Bob Geldof experienced incomprehensible tragedy in April, when his daughter Peaches died of a heroin overdose. The singer/songwriter opened up about his grief to ITV News Wednesday evening, saying he feels that he failed as a father because he wasn’t able to help her overcome her addiction. He said that music has helped him cope since her passing, calling his reuniting with Boomtown Rat “cathartic.”

Geldof said, “You blame yourself,” when a child dies as Peaches did, adding, “You’re the father who is responsible, and clearly failed.” He went on, “For anybody watching who has a dead kid and you’re a parent: You go back, you go back, you go back, you go back, you go back, you go over, you go over. What could have been done? You do as much as you can.”

Geldof, in fact, did try to do what he could to help his daughter, how had been trying to kick her habit with methadone since 2011, fight her demons. Of Peaches’ addiction, he said, “I knew about it, and we did more than talk about it, yeah,” adding that, “She was super bright, too bright. She knew what life was supposed to be, and God bless her, she tried very hard to get there. And she didn’t make it.” He said that the 25-year-old, who is survived by husband Thomas Cohen and children Phaedra and Astala, was “damaged” by the death of her mother – also to heroin, and that the constant media focus on it didn’t help.

Geldof said the Boomtown Rats are like a surrogate family, and explained that performing with them provides some relief from his grief. “It is utterly cathartic,” he said. “Those two hours and I am drained. And it’s a very brief respite.”