Ryan Adams plays down drugs stories: 'I wasn't living Scarface'

Ryan Adams has claimed that stories about his personal life in recent years were "exaggerated".

The singer-songwriter had become addicted to drink and drugs in the mid-2000s before quitting in 2007. He was also erratic in several interviews, with reviews of his albums becoming more negative.

However, Adams has insisted that his drug addiction was not as bad as it was made out in the press at the time.

"I was never ever sat in a room in the dark, drooling, or whacked out alone for weeks at a time, shooting drugs," he told The Guardian. "I never shot drugs intravenously. I never smoked crack. I was never on the street. I think really that stuff was very experimental for me: I was experimenting with my mind.

"A lot was exaggerated. But I think I was really socially inept in a lot of ways. Uncomfortable in my skin, and when I did interviews there were a lot of times that maybe I felt provoked. If I really was a bad dude, I don't think I would have kept some really great friendships and relationships for a long time.

"I don't think I was misunderstood - it was the way it was painted. Or maybe I really did change. It's hard to know."

Adams claimed that he started drinking and taking cocaine during his days in the group Whiskeytown. "I never drank during the day, or when I mowed the lawn. But I couldn't drink unless I found cocaine, which is sad. Not huge quantities," he said.

"I wasn't living Scarface. You'd do a bump on the edge of your hand and sit there telling stories. I should have been going up the walls, but I just felt normal."

Adams was diagnosed with Ménière's disease five years ago. The condition affects people's hearing and balance.

He added that he was a generally happy person until he moved to New York in 2005.

"New York felt really cold," he said. "Some of my friends were gone. I had to cancel a whole tour. The night before I was supposed to go I was on mushrooms and I melted down. I couldn't sleep. I just couldn't face going. Bombs were going off, and as things were becoming broken, I couldn't fix them."

Adams will release his 13th studio album Ashes & Fire on October 10.

Watch the Ryan Adams 'Ashes & Fire' in-studio acoustic version music video below: