For Connie Sgarbossa, vocalist of hardcore punk band SeeYouSpaceCowboy, music has always been her main form of catharsis. When facing her own past drug addiction, the songs she wrote often reflected those struggles—that said, Sgarbossa acknowledges that music isn’t necessarily a cure.
SeeYouSpaceCowboy’s second record, The Romance of Affliction, was influenced by her addiction. However, she explains that two weeks after the band finished recording the album, she went home and overdosed.
“I think that the biggest thing is understanding that you probably will fail at times,” Sgarbossa tells SPIN backstage at Louder Than Life. “I’ve had plenty of relapses, but for me, the most important thing is not that you relapse that night—it’s what you do the next morning. As long as you aren’t indulging and doing those things again, then you’re still on the path. You’re still doing well, even if you fumble at times.”
Sgarbossa is in a much better place and mindset with her addiction today, and she can now look back and understand that relapsing is common for any addict. While it helped to address her problems through the band’s songs, she looks forward to making music about other subjects.
“The biggest thing is don’t beat yourself up over it too much,” Sgarbossa says. “You need to have the strength to say, ‘I made a mistake last night, but I’m not gonna make a mistake this morning.'”
