In a recent interview, the Blur frontman admits that his drug use and visits to Africa helped him discover a sense of rhythm

Damon Albarn has given a rare interview about his past heroin use, describing it as an "incredibly productive" time in his musical career.

Although the singer is now sober, the singer addresses his drug use in a new song, which describes how he would regulate his heroin intake to "five days on and two days off".

"[Heroin] freed me up," Albarn said in this month's Q cover story. "I hate talking about this because of my daughter, my family. But, for me, it was incredibly creative ... A combination of [heroin] and playing really simple, beautiful, repetitive shit in Africa changed me completely as a musician. I found a sense of rhythm. I somehow managed to break out of something with my voice."

Albarn began using heroin "at the height of Britpop", after returning home from tour and finding it "in the front room". "I just thought, 'Why not?' I never imagined it would become a problem," he said. This is a time he revisits on You And Me, a song on his forthcoming solo album. "Tin foil and a lighter, the ship across," he sings. "Five days on, two days off."



"I'm happy I found that poetry," Albarn told Q. "I can move forward now without all the nudge nudge, wink wink innuendo I've had in the background for years."

Albarn had a similar attitude discussing heroin in a 2012 interview with the Guardian. Speaking to John Harris, he seemed to marvel that the public hadn't commented on the relatively explicit heroin references in Blur's late-90s albums. "I thought everyone was just being really nice, and not making too much of a deal of it," he said.



Despite Albarn's reverence for the impact of heroin on his creative process, he is not a champion for the drug, or silent about its dangers. "It's a cruel, cruel thing," he said. "[Heroin] does turn you into a very isolated person and ultimately anything that you are truly dependent on is not good."

