380. Coming out of the darkness and shining your light with Gorillaz bass player Seye Adelekan380. Coming out of the darkness and shining your light with Gorillaz bass player Seye Adelekan
How I quit alcohol
Gorillaz bass player Seye Adelekan talks openly about his descent into addiction, long-term rehab, and how sobriety transformed his creativity and relationships. The conversation with host Danni Carr focuses on mental health, self-worth, and practical strategies for building a fulfilling alcohol-free life.
1:05:08•11 Jul 2026
From Gorillaz Bass Lines to Sober Lifelines with Seye Adelekan
Episode Overview
- Sobriety can boost creativity and performance rather than diminish it, as the talent and ideas are already within you.
- Cravings and urges are normal; treat them as feelings that pass and create space between the thought and the action.
- Shape your environment deliberately after rehab by limiting certain people, places and situations to protect early sobriety.
- Accountability and community are crucial; recovery rarely happens in isolation and support can come from friends, charities or peers.
- You don’t need to prove anything by staying in triggering spaces; set time limits (like a 90-minute rule) and leave when your social battery runs out.
“I got sober for everyone else I'm ever going to meet. I got sober for every song I'm ever going to write.”
What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol? This conversation with Gorillaz bass player and singer-songwriter Seye Adelekan offers a raw, honest look at what happens when addiction takes over and what it can look like to step into the light. Seye talks about going from teenage beers at church and early punk gigs to touring the world, record deals, cocaine and, eventually, red wine for breakfast.
He shares the chilling moment his ex realised how bad it was: waking up, reaching down the side of the bed and cracking open a bottle of wine first thing in the morning. Soon his room was filled with pizza boxes and empty bottles, he was nine stone at six foot two, self-harming, in debt, and avoiding everyone who tried to help.
His turning point came when family and his girlfriend pushed for rehab, leading him to a 44-week faith-based programme where he couldn’t even play music for the first 16 weeks. There, he learned that addicts are "incredibly resourceful" and that if he put even half of that effort into sobriety, he could rebuild his life. He says, "I got sober for everyone else I'm ever going to meet.
I got sober for every song I'm ever going to write." Seye now advocates for musicians’ mental health through organisations like Music Minds Matter in the UK and talks about sobriety as a creative superpower, insisting talent doesn’t come from substances: "Don't cheapen their talent by saying it was because of that." He also offers practical tips: accept cravings as feelings, set a time limit for social events (his "90-minute rule"), and build new routines around joy, rest and connection.
Host Danni Carr keeps the chat warm and funny while digging into heavy topics like shame, self-worth and learning to love the "broken" parts of ourselves. If you’ve ever wondered whether a sober life can still be wild, creative and full of music, this episode might be the nudge you need to rethink your own relationship with alcohol and ask: what kind of life do you want to be fully present for?
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