Macklemore & Ryan Lewis öppnar upp i nya numret av Complex - om baksmällan efter framgångarna med "The Heist" och vägen tillbaka.

Seattle-duon Macklemore & Ryan Lewis slog igenom på bred front i USA och världen under 2013 och 2014 med skivan “The Heist”. De båda åkte jorden runt och gjorde TV-framträdanden och spelningar i ett furiöst tempo.  Efter ett par år på flygplatser och hotell tvingades dock båda till en paus från det hektiska och pressande turnélivet. I kommande numret av Complex pryder duon omslaget och i en öppenhjärtlig intervju berättar båda om livet innan och efter “The Heist”.

Läs utdrag från intervjun/coverstoryn nedan hur Macklemore föll tillbaka in i missbruk för att åter bli nykter när hans fru Tricia blev gravid:

“And after the success of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ The Heist—the debut at No. 2 on Billboard’s album chart, the two number-one hits in “Thrift Shop” and “Can’t Hold Us,” the four Grammy wins, and the true people’s choice award as the most streamed artist on Spotify in 2013—Ben relapsed into taking pills and smoking marijuana. “I held it together for a while,” he says. “But, eventually, I stopped going to my 12-step meetings.” “I was burnt out,” he continues. “I was super-stressed. We weren’t sleeping—doing a show every day, zigzagging all over the country. In terms of the media I was getting put into a box that I never saw for myself. The pressure and the fame—everything. All the clichés, man—like not being able to walk around, having no privacy, and from this TV appearance to this TV appearance, and the criticism, and the lack of connection, and the lack of meetings—all of that put into one pie was just…I just wanted to escape.”

“It was Tricia’s pregnancy that served as a catalyst for his new sobriety. “I’ve been trying to grow up this year,” he says. “Since I heard that Tricia was pregnant, I was like, I need to grow up right now.” He says he hasn’t purchased any indulgent items in seven months and spends the better part of his mornings dedicated to self-care, with a routine of meditation, yoga, journaling, and attending meetings—before he starts engaging with his responsibilities as an artist and business partner. “I’ve gotten back to what makes me happy,” he says.”

Nu verkar båda artisterna har landat i framgången och Macklemore har blivit pappa under våren så verkar det åter vara dags att kliva in i rampljuset. Duon bekräftar även i intervjun att man är 75% färdiga med ett kommande album – där den svåraste delen i inspelningsprocessen dock kvarstår:

“The hardest part of making an album is always the last quarter,” Ben admits. “The last quarter is really the most intensive, the most stressful, the most arguments between me and Ryan, the most challenging. So, we’re in that phase where it starts to feel like work, once you’re organizing songs and feeling out pieces that fit, that don’t fit, excavating. That’s the process that we’re in right now: How do you turn these moments into songs? And songs into an album?”

Se även ett videoklipp där Macklemore och Ryan Lewis agerar relationsexperter till läsare: