A drummer's dance with Mr. Booze

When Dave Madden, drummer for indie-pop group Kingdom of Lights, sprung back to life after his heart stopped beating from organ failure, a priest was reading him his last rites. It was then that Madden knew that it was time to end his decades-long “dance with Mr. Booze.”

The damage had been done. Madden was diagnosed with end-stage cirrhosis of the liver. Doctors at University California at San Diego in Hillcrest told Madden either he needed a new liver or he would die. That began a five-year-long wait in the liver-transplant program. Now, two years after getting a new liver, Madden will perform with his band Kingdom of Lights at the Liver Life Walk, a benefit for liver disease.

Madden’s musical career has spanned decades, from being a 15-year-old drummer for his band Jepetus, opening for Van Halen in a bowling alley in Pasadena, to playing in popular Doors tribute band Wild Child.

“I’ve played just about every dive bar there is, played soccer stadiums in India, and everything in between.”

But Madden’s dance with liver disease was the biggest jam he’d ever been in.

“It was a five-year up and down dance of waiting for just the right moment when you’re sick enough to meet the guidelines for transplant worthiness but still strong enough to survive the surgery,” Madden tells the Reader by email. “I was one of the lucky ones. I found one that matched only two days after the call went out and literally had the transplant done two hours before I would have bled out internally.”

After Madden recovered from the November 2013 transplant, he got back behind his kit.

“With a new lease on life, I was motivated to get back to playing and performing again. I’m feeling fit and drumming better than I ever have.”

Less than a year after his transplant, Madden began looking for a new music project. He found a Craigslist post on a dream-pop outfit, which would later become Kingdom of Lights.

“I clicked on their website and was just knocked out. Having just been through a life-saving liver transplant...this stuff musically and spiritually connected with me.”

Kingdom of Lights will play during the Liver Life Walk at Liberty Station from 9 a.m. till noon on May 31.