Guy Garvey used to think alcohol helped him to write songs.

Guy Garvey

Guy Garvey

The Elbow frontman, 41, has admitted he would guzzle down bottles of booze prior to his songwriting sessions because he believed, at the time, that his blurred mentality allowed him to pen tracks more easily.

He explained to the Guardian's Weekend magazine: "I'm ashamed to say I could polish off a bottle without a problem. I could have this conversation after a bottle of scotch."

He added with a grin: "I used to think booze helped me write. It doesn't at all. I used to convince myself it was a necessary part, but that's b******s."

However, the singer - who released his debut solo album recently - has now realised that some of the best work he has created has been while he was sober.

He said: "The drinking was all part of the garret, the romance of the swinging lightbulb, the dedicating my life to unpaid art idea. Tortured in my 20s - all part of that."


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