When King, who had overcome
his own battles with alcoholism in
the 1980s, learned that McDermott
was facing the same demons, he
wrote him a long type-written let-
ter. McDermott carried that let-
ter around with him as a sense of
pride, often taking it out and read-
ing it at crack houses to dazzle his
friends. When he finally got sober
he looked at the date of the letter
and realized it had taken him close
to 20 years to get clean. He con-
siders that period his wasted years.
In the last five years he’s released
some of his best work - Willow
Springs (2016), Out From Under
(2018), Orphans (2019), and now
What In The World… (2020).
“I stopped drinking and doing
drugs - that was the catalyst for the
creativity!” explained McDermott.
“I guess on some level it was try-
ing to make up for all the squan-
dered time that I pissed away. I
think once I got my life in order,
I was just fired up and energized
about creating things. The timing
could definitely be pinpointed to
getting sober.”
Watch a video for “Shadow In The Window” by Michael McDermott
NJ STAGE - ISSUE 70
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