Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Shaun Curran

‘I hadn’t thought about a drink. Then I saw the pub. Game over’: singer-songwriter Michael Head on beating addiction – again

‘Mick lad, this is it’ … Michael Head at Yawn studios in West Kirby.
‘Mick lad, this is it’ … Michael Head at Yawn studios in West Kirby. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/the Guardian

Michael Head is re-enacting the moment he thought he was about to die. In 2019, the beloved Liverpool songwriter “fell off the wagon on a grand scale”. The 62-year-old, who had beaten heroin addiction twice, had been sober from alcohol since 2016. But by 2020 his drinking was so severe that he was getting regular seizures. One looked as if it would kill him.

Sitting on the couch in the cramped back room of Yawn studios in West Kirby on the Wirral, he sits bolt upright to indicate the panic; he flashes his hands across his face in a blur, making a whirling, thudding noise. “Like in the movies,” he says. “I said to myself: ‘Mick lad, this is it.’”

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.