Eric Brittingham says that the "internal problems" that are preventing CINDERELLA from reuniting and hitting the road together are unlikely to be resolved anytime soon. Although CINDERELLA hasn't released a new studio album since 1994's "Still Climbing", the band started playing sporadic shows again in 2010 but has been largely inactive for the last few years while frontman Tom Keifer focuses on his solo career. Asked during an appearance on the "Rockin' Metal Revival" show if CINDERELLA is a "dead issue," Eric responded (hear audio below): "At the moment, yeah. I mean, never say never, but at the moment… You know, you can do the research. It's out there. Read between the lines and you'll figure out what's going on. I just don't think it's my place to talk about it. I just don't see anything changing with the internal problems." He continued: "There's a problem that we're having with somebody who doesn't wanna change, and so be it. I think it's a shame — it's a shame for the rest of us, it's a shame for our fans — but, hey, it is what it is. Tom's happy doing his solo career, which is great, and it's getting better — it's taking off — and I wish him all the best. I'm happy where I am at, I'm playing with a great band with a great bunch of guys, we're all best buds, and it's all good. And Fred's [Coury, drums] happy too. So be it." CINDERELLA guitarist Jeff LaBar recently accepted blame for the group's prolonged period of inactivity, explaining that his "drinking problem" caused a rift between him and his bandmates. He told "Another FN Podcast With Izzy Presley"": "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 that CINDERELLA played]. I guess that's what caused a rift… When I fell out on one of those cruise ships in front of everybody — like, basically O.D.'d — that's when the band, and mostly Tom, took notice and was, like, 'What the fuck?' So they sent me to rehab. I did the rehab, I did extra rehab, and Tom was, basically, my champion. He paid for quite a bit of it, so I did an extra month on Tom's dime, and came out a better man. But I only stayed sober for a year. I got off painkillers that I was addicted to because of my hip surgery; I had a hip replacement, and everybody was anxious to give me painkillers, 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 — everybody I was hanging with, everybody I was working with. 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 [did not approve of it] and maybe took it personal." Asked if he is sober now, LaBar said: "No, I'm not. Which is the problem. Which is probably the problem. Like I said, I can only speculate, because I don't talk to the other guys anymore. I talk to Fred every now and then. Eric lives twenty minutes from me. We haven't talked lately, but Eric and I have been the most consistent of all my bandmates throughout the past thirty-two years. It's just Tom and I that don't talk anymore. And I can only speculate that he's very disappointed and doesn't wanna see me die. He doesn't wanna witness me dying." Brittingham played with LAST IN LINE on the DEF LEPPARD cruise in January and is now a member of Bret Michaels's (POISON) solo backing band.
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