelling the world, making records and living a life I’d dreamed about since I was a kid. We were at an extraordinary point in the band’s career.

WATCH

“But I asked myself ‘What is any of that worth if I’m heading in a direction that was no longer working for me’?,” he continued.

Jupp went on to explain how drinking and drugs were normalised within the music industry. “Less so now, but back in those days it was seen as some kind of rite of passage, it was normalised, and I did personally participate in that culture.

“I’ve witnessed within the industry, people who are still partaking – outside of the band – people who are still perpetuating that myth of rock’n’roll,” he added.

When he turned 40, he says, he decided to change his lifestyle and toured for a year with the band while sober before deciding to step down in 2016. It was starting to get to a point where I could see that there was a problem,” he said.

“It felt detached,” he added, explaining that he has been sober ever since. “I just decided ‘that’s it – I’m done.'”

“Choosing sobriety and choosing recovery meant being prepared to walk away from a life that had given me fame, success and financial security,” he said. “It meant stepping away from an identity I’d carried for most of my adult life and accepting that my health, my family and my future had to come first.”

In the years since he last performed with Elbow, Jupp has been teaching drumming with a focus on the physical, cognitive and emotional benefits. “Since leaving the band, recovery has been one of the defining focuses of my life, and drumming has played a huge role in that,” he said.

“Rhythm, repetition, movement and focus help bring me back into the moment,” he added. “It is about sharing something that has genuinely helped me stay grounded and well.”

“I know how significant that decision to choose recovery can be. Addiction is a disease and it’s terrifying,” he explained. “And I was lucky enough to be able to make the decision of sobriety and be able to stand by it.”

The interview comes as Jupp brings his drumming workshop to Delamere Health clinic, an addiction rehabilitation centre in Cheshire.

“I know what it is to look at the life you are living and decide that something has to change,” Jupp said. “So if I can now stand alongside people who are making that decision for themselves, particularly those just beginning their recovery, and offer something that might help them reconnect with themselves, their families or simply with life again that feels incredibly meaningful to me.”

In other news, Elbow will be playing three hometown shows at Manchester Ritz in November where they’ll be playing the whole of their debut album ‘Asleep In The Back’ to mark its 25th anniversary.

‘Asleep In The Back’ was a cult success on its release on the recently-relaunched V2 label in 2001. It reached Number 14 and earned the band their first Mercury Prize nomination. They lost out to PJ Harvey’s classic ‘Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea‘ but would later go on to win in 2008 for their breakthrough fourth album ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’.

In an interview about the shows, Guy Garvey explained to NME: “We wanted to do it for the people who were there in the first place, who never thought they’d hear the album in full.”

For help, advice or more information regarding addiction in the UK, visit the FRANK website. In the US, visit SAMHSA.

For further help and advice on mental health: 

• “Am I depressed?” – Help and advice on mental health and what to do next 
• MITC – A collective of musician industry therapists 
• TONIC Rider – Bespoke training and support for music industry professionals 
• Help Musicians UK – Around the clock mental health support and advice for musicians 
• Music Support Org – Help and support for musicians struggling with alcoholism, addiction, or mental health issues 
• YOUNG MINDS – The voice for young people’s health and wellbeing 
• CALM – The Campaign Against Living Miserably
• The Samaritans – Confidential support 24 hours a day