Anselmo opens up on his battle with methadone

Phil Anselmo has opened up on his struggles with drug addiction and describes methadone as “soul-eating garbage.”

Methadone is used to help addicts come off heroin, but the former Pantera singer says it’s almost as bad as the substance it’s supposed to replace.

He tells Loudwire: “Coming off methadone is like falling from a 50-story building every five minutes. And every other minute in between, you’re being pushed to the edge. The anxiety level is through the roof and on top of that, while I was going through detox, Hurricane Katrina had wiped out New Orleans.

“I finally looked at this piece of fucking shit in my hand, this little tiny chip of medicine, methadone. It’s garbage. It’s soul-stealing garbage. And I said, ‘Is this really gonna control my life anymore?’ And I just threw it away, walked away, and I said, ‘Fuck it! Bring on the sickness. Bring on the whatever.’

“But I had defeated it, really. I weaned myself off. But I will say, the residue that methadone leaves behind – I didn’t feel right probably for a year after that. It’s the worst drug in the fucking world, right next to heroin, which I always defined as definable evil.”

Meanwhile, Anselmo has revealed that his other band, Superjoint, are making good progress on writing fresh material.

He tells The Jimmy Cabbs 5150: “We’re writing new stuff right now that I think is very fucking true to what Superjoint is. And hopefully we’ll be done by next year. I’m feeling real damn good about it right now. The newer stuff, we’ve been listening to it every night, and I think it has all that integrity.

“The cocky lyrics need to come. I think it sounds like the genuine article, which created the Superjoint sound, the feel and the attitude. The attitude more than anything. I’m totally believing in it. And I think anyone that’s a Superjoint fan will appreciate the fuck out of it.”

Superjoint are on the bill for this month’s Housecore Horror festival.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.