Letting Go Of The Past
Soni of Hootie and The Blowfish
Cris Cohen: One theme, especially in the later part of the book, is you trying to disconnect yourself from the “rock star persona.” I went to the Homegrown shows in 2017 in Charleston. I remember being backstage before the show, and you pulled up on a bicycle, the least rock star move there could be. How much of that was, “This is a fun and convenient way to get to the show,” and how much of it was “I am not going to be the rock star guy”?
Jim "Soni" Sonefeld of Hootie and The Blowfish: I don't know how much of it was my true nature, wanting to be different. When people thought I needed to fit into a certain role, I always wanted to be a slightly different version of that. That gave me some sense of, “I'm unique. Look at me standing out and being different.”
But I don't know if it's that or the 12-step model, the program that I used to arrest my drinking. It runs a little bit counter to rock and roll, being in the spotlight, having a certain persona, and being elusive, untouchable. The steps are more based in humility, in being willing to be part of a community. Not needing to be leading it as the king, or down at the bottom, a peasant, and being walked upon. Getting in the middle that we call being right sized.
As I was trying to put these spiritual principles to work in my life, they kept rubbing up against that rock star guy who needed a limo to arrive at a gig. And so over time, I was enacting a lot of things… like losing my hair, deciding that that didn't need to be part of the new me.
It wasn't even my idea. But it ran towards the idea of anonymity, just fitting in, and not needing to have the attention. Because I was very much loving the attention I always got, even when it annoyed me, and it was too much. The long blonde hair from the 90s. It made you recognize what I'd accomplished, who I thought I was, and needed to be.
And when someone suggested, based on these principles, “Maybe shave your head as a way of letting go of the past,” he was right. I needed to let go of some old ideas, old needs. Needing to be given some attention, needing to have the approval of others, needing to feel a little bit above.
These things were being challenged. And so, the hair was one of the first things to go.