The famously tattooed fashion-designing front man of ring Me the Horizon is in hot water these days. With the success of the groups newest album That’s The Spirit, Oli has been in popular demand for interviews.
During his acceptance speech for Album of the Year (for Sepreturnal) at the 2014 APMAs, Sykes revealed his battle with addiction to Ketamine and gave fans a slight look into his time in rehab. He thanked fans for his recovery, saying that they, along with the support of his family and girlfriend got him through his addiction.
In an interview with Metal Hammer, Oli suggested that everyone try drugs, once in their life. He described using acid as an “adventure.
Bring Me the Horizon is huge, and they have been for many years. I am 20 years old, and I know that they have been around for as long as I can remember. Many fans of Bring Me the Horizon, are young an impressionable, between 13 and 18 years of age. Where they do have older fans, such as people like myself who basically grew up on their music, Oli MUST be aware that a majority of their fans are as young as they are.
While I am aware that there is a fine line between being a role model and a musician, when you reach the level of fame that Bring Me the Horizon and Oli himself have, that line becomes blurred almost to the point of non-existence. While I DO understand Oli’s point, and where he was coming from, it was highly irresponsible of him to say that.
The thing is that Oli was very fortunate to be able to have the opportunity to go to rehab, and become clean. For many people, sobriety is little more than a pipe dream. All it takes is one hit to create an addict, and many of these kids don’t have the type of knowledge, and/or willpower, to stop when they see the beginning signs of addiction.
And the problem now, is that these kids are going to listen to him.
Here’s a link to the original interview:
http://metalhammer.teamrock.com/news/2014-07-24/bring-me-the-horizon-oli-sykes-drug-addict
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