Music or Mental Health post?

HI folks, hope you are all doing great. I’d like to say I’m doing good but to be honest I am not writing while I’m in a particularly good way here today. I really didn’t intend to start with that, it’s just the first words that came out as I am sat here at the computer thinking about what to write. I am also thinking about how we all hide our feelings, especially in today’s veil of social media, everyone putting across the best versions of themselves. It’s exhausting to see, subconsciously I think you can’t help but compare (to ideals that are not even fucking real), and I think it can be quite toxic. So I just wanted to be real and honest. Some personal stuff has gone down for me and some big changes in circumstance that I won’t go into here out of respect. I feel lost and alone but not without hope.

This next part is probably more for me that you the reader (but please do keep reading)..

Lots of good things are happening! Yes they are. Gotta keep affirming that. I have some great festival announcements to make. I’ll be playing at Teniriffee Festival 6th July, Woop Woop Festival 4-6th Oct, Gundaroo Music Festival 26th Oct and July this year. I just had the first rehearsal with my full band, our first gig will be down in Yamba at the Pacific Hotel 29th June. I played drums for a session with the super talented Hayley Marsden a couple of weeks back for the Qube Effect, which I will share with you as soon as the video comes out.

As well as wanting to give you that information, I also was actively focusing in on the positive things for my own mental health, which is so essential in trying to navigate through dark times. I woke up today with a crushing depression that literally felt like being physically depressed, squashed down into the ground by some giant invisible thumb. I am acknowledging this feeling, but I refuse to feed it, to dwell on it. It can be hard but you can always find the positive somewhere, even if it’s something as simple as looking up at the sky and taking a deep breath. I guess I’m sharing this because I know I will get through it, because it is familiar to me and something I have been dealing with my whole life. In doing so I hope that it might help someone else who is maybe feeling the same..

Also, I am ready to record some new music, so so ready.. I have an album’s worth of material ready, and I’m just about to start planning my next move with that. I’m really proud of these songs, and it has been and extremely therapeutic writing cycle, which I hope comes across.

Ah yes! That was the point I actually sat down to write this blog post about. You may have noticed that sitting here writing this is really helping me feel better, and is also therapeutic. Give writing a go if you’re feeling down, it’s can be healing and getting stuff out on paper can be very cleansing to the mind. Sorry this is a very rambling post, flitting between mental health and something I haven’t quite got to yet, but why not. I am a human, i’m alive and I’m just getting some stuff out thanks for being here with me.. The point!

New music. How to approach it. I am considering doing another crowdfunding campaign. The last one I did was so amazing I would really like to do another. Of course raising the funds for the studio was fantastic and fundamental, but what I (and hopefully the patrons) got the most out of the experience, were the personalised gifts. I did some private gigs, some signed merch, but what I enjoyed most was the personalised jingles. I got to write a little ditty about the person, and it was so much fun and such a deep connection, plus a totally new and innovative source of inspiration, and a completely new way of writing for me. A couple of the jingles I ended up making into full songs which will be on the album!

I have just gone back though the footage of the time we spent in the studio for the crowdfunded song 27, and the footage of the almighty launch party we had for it at the Bearded Lady. Here is the video, it was so much fun –

I’d love to get some feedback on whether I should try crowdfund a whole new album, or if you guys have any ideas on cool ways to release my next batch of music? Be great to bounce some ideas.. Likewise I’d be keen to bounce some of your ideas if you have a creative project coming up. I struggle with the endless expectation of promoting yourself as a brand, the me me me of being a musician in this day and age. I don’t really want that, I’d rather be sharing as part of a community, helping each other get our art out there, uniting our fanbases as just having stacks of fun which surely is the only real goal in life right?

So yeah, just sharing some thoughts with you all really, trying to connect on a real level I think I have been on social media a bit to much as it has been getting to me, but it has definitely inspired me to open up a bit here, and I feel better for it. Please feel free to share your feelings back with me, it feels great to share and get it off your chest. I really hope you’re all doing good, and if not don’t worry just reach out. We all need to be here for each other, and I am always here if you need to chat, whoever you are, we’re all in this together.

One last thing, the video I mentioned in my last blog post that I was making down in Melbourne with Robbie at Silverpod Productions during my last tour... If you haven’t already seen it, here it is (super proud of this!!) –