Nick Barker reveals alarming health diagnosis

The renowned extreme metal drummer Nick Barker (Lock Up, Brujeria, Dimmu Borgir, Cradle Of Filth, Shining) talked candidly about some of his current health issues in a recent interview with “Reckless” Rexx Ruger of the Pod Scum podcast, as reported by blabbermouth.net.

Well, at this point in my career, as you probably know, I’m experiencing renal failure right now. So I’m on dialysis three times a week for four hours at a time. And that’s pretty much consumed my life. I’ve gone from one extreme to the other, whereas before the renal failure, I was [on tour] in a different place every week. Today I could be in New York; next week I could be in Sydney, and then the week after that, I’m in Amsterdam, I’m in London. Because of what I’m going through personally, it’s made me appreciate it more now it’s gone. Now I don’t have it, I really do appreciate it. And I realize how much I took it for granted. I’m dealing with stage five chronic kidney failure right now, which is full renal failure. I’ve been on dialysis, hemodialysis since January ’23. I’ve been approved by the transplant list here in Vancouver. I did all the pre-assessments, passed all the assessment tests. They said, ‘Yep, you’re totally fine. You’ve just gotta drop some of those lbs. So I’ve got about 20, 30 pounds to lose before they can operate on me. I’ll get a new kidney, they don’t give you two [kidneys] now. What they do is they make an incision and they basically implant the live kidney on one of your dead kidneys. I’m on a waiting list. I could get a phone call after I speak to you, or it could be next year. It’s really just a waiting game. To not sound so crass, I’ve just gotta wait for somebody to die.

He hasn’t abandoned music, though.

Yeah, I am. I still play the drums, but not very often. See with me, I need somebody to jam with to be inspired. I can play do playthroughs all day, but they’re not really challenging. But if I’m there with a guitarist and he’s throwing riffs at me, I get really creative that way. But playing on my own, I’ll be honest with you, I get bored after 20 minutes.