Biffy Clyro - Biffy Clyro's Ben Johnston Opens Up About Alcohol Addiction

Scottish rockers Biffy Clyro came close to disbanding while working on their forthcoming album Opposites as drummer Ben Johnston's alcohol addiction issues threatened to tear them apart.

The group has opened up about its struggles in a candid interview with Scotsman.com, in which Johnston admits that his penchant for his favourite tipple quickly turned into a raging drink problem - and he didn't know how to quit.

He says, "I had no stop button. I would just keep going and black out. Me and Simon (Neil, lead singer) massively drifted apart. It was me that was going to f**k it all up."

To make matters worse, frontman Simon Neil was going through his own personal troubles as his wife suffered three miscarriages.

Neil explains, "Life had been going great. Suddenly the band was falling apart and my wife had the roughest time. Devastating."

Johnston soon started skipping flights to Los Angeles to work on new music, and his drinking became so bad, he passed out during a recording session when he did actually make it to Santa Monica, California - but it was the wake-up call he needed and prompted him to seek counselling by attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings while in the States.

The drummer has managed to stay sober ever since, and even declined to toast his June (12) wedding to his girlfriend Louise to avoid temptation.

Opposites, the follow-up to 2009's Only Revolutions, is due to be released later this month (Jan13).