An Australian band has received praise from fans and a youth advocacy group for exploring mental health issues in their music.
The Amity Affliction played sold-out shows across the country before hitting the United States and Europe, and have this week announced another Australian regional tour when they return due to high demand.
Vocalist Joel Birch’s lyrics discuss his own mental health battles and they seem to have hit the right note with fans.
“It’s definitely 100 per cent cathartic for me,” Birch told the ABC from the road in the US.
“Without the band I’m sure I could find other outlets, but the ability to vent every night for over six months of the year is amazing, it’s definitely a great way to channel any negative thoughts that may be brewing.”
The Australian hardcore band’s last two albums Chasing Ghosts (2012) and Let The Ocean Take Me (2014) discuss themes of depression and anxiety, articulated by a mix of melodic singing and raw screaming vocals.
“It’s like there’s cancer in my blood, it’s like there’s water in my lungs. I can’t take another step, please tell me I am not undone.
It’s like there’s fire in my skin and I’m drowning from within. I can’t take another breath, please tell me I am not undone.”
Pittsburgh, from album Let the Ocean Take Me
Both albums debuted at number one on the ARIA charts, despite the top spot usually being held by more mainstream acts.
“The thing with these themes is that aside from Chasing Ghosts, where I set out to write an album for people out there suffering from depression, they’ve happened organically,” Birch said.
“I didn’t want to write another album about my state of mind, but it’s just how it played out.
“I had a tough time in between albums and had a lot of shit to get off my chest.”
But it seems that is what some people have been yearning for.
Birch said he was contacted on social media almost every day by fans thanking him for discussing these issues, and making them feel less alienated.
“The hardest thing for me is face-to-face interactions because I suffer from a pretty acute social anxiety problem from time to time,” Birch said.
“But I like to take the time to write back to everyone that writes to me on Facebook etcetera, and I hope that helps.
“A huge part of dealing with depression and anxiety is the alienating feelings that come with the turf, so it’s nice to be able to reach out to kids in one way or another.”
WA Youth Affairs Council using music to reach masses
The Youth Affairs Council of WA said music could sometimes be the first point of engagement with young people to address their mental health.
“A young person could be out there listening to those types of lyrics in songs and thinking, ‘actually, that’s something that I’ve gone through, that artist who I really admire has gone through it too’, and [that] can actually be a point of connection,” the council’s chief executive Craig Comrie said.
“We’ve heard from many artists … that not only through social media, but also at gigs and events that they’re going to, that many people actually come up to them and talk about these experiences with mental health.”
But there can be risks associated with fans contacting artists directly through social media about life or death situations.
Birch wrote an open letter to fans coinciding with the release of The Amity Affliction’s song Don’t Lean On Me, which deals with the difficulties of being confronted with his fans’ pain.
“I feel extremely helpless, I don’t know what to do. I’ve lost many nights of sleep over urgent messages that I don’t know how to respond to,” Birch wrote.
“I am dealing with depression and anxiety, and so I can fully empathise with everyone out there that has it, to which ever degree they are dealing with it, but I remain inadequate as an advice-giver.”
Mr Comrie said the Youth Affairs Council was planning to roll out training to musicians to help them deal with these situations and know how to respond to crises.
“[We’re planning] to train some artists and give them key messages that they can talk to young people about these issues, because it can be quite confronting and particularly if these artists have lived experience themselves, then it can actually bring up issues for [them],” he said.
Mr Comrie said while it was possible songs could act as a trigger for people in vulnerable states of mind, the positive value of discussions far outweighed that risk.
“Those artists that might be talking about some really tough issues in their songs are encouraging their fans, whether it be through social media or otherwise … [and] having a really proactive approach to encouraging self-help seeking within their fan group,” he said.
Depression stigmatised: ‘Everyone feels sad, harden up’
Birch said the social pressures on people with depression were often not addressed and depression was often stigmatised as weakness.
“This is something I encountered myself for many, many years, and it’s almost solely to blame for me not reaching out to anyone for help,” he said.
“The few times I tried to describe what was happening I was told ‘everyone feels sad’ or ‘harden up’ and the like, and I feel like that’s a blanket issue.”
“I think that perhaps the media should be trying to reach out to the people who are close to those suffering from depression, not the other way around.”
Birch grew up on a farm in a regional area and said mental health was never discussed.
“It just wasn’t on my radar,” he said.
“Looking back I can easily see where things started to go wrong for me, mentally, but back then it just wasn’t talked about.
“I’m a child of the 90s too, so that’s over a decade ago when men were still meant to be men, not little boys with problems.”
But he said he thought attitudes towards mental illness have come a long way since then.
Music Feedback: Talk about your mental health
The Youth Affairs Council’s Music Feedback project is trying to use music to get mental health messages through to young people, with the slogan: “Music talks about mental health, so can you”.
Mr Comrie said the campaign was focused on regional areas because many have big waitlists to access services.
“The services for alcohol and drug rehabilitation, young people can wait up to eight weeks to be able to get a placement,” Mr Comrie said.
“If you have a young person that has committed to and is willing to get off alcohol and drugs, we need to be able to make sure that they can walk in the door there and then and get the support they need.
“If they have to wait eight weeks it very much increases their likelihood of that commitment waning or potentially them no longer wanting to go into that service.”
Music Feedback launched its latest music and video release this week in Bunbury, where the ABC understands there has been a spate of suicides of young people in recent months.
“I know there has been some issues over the last year, particularly around suicides in Bunbury,” Mr Comrie said.
“I think it’s important to recognise when there has been some challenges in particular areas and make sure that services and young people in that area know that they have our support as well as the support of the community.”
For Birch, music has always been an important part of his life and his mental health journey.
“Music is such a healing, therapeutic release for me,” he said.
“I know a lot of people are out there saying this and that saved my life, but for real, without music I don’t know what I would be doing, music saved my goddamn life.”
If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, call Lifeline on 13 11 14, the Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467 or beyondblue on 1300 224 636.