Alter Bridge and Creed bassist Brian Marshall laid bare his decades-long struggle with alcoholism and the salvation he found in family, his band and his music in a new mini-documentary.
The film, "For the Love of The Music: Brian Marshall," was shared via Alter Bridge's YouTube account Wednesday.
It begins with the bassist discussing his gear and his musical relationship to bandmates Scott 'Flip' Phillips, Mark Tremonti and Myles Kennedy, but soon takes a personal turn as Marshall details how close he came to ruining his career with alcohol and drugs.
Marshall rarely gives interviews, but made an exception to explain in his own words how he began abusing alcohol as a young man and how he finally got treatment.
"My life was changed overnight, essentially, in my early-20s, and that's a lot for someone to handle," he recalled. "I didn't know that at the time, but looking back on it now, it was a lot. Going from a normal 9 - 5 job after college to getting a record deal and having seven straight No. 1s at rock radio. My life was drastically changed."
Marshall's drinking went relatively unchecked until the last Creed tour in 2012. He was overwhelmed, going through a divorce, while also starting a family with his now-wife, Melanie, and preparing for a tour with Tremonti's solo band.
After years of knowing intellectually that he needed to make a change, Marshall recalled a conversation with Phillips in a dressing room in New York, where it became clear that he was finally going to do what he had to do to get sober and stay that way.
"I told [Phillips], 'I don't know what I'm gonna do. I need to stop what I'm doing.' He looked at me and, again, it was like a lightbulb had gone off after he said this to me. He said, 'I don't know what it is, but there's some sort of conviction in your voice that's different.' I left that tour and went back to Wichita where Mel was and told her the whole thing."
Marshall began treatment soon thereafter and now calls sobriety the the best decision of his life.
"It's a full-time job when you're feeling like s--t all the time and you're hungover and you're out partying and you're with people you don't know all of the sudden. You might black out; who knows what could happen? That was my life for many years," he said. "...I'm better at what I do every day because of my sobriety."
Watch the full documentary via the player above.
Alter Bridge recently released its Walk the Sky 2.0 EP, containing live versions of tracks from 2019's the Walk the Sky album and one punishing new single, "Last Rites."
Photo: Getty Images