Juno Award winning hip hop artist Shane Bunting a.k.a. Madchild from the Vancouver group Swollen Members is scheduled to perform at the Ramada, Overlander Pub in Williams Lake this Friday, Nov. 9
Bunting is touring with his debut solo album Dope Sick which debuted at number 2 on the Canadian charts.
Not only is the album a story of triumph over adversity, but it has allowed Bunting to be reborn creatively, says James Wright of Kerosene Media.
Dope Sick was inspired by Buntings battle with addiction to the drug oxycontin, a synthetic substance similar to heroin and offers fans an open look at the cold realities of drug abuse.
Unshackled from the chains of his past indiscretions, he has confronted his darkest demons and used them as a source of inspiration to create one of the most insanely captivating hip-hop albums of 2012, says Wright.
Bunting’s drug addiction had spiralled out of control and destroyed everything he had worked so hard to build with his platinum selling hip-hop group Swollen Members.
The fancy cars, lavish houses and rock star luxuries were all gone, as his addiction had consumed over $3 million dollars worth of assets and finances in just over four years.
His left arm was completely numb, his lips had turned purple, and he was standing on death’s doorstep as his body finally gave up from four-and-a-half straight years of opiate abuse.
His family panicked and immediately rushed him to emergency room in a race against the clock.
After successfully battling for his life that night, Bunting had finally hit rock bottom. “It’s the hardest thing I ever did in my life,” Bunting says of that first night in detox.
“There are no words to describe the torture you go through. It is very painful.”
Throughout the next year, as he struggled to take back his life from prescription pills, Bunting discovered his personal sanctuary in the arms of his music.
Clean from drugs for the first time in his adult life, Bunting says he had to walk away from his formal social life in order to save his own life.
With support of his parents, brother and girlfriend and three dogs, Bunting started work in his home studio secluded from the outside world.
For the next 10 months he feverishly wrote and recorded his first-ever solo album Dope Sick.
The album shows Bunting back on the top of his game tackling everything from his addiction and his recent ban from the United States, to the current state of hip-hop.
Bunting says he is enjoying life today as it should be lived, drug free and with a clear mind.
“There will be bad days too but that is just life,” Bunting says. “You will not be able to tell me any situation where a drug addict will have a happy ending if you stay on drugs.”