Mike Chunn talks to Nik Brown about coping with agoraphobia and drugs
The Morning Sound
The Morning Sound

Mike Chunn talks to Nik Brown about coping with agoraphobia and drugs

"Instead of living an iconic life, it became an ironic life," the ex-Split Enz bassist described.

Earlier this week, Nik Brown caught up with ex-bassist of Split Enz and Citizen Band to talk about his latest memoir titled 'A Sharp Left Turn'.

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When asked upon how hard it was to "opening up to other things, apart from music", Chunn explained that it was just a matter of "doing it".

"Oh bugger it! I might as well just pour it all out," Chunn explained. "Both my parents are in heaven, so there couldn't be too much of a downside with a, 'Why didn't you tell us at the time, Michael?'"

Chunn says that he's lucky to possess a great memory that helped him pen down his memories in his book.

"A phobic disorder becomes a phobic disorder when you live your life in whatever you can do to avoid that panic attack," Chunn said. "A phobic disorder is when you lead your life, thinking all the time, 'I musn't do whatever that causes me going into a panic attack."

"I loved the stage, but I just thought I was going insane from taking LSD," he explained. "So I lied to my father that I got stage frights." His father then recommended him to take a tranquiliser like Serepax and Chunn ended up relying on it for twelve years (normally, people take the pill for a maximum of two to three weeks).

Chunn also explained that his ex-bandmate, Phill Judd possibly had a social phobia. He explained that Judd was great and at ease when you're talking to him one-on-one but he goes really quiet when it's filled up with twenty over recording company guys.