Anyone who has been reading and listening to Picky Bastards since we launched back in 2017 will know at least one thing about me: I like to bang on about the effect music has on my mental health. I have written numerous articles about it, and I rarely get through an episode of the Picky Bastards Podcast without mentioning it at least once, especially when I am in charge of the ‘Why I Love’ section.
Over the last two years, I have had a few really challenging periods mentally. Redundancy, buying a house, getting no sleep – all these things added up to two particularly bad crashes, which left me reeling. What did I rely on to get through? Music, of course.
I wrote this article about The Benefits of Music just as I was coming out of one of those really challenging periods, and it was getting back into music that really pulled me through. During the most recent issues, a series of panic attacks led to me cancelling several gigs I had been planning to attend. Can you guess what the first thing that made me feel like myself again was? You’re right – it was a gig. To be specific, it was seeing Jasmine 4t absolutely smash it at Deaf Institute at Manchester.
Throughout all of this, I have had a little idea bubbling up in the back of my mind. I’ve been thinking a lot about how, if music has this much of an effect on my mental health, what’s it like for the people who are making the music? Do they feel the same? And how much of a role does their mental health play in leading them to write and perform music in the first place? And am I totally misreading the songs of theirs that I think are about mental health? These are just a few of the questions I am asking in Mental Notes, my new podcast where I talk to musicians about music and mental health.
Given my mental health struggles over this time, the idea for this podcast stayed at the very embryonic stage for a long, long time. But I am really pleased to say that the first episode finally came out last week. Chloe Foy is my first guest.
Picky Bastards readers and supporters have been a lovely bunch over the years, so I wanted to share this new show with you. You can find it by searching Mental Notes on most podcast apps, or by clicking any of the links below.
Please do give it a listen, let me know what you think, and subscribe to the show if you like it. While you’re at it, come find me failing at Instagram (@mental_notes__podcast) and Bluesky (@mentalnotespodcast.bsky.social) and give me a follow. Thanks, all. I hope your mental health is good and the music you’re listening to isn’t shite.
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