Welcome to our Start Today Harm Reduction Interview series, where we’re connecting with bands, musicians, and others who have stories to tell about mental health and addiction, and how they intersect with life in the music industry. 

Heist Interview

What was the moment you realized that mental health and addiction are real issues in the music industry? 

• Going to art school, I (Clouse) learned early on how glorified addiction and poor mental health are in a culture that rewards being a tortured artist over a healthy one. Almost every gig we play is at a bar, and we see people nightly drinking up to the point where they shouldn’t be driving home, or start harassing others. Whether people recognize it or not, the ubiquity of alcohol  is compounded in a city where every show is at a venue that makes money from drink sales, and public transportation often isn’t available late at night.
   

Can you share how you or someone close to you coped with or overcame struggles related to alcoholism, drug use, or mental health issues? 

• All three of us have been on long journeys with therapy and medication. It’s a vulnerable thing to admit, but struggling with depression and ADHD, I would have personally been on a very dark path if I hadn’t found professional medical help in 2016. We are all works in progress, but our band is a safe space for discussing our mental health and providing a healthy outlet for negative and difficult emotions. Having that space while also needing to be in good shape to play keeps me motivated to live in a healthy, sustainable way.
   

Do you think the culture of touring/performing contributes to substance abuse in musicians? If so, how? 

• Absolutely! Long drives, exhausting schedules, and poor sleeping conditions also contribute to stimulant abuse just to keep up with the rigors of touring. The margins for most performers are incredibly thin and a lot of venues resort to using drink tickets as a means to supplement payment for performers; altogether the standard environment for touring in the US creates a recipe for disaster.
   

Have you ever felt pressure to drink or use substances in order to fit in or be creative? 

• Yes. Sometimes it feels like it’s difficult to let go of anxiety and be in the moment without using substances to help combat social anxiety and feelings of insecurity. Music culture glamorizes partying hard as a lifestyle, and we’ve received far more sideways glances when sober and not partaking than we have for being over served or too impaired.

What kind of support systems do you think musicians need that they currently don’t have? 

• On a global level, there are many great models internationally for how artists can be supported by their governments, both with finances and healthcare. Locally, we love to see bars that are careful about not overserving patrons and provide no-questions asked policies for anyone who overindulges or feels unsafe at shows. Free drug testing, readily accessible narcan, clean needle programs and supervised consumption sites are all also great steps toward harm reduction.
   

How do you support each other’s mental health within the band? 

• This is a very personal question. Last year our bass player Ty Hoiday died by suicide, and their partner Taylor Thodiyil stepped in to take their role. Since then our band has become a support group for one another. We’ve all had to navigate that extreme grieving process together, and rely upon one another to be honest about our mental health, whether good or bad on any given day. Health always has to come first within our band, even when it has to be at the expense of opportunities or doing more with the project.
   

What role do you think musicians can play in destigmatizing addiction and or mental illness? 

• A person with a microphone inherently operates from a position of power, and can set the tone for an entire group. When you have a platform to address a crowd, you can speak up and establish what is and isn’t okay behavior. Reminding people to drink water, take care of one another, and not glamorizing your drinking onstage all communicate what you expect from your audience.
   

Are there any local organizations or resources in your area you’ve partnered with or want to support to promote mental health within the scene? 

• We really love the work you do with Start Today! We are extremely passionate about trans mental health, and love supporting Transform (https://www.transformcincy.org/) to help provide clothing and gender affirming care to our local trans community.
   

How do you use your platform—either on stage or online—to raise awareness about these issues? 

• We try to be as honest as possible about our personal experiences and pride ourselves on not shying away from vulnerability in our art. Currently we’re working on finishing the album of music we were writing with Ty, and ask ourselves this question constantly when working with her lyrics, which focus on the mental health struggles she was wrestling with until her passing.
   

How has your music changed as you’ve worked through mental health or addiction challenges? (whichever applies here) 

• I try to keep in mind that the more personal art is, the more universal it becomes. When we started writing music as teenagers, I wrote lyrics for concept albums and fantastic stories that had little to do with me. As I’ve matured as an artist, my lyrics have become much more direct and vulnerable relating to my personal struggles.

Have you or your band written any songs or albums that were directly inspired by these experiences? 

• Much of our music is still in progress, but of what we’ve released, the song Refraction is about a very personal experience. In my 20s I drove recklessly [insert bit as to why that’s linked to mental health issues or addiction] and it wasn’t until I fishtailed my car on the highway one day that I realized that I cared so little about my life that I was driving in ways that could have ended it. The second verse of the song is about looking up at the sky with my best friend afterwards and realizing that I don’t want to have such little value for my own life.

What advice would you give to younger artists who might be struggling with similar issues?

• It’s such a cliche, but you are not alone, and we are all more similar than we are different. Depression is a liar within the mind and will do everything in its power to convince you that you are by yourself and no one else can understand; or even worse, that you deserve how you feel. Nothing has impacted my mental health as much as finding a community around me of people who are also happy to talk openly about it.  If you have healthcare, talking to a professional can change your life; and if you don’t, it’s an absolute crime that we live in a nation that allows for that.

Is there anything you would like to plug or promote while you’re here?

• 1) Midwest Friends Fest, obviously! We will be playing on May 30th at Southgate House.
• 2) We would love to bump https://www.transformcincy.org/ again!
• 3) We also have a new single coming out soon; the song is called Occupation and is about the Cincinnati police’s history of detaining peaceful protesters and refusing to respect their constitutional rights.