Bring Me the Horizon frontman Oliver Sykes kicked addiction and found musical maturity

Life is looking up for Oli Sykes, frontman of British metalcore band Bring Me the Horizon. This summer, his band picked up album of the year at the Alternative Press Music Awards, Sykes is writing faster and with renewed passion, and he has discovered his singing voice. This positive upswing all began with the decision to check himself into rehab two years ago.

On receiving the band's first major award in July, Sykes came clean about his addiction to the party drug ketamine. He had hinted about his struggle with substances at the Reading Festival last year, but in his acceptance speech, he put it on the table.

"My band wanted to kill me, my parents wanted to kill me and my f***ing brother wanted to kill me. Everyone wanted to f***ing kill me," he told the crowd at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, before going on to thank his fans for the letters and texts that helped him.

Speaking from his home in Sheffield ahead of his upcoming Asian tour, which calls through Hong Kong on November 21, Sykes said his ketamine addiction "went on a long time, for years" and that although he wanted to give up, the pressures of touring complicated the situation. Rehab was a last resort, and that month he spent shut off from the world was a chance to truly be himself.

"The best part of it was not having to think about who I am, or what I do, or have to worry about anyone recognising me — it was good just to switch off," says the 28-year-old who lives with his girlfriend and is close to his family, seeing them most days.

Fresh out of rehab, Sykes went to ground with the band to the Lake District in England, to work on their next album. All up, it was a year out of action, but the end result was an album unlike anything they'd done before — and the hard work paid off.