Photo: Stephen White (The Last Mixed Tape)
On Saturday May 25th, SelfMade will run a two-part event, Mind YourSelf: Mental Health and Music, sponsored by IMRO, looking at mental health in the Irish music scene and in particular the challenges affecting developing musicians in their professional and personal lives. There has been a huge step-up in the level of conversation on mental health in recent years and we’re proud to use our next event to encourage conversation, break the stigma, and facilitate a route to a healthier music industry.
In advance of the event REMY chats to Dublin troubadour Paddy Hanna about his musical journey, his sophomore album Frankly, I Mutate, and the existing gaps in supports for those suffering with mental health.
REMY: Can you recall the moment you decided you wanted to wade into the world of making music? Was it as a result of a live show you were attending for example or a less spontaneous happenstance?
Paddy: I wanted to perform from a very early age but was a cripplingly shy child. I used to hide in a moulding playhouse at the back of our garden with a crappy tape recorder and sing in to it, just to see how I sounded, but I could only do that in secret. I didn’t perform publicly till I was 15, at a school talent show.
REMY: Your early days on the Irish music 'scene' saw you as one of the collaborators in the Popical Island collective circa 2010, was that a period you have care-free memories of?
Paddy: For the most part. It was a great time for drinking cans, playing sweaty venues that hold about 20 people and churning albums out in a weekend.
REMY: With the release of Frankly, I Mutate last year you were quite open about a core theme of the album, and if I may quote at length because I feel it’s important; "I allude to mental illness in my work. It’s considered by many to be a neurosis that spurs on creative work, however it is nothing but a crutch on my own creativity. My time in a depressive haze is spent in complete emptiness, weeks will go by, my beard will have grown out, my pen dried up. So when indeed I allude to mental illness it would usually be during a happy period where I can function. One of the most important days in my life came when I finally opened up about depression and was not met with jeers but rather acceptance and understanding."
To jump back to your debut 4 years earlier, Leafy Stiletto, it seems in lyric and song-titles even, that you were already on a path to exploring expressing those feelings, take for example tracks like 'Mind’s Wearing Make-Up' and the escapism of 'Heaven of Heavens', would that be an okay assumption to make?
Paddy: It surely would be. I make a point of not dwelling on the meaning of my tracks, I like to leave them open to interpretation, that said it's usually easy to spot the central themes.
REMY: There was a four-year period in between Leafy Stiletto and Frankly, I Mutate (you were still active in this time with the likes of Autre Monde). What would you say was the most notable difference in how you approached your song-writing for each LP?
Paddy: I listen to loads of music and make a composite in the ole head of how the album should sound, then I fit the songs around that sonic theme. When discussing Frankly with Daniel we knew immediately what kind of album we were going to make, our chemistry was such that I’ve basically kidnapped him for the next record we're making.
REMY: Frankly, I Mutate was across the board one of the most well-received Irish albums of 2018, if you could pick one track of the 12 which would you say pleases you the most in terms of how it turned out on the album?
Paddy: 'Bad Boys', we nailed that one.
REMY: On the 25th May you’ll be a member of the panel discussing mental health titled Mind YourSelf: Mental Health and Music run by the great folks and music lovers SelfMade. Mental health has thankfully had a strong spotlight shone on it in recent years, that said, where do you feel the biggest gaps regarding awareness and resources remain?
Paddy: It's very difficult for someone to campaign for elections on a mental health platform, it’s not a short term solution and therefore many folks are inclined to vote for the more quick fix policies, but we need to lay the seeds now, I for one would be happy to know that kids 15 years from now won't feel broken or lost as I did, and that their mental health was treated with the same regularity as treating the common cold. That's where we need to be.
For more information and to book tickets to SelfMade's upcoming event, Mind YourSelf: Mental Health and Music, head over to the event page here https://www.facebook.com/events/385791448665594/
