Once known for his colorful personality on stage, Mavericks founding member Robert Reynolds (pictured above, second from the right) was recently removed as a member of the Mavericks after he couldn’t overcome his problems with addictions.
“This is the worst thing I’ve ever seen as far as addiction,” lead singer Raul Malo tells Rolling Stone. “He’s far gone.”
After re-uniting in 2013, the band continued to deal with Reynolds’ addiction problems (mostly to prescription drugs containing opiates).
“At some point, you start to look at it as we’re not making it any better, so we’re part of the problem,” drummer Paul Deakin said. “It’s devastating — it’s our good friend this is happening to. There are so many emotions that are mixed up in it.”
The band’s decision to part with the star was mostly due to finding out that their friend’s addiction had got so bad that he was hitting up some longtime fans for loans.
Malo adds, “It’s like, man, what if he hits somebody up for five grand, and then they go, ‘Why didn’t you guys tell us anything?’ And now we put this fan in harm’s way and they’re out five grand because we didn’t have the balls to say anything about it.
The band has kept open the door for Reynolds’ return if he can sustain sobriety but that’s a long ways off as Malo says. “He’s to to work the program and make sure it sticks.”
The Mavericks will release Mono on February 17, 2015.
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