Getting ready for the road like never before

This post is going to be just a small update on what I’ll be up to in the next few weeks, just in case you happen to be somewhere along my path. Many of you know I also play in an Irish folk rock band called Sliotar. I am heading out on a small tour with them later this week. The trip will take us to Bondeno in Italy and several places around the Czech republic. These tours are always a lot of fun, but this tour is going to be a special one for me 😉 You see, what not too many people know is that I haven’t had an alcoholic beverage since the week of my birthday back in May. And I won’t lie to you, in the past my tours consisted a quite a lot of beer 😀

So obviously I need to approach this tour with a different attitude. I know there will be many people who would like to see me having a drink, but they are not the one’s suffering my hangover the next day… I am hoping most people will be supportive along the way. The other thing is that I don’t want to turn into a bitter antisocial hermit, that just turns up at the gigs and goes to bed straight after the show. socializing at the shows was always an important part for me, and I encourage you to come and talk to me after the shows, just don’t get offended if I won’t have a drink.

It has been a bit of a mental flip for me. I have no desire to stop others enjoying their drinks, in fact I encourage you to do so in moderation. I certainly have had my fill in the past. But I just got to the point where I was not enjoying it anymore. So I don’t feel like I am derived of something, in fact I am just not having something I didn’t enjoy anymore 🙂 Having said that, if drink is something you feel is becoming a problem with you, I am more than happy to give you few tips on how to go about knocking it on the head. So don’t be shy to ask.

I am a firm believer in “never say never,” so what future holds for me, no one knows. But let me just say, nine weeks in to my sobriety, I am really enjoying life with a clear mind 🙂 I am planning to write more extensively about the subject of sobriety and music business in the future, but I think before I do, I need to “Walk the walk” bit further.

Interesting times to say the least. If you want to know the full schedule of Sliotar’s tour, you can check it out HERE. Oh yeah, and don’t worry, my midnight Tweets won’t get boring just because I’m not drunk 😉

J.P.

The author J.P. Kallio is a singer songwriter
To get EIGHT of his songs for free go HERE