Jack Russell: I drank myself into a coma

Jack Russell (Image credit: Getty)

Great White frontman Jack Russell has revealed that he drank himself into a coma last year before getting help to sober up.

The vocalist – who will release his album The Gauntlet later this year under the banner of Jack Russell’s Great White – says he hit rock bottom in his battle with booze in 2015.

Russell tells Music Mania: “I was in a coma eight months ago from drinking too much. The doctor told me when I woke up, ‘If you drink again, your liver’s gonna shut down and you’re gonna die.’

“So I’m not gonna take the chance. I’m doing good right now. My body’s in great shape. I’ve been working out. I’ve been running.

“I just took care of myself, got some muscle on me, and I’m back on stage doing what I used to do. It’s great.”

On what fans can expect from The Gauntlet, Russell adds: “It’s very eclectic. There’s a song called My Addiction, which is straight to the point. There’s no punches drawn about my life and about the things that I’ve been through.

“There’s a lot of really heavy songs on this record. And the guitar playing is just phenomenal. I’ve never had a guitarist that I’ve ever worked with in all my years that has been as good a guitarist as Robby Lochner.”

Last year, Russell opened up on the “survivor’s guilt” he still feels following the 2003 nightclub fire in Rhode Island that killed 100 people.

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.