Jeff LaBar’s drinking problem to blame for Cinderella’s inactivity

Jeff LaBar
Jeff LaBar (Image credit: Getty)

Cinderella guitarist Jeff LaBar believes it’s his fault that the band have been inactive in recent years.

The group’s last album was 1994’s Still Climbing and they haven’t played live since 2013’s Monsters Of Rock Cruise. And LaBar says he thinks his drinking problem is at the centre of the rift within the band.

LaBar tells the Izzy Presley podcast: “We all made a pact a long time ago to not continue Cinderella if one of us dropped out. And I think vocalist and guitarist Tom Keifer is going to stick to that. I don’t talk to him anymore, so I don’t really know for a fact. But we all made a pact not to do it if it wasn’t the four of us – and it’s not the four of us anymore.

“I can only speculate, but I believe it’s all my fault. It’s no secret that I’ve had a drinking problem. And it showed its ugly face on one of those cruises. I guess that’s what caused a rift.

“Over 30 years, we’ve all gotten along every single day and almost never argued with each other. When I fell out on one of those cruise ships in front of everybody, that’s when the band, and mostly Tom, took notice and was, like, ‘What the fuck?’”

LaBar reports he’s entered rehab several times to cure his addiction, revealing that Keifer paid for much of his treatment, but adds: “I only stayed sober for a year. I got off painkillers that I was addicted to because of my hip surgery, which I needed, but I took it too far being a partying guy.

“So I got off the painkillers, but a year sober alienated me from everybody around me. Being sober in front of people drinking sucks. On top of the fact that I suffer from anxiety. Part of the reason I drink is so I can walk out of my house and deal with the public – and it’s always been that way. So I went back to drinking, and some people maybe took it personally.”

LaBar released his debut solo album One For The Road in 2014, but admits that he struggles to play live these days.

He adds: “I’m pretty much done playing music. With Cinderella we have crew, bus drivers, buses and trucks. I wake up, I go on stage, I do my thing.

“On the level that I’ve been doing it for the past few years, I just don’t have it in me anymore. I can’t travel in a van with trailers and haul my own gear until four in the morning. It’s just too hard. I enjoy cooking more.”

Last year, LaBar said Cinderella were “essentially a nostalgia act.” Keifer, meanwhile, released his solo album The Way Life Goes in 2013.

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Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.