HIGH ON FIRE's MATT PIKE: 'I've Fallen Off The Wagon A Few Times Since I Went To Rehab'

On July 1, AndrewHaug.com, Australia's first-ever dedicated 24/7 rock and metal online radio station launched by Andrew Haug, the former host of Triple J Australia's "The Racket" radio show (originally "Full Metal Racket"; 2001-2011),conducted an interview with guitarist/vocalist Matt Pike of California heavy rockers HIGH ON FIRE. You can now listen to the chat in the YouTube clip below.

Asked what it is like being creative two years after he received treatment for alcohol dependency at a rehabilitation facility, Pike said: "I've fallen off the wagon a few times since I went to rehab. [But] I get better and better at, like, when I do have a drink or mess up, not being too hard on myself, but getting right back on the wagon. That's kind of part of the process in getting sober."

He continued: "Every now and then, you have a flaw and you've gotta accept that you can't be good at anything without practicing it.

"You know, practicing being sober in my life, there is a lot of clarity, and with a lot of clarity, there sometimes comes depression and anxiety and you've gotta just accept that part of it too. So there is a lot to it, but I'm definitely a lot healthier and I definitely don't write all my music in a blackout, like I used to, although I did come up with some good stuff in a blackout. I just have a different approach nowadays."

Regarding the progress of the songwriting sessions for HIGH ON FIRE's next album, Pike said: "I went to Peru and I kind of got this inspiration being in Peru for a couple of weeks. So it kinds of starts there.

"I've been writing down science-fiction, visual kind of stuff, just to work my lyrics off, I've been putting together a storyline.

"I'm not sure how [the new material] sounds yet… I know what the demos are like. It's what you'd expect out of HIGH ON FIRE, only a little… Like every record, we try to up it a little bit instead of just being average. So that's kind of the direction it's taking. I think it's gonna be a pretty amazing one. And we're all just getting better at our instruments, so hopefully that reflects on the recording when we're done with it.

"We're gonna be going into the studio in September, hopefuly, or October, and it should be out around February, if all goes well."

HIGH ON FIRE's next CD will be released via eOne.

In addition to constructing the new album, HIGH ON FIRE has announced an Australian headlining tour and a European headlining trek. The Australian tour will launch on July 16 in Brisbane and the European jaunt will kick off on July 23 in Germany and run through August 9 in London, England.

HIGH ON FIRE released the first official live recordings of its career with the two-volume set "Spitting Fire Live", which has been hailed as "high-volume intensity" by the Austin Chronicle, "hot as the infernos" by Pitchfork and a "documentation of the band's undiminished ferocity onstage" by the SF Weekly. Recorded over a two-evening New York City headlining stint at both Bowery Ballroom and Brooklyn's Music Hall Of Williamsburg, "Spitting Fire Live" showcases HIGH ON FIRE at its incendiary best, containing songs from each of the band's critically acclaimed studio albums including 2012's "De Vermis Mysteriis".