Five Finger Death Punch’s Chris Kael Recalls 2020 Relapse, Is Now Sober Again

Five Finger Death Punch bassist Chris Kael has been open about his struggles with addiction and the benefits sobriety has had on his life. He did relapse with alcohol more than a year ago amid the pandemic, and found continued support through recovery meetings over Zoom, the 12-step program and from his sponsor.

In an interview with Jason Rockman of The Rockman Power Hour, Kael, who joined Five Finger Death Punch in 2010, revealed that Feb. 3 of this year would have marked the fourth anniversary "were it not for a mishap over the pandemic."

"I remember I went to a concert and I was trying to do… I was, like, 'All right. I fell off the wagon. I've been back on the wagon. I'm going in. I'm gonna try to control drinking this time. I'm gonna allow myself to have two. And if I do two, cool.' Nope. Did three. Haven't had a drink since. I said, 'I can't do it.' Even trying to limit myself to two, I couldn't do that," the bassist went on (transcription via Blabbermouth).

While it was that mishap that ultimately led to Kael returning to a sober lifestyle, he revealed that "it was much worse before that" in August of 2020. "Post-breakup, post-being in a house by myself, it was not good," he said of that situation. "So as I turned to not wanting to feel for a little while… Now, [I'm] back to it again — I'm doing my meetings, doing all the stuff, working with my sponsor, working the steps and all that stuff now."

Elsewhere during the interview, the Five Finger Death Punch bassist recollected his decision to enter rehab, and how he only told his wife, his parents and a friend who has been sober for 20 years and drove him to the treatment facility.

Self-accountability is also something Kael admitted he has become better at in recent years. "I think I'm out from under that rock at this point," he said of his past need to have others keep a watchful eye over him, "But collectively, we do the groups, we do our meetings — all kinds of stuff. So I still have that support system — even tighter support system. My God, [during] the pandemic, I did more meetings in Zoom than I ever did before the pandemic."

"Obviously, COVID was awful, but if you look for the silver lining to things, you can turn a negative into a positive if you just clear your mind, look around and take a full scope of what's going on and just really continue to do the right thing," Kael affirmed.

Watch the full interview in the video below.

Things are set to begin heating back up for Five Finger Death Punch, who will make one U.S. festival appearance this year before heading to Europe for a series of tour and festival stops through mid-summer. The band has also been working on new music that will serve as the follow-up to 2020's F8 and, late last year, singer Ivan Moody teased a clip of new material.

Chris Kael on The Rockman Power Hour