Mastodon - Kelliher Struggling With Booze Battle

MASTODON rocker BILL KELLIHER fears he will have to quit the band and check into rehab as he struggles to overcome his drink demons.

The heavy rock group was forced to continue its European Unholy Alliance Chapter III Tour as a three-piece in November 2008 after Kelliher was hospitalised with a serious alcohol-related illness.

It took the guitarist two months to recover, and doctors warned him he could die unless he quits boozing.

The musician has now "calmed down" his wild ways - but is struggling to stay away from alcohol and insists leaving the group and entering a rehab program may be his only option.

He tells Britain's Kerrang! magazine, "It was a serious condition I had. The doctor said I was lucky to be alive and that I could've been dead if I hadn't gone to hospital when I did. It took me about two months just to get up and bum around again, eating solid food. When you get a health scare like that it's a wake up call, I guess.

"After that I stopped - the doctor told me I can't drink alcohol anymore. The partying has calmed down a lot. It really needs to totally stop but it's not that easy when everybody around you is drinking, partying and having a good time. It's definitely a disease, alcoholism, and I'm not cured of it yet. I'm still in the phase of trying to deal with it myself and get out of that phase but I don't know if that means I'd have to leave the band or what.

"It never really crossed my mind (to the leave the band) 'til recently but talking to my wife back home, she's really upset that'd I'd risk my life just for beer or alcohol. When I'm home it's a lot easier to regulate it. Just recently I've been feeling like I don't know what I'm going to do. Am I going to have to check into rehab or something because I really need to go all the way with this."