It was a bit of a shock when drummer Trivett Wingo revealed that he was parting ways with The Sword after seven years together. However, in a recent interview with The Austin Chronicle, Wingo revealed that a battle with intense anxiety has been plaguing him for years.
Wingo said the following:
“Not to get too specific, but my level of anxiety pertaining to being on tour got to the point where medication was not the answer. You can crunch Valiums all the time, but at a certain point you have to ask yourself if you should just be staying at home. I had been medicating myself to be on tour, and I realized that psychiatric help wasn’t the answer. I was very deeply unhappy. I didn’t want to sedate myself and do something that I wasn’t enjoying. I figured it was better for me to finally listen to my inner voice and strike out on my own. I wanted to finish it all. If I had known what point I would break, I wouldn’t have planned anything beyond that, but I reached my own personal breaking point as far as my panic and anxiety. I was living in a mental hell. I think it was really starting to affect my performance as well. I really officially completely burned myself down to a nub.”
He continued later on to say:
“People think it’s really easy to just ride around and fly on airplanes and play rock & roll shows. What they don’t realize is that you completely give up your entire personal life. All of your meaningful relationships are thrown into a pile and neglected. You’re not there for your friends or your family, the people that you love. Meanwhile, you’re thrust into this void where you sit around and jerk off for 23 hours waiting to play one hour of music. That just killed me. I was dying on the road. I can’t deal with that amount of downtime everyday and being disconnected from everything. I decided it was time to work 9-5 and rehabilitate myself. I just want a fucking “normal life,” with a dog and a wife and a kid and the whole deal.”
No one outside the band would have probably known or even guessed that Wingo was going through such horrid troubles. While it’s sad that he won’t be able to continue on with The Sword, it is great that Wingo got off the road before it was too late and his condition worsened. It’s a reminder that the road isn’t for everyone and that sadly there are some who don’t discover their limits until it’s too late. On the bright side, if you live in the Austin area, you might be able to one day get your taxes done by Wingo. He’s planning on going to school, getting his MBA and becoming an accountant.
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