Phil Anselmo brimming with creativity after quitting booze

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Exclusive: Phil Anselmo says he's working on at least 3 new albums and that he's as creative as ever since he stopped drinking

A picture of Phil Anselmo
Phil Anselmo (Image credit: Getty)

Phil Anselmo says he is more creative than ever after quitting drinking.

The former Pantera man launched the new Superjoint album Caught Up In The Gears Of Application this month via Housecore Records and he says he currently has up to five other albums in the works.

And he puts his increase in energy levels down to beating his dependence on booze.

Anselmo tells Mitch Lafon for TeamRock: “I’ve been great, very productive. I’m sitting on tons of music. Right this second, I’m working on three different records. I’ve got so much stuff. It could be four or five.

“I haven’t had a drink since February – I’m not missing that much.”

Asked how difficult it was to stop drinking, Anselmo adds: “Pretty easy. I think the first two weeks are kind of rough as far as mood etc. But then you lose the taste for it and obviously it did nothing to hurt my creativity.

“It’s great, honestly. No more hangovers!”

He turned his back on alcohol after hitting the headlines for his “white power” outburst earlier this year, which happened while he was drunk and onstage at an event to celebrate the life of late Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell.

While he’s in a good place mentally now, Anselmo says he is in daily physical pain due to problems with his knees.

He says: “It’s always a concern, good days and bad days. But what am I gonna do about it? I’m just gonna get up and do my job. Physical pain just happens to be in the script for me. I’ve just gotta build that mental callous and just tough it out.”

Anselmo says he isn’t sure whether his stockpile of new material will be released as Superjoint music or via his solo band, Philip H Anselmo And The Illegals.

The full interview will be broadcast on an upcoming episode of One On One With Mitch Lafon.

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Stef Lach

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.