SEX, DRUGS AND ROCK ‘N ROLL

HOW SOBRIETY INSPIRED AND IMPACTED TYLER POSEY’S DEBUT SOLO EP, “DRUGS.”

- Devon Preston

Sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll have been a package deal since the baby boomers were babies themselves. Rock music wouldn’t be what it is today without booze-fueled hotel parties and piles of drugs available around every corner. However, if we’ve learned anything from the dozens of world-class musicians who lost their lives to substance abuse, it’s that drugs and alcohol aren’t always as glamorous as they seem. “My first experience with punk rock was going to Warped Tour at 14,” Tyler Posey says. “I was walking in the parking lot with my friend and an older dude was like, ‘Hey, you guys want a beer?’ I just chugged the beer and that was my intro to punk rock. I started associating punk rock with getting high and getting drunk. A lot of my time spent at punk shows was almost throwing up every time I got into the mosh pit because I’d just chugged, like, five beers.”

As Posey got older, his use of drugs and alcohol developed, both as a means of pleasure and as a coping mechanism for mental illness. He was able to hide his addiction well, finding success both as an actor in MTV’s “Teen Wolf” and as a musician. That is, until he reached his breaking point while working on his debut solo album. “This started out as any other album with my band Five North and then halfway through, I decided to go solo,” Posey says. “This EP is called ‘Drugs’ and it’s all about me becoming sober, dealing with sobriety, dealing with depression without turning to substance abuse, dealing with missing getting fucked up and starting this new life.”