Gary Lightbody backs DT Cool FM’s mental health campaign
Last updated 25th May 2018
Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody is supporting Downtown & Cool FM’s ‘Invest in Life’ campaign.
We launched the campaign in September to raise issues about mental health and rising suicide rates particularly among young people across the province.
Now, the lead singer of one of Northern Ireland’s best-known groups, is backing our calls for more investment in support services.
The 41-year-old was speaking on Downtown Radio this week, ahead of the release of the band’s first new album in seven years.
The Bangor man has openly spoken about his mental health struggles in the past and his battle with depression and anxiety.
In a candid interview, Gary told Caroline Fleck about the affect the illness has had on his life:
“Since I was a teenager I’ve had depression and anxiety and it’s only been in recent years that I’ve managed to confront that head on, rather than try and run from it which I did my whole life by whatever means necessary, drinking…means number one.
“On June third, it’ll be two years since my last drink and the clarity that sobriety brings with it has helped me considerably.
“You have to be attentive, you have to be vigilant and talk about what was going on in your life and I was never very good at that.
“People might have thought because I was able to write songs about my inner life that I was also able to talk about it but no that’s not the way it works.”
The singer opened up about his symptoms and told us suicidal thoughts go hand in hand with the illness:
“Various times I had various periods of darkness.
“My lowest points were always feeling isolation and…a lot of self-loathing that brings with it a lack of energy, a lack of will to… live but I never got so low as to ever attempt anything.
“Thoughts like that come with depression, it is in moments like that when it seems hardest to reach somebody else or it seems hardest to talk but you must reach out.”
The new record Wildness is out on Friday and features the latest single Don’t give in.
Gary said the sound is a reflection of his own personal journey:
“Love is in there, love is important, it is the highest law, as far as I’m concerned,” he said.
“When I was able to get some clarity and face my demons and befriend my demons which is a beautiful thing believe me, it seems counter intuitive but when you actually put your arm around them you realise that it’s not so scary anymore.
“The album stems from things like depression and my dad’s dementia or alcoholism but it also stems from recovering from those things.
“There is this hope in it, this connectivity, this positivity, this love that will always exist and I think it’s a really positive record.
“It shows a lot of hope, it gives me hope, it took me seven years to write.
“If nothing else, it shows endurance and it shows the will that I have to continue, not just to write and sing but to live and thrive, it’s the most important record I’ve ever made.”
With high suicide levels in Northern Ireland and increasing focus on young people suffering from mental health issues, more celebrities are opening up about their experiences.
Gary said he has been on a very difficult journey but music has helped him through:
“There’s many different ways to go about beating depression, personally, the thing that has helped me the most is talking about it.
“That’s the first step I think for anyone, it’s actually the hardest step too so I completely sympathise with anybody that’s out there feeling like they’re struggling and they can’t communicate their struggle but it’s so important to try.”
The band have been together for over two decades but struggled to find fame in the early days.
Despite being confident in their ability, Gary said they were served a dose of reality before becoming music royalty:
“When we first started back in 1994 I thought…world domination by next Tuesday lunchtime.
“I just assumed that everybody would see how great we were immediately… what I didn’t realise at the time was that we weren’t ready, we weren’t ready at all.
“It took us another four years to make an album, we had a bunch of EPs and singles out before then and even then we weren’t ready but in my head we were the finished article.
“I’m so glad that ego got ebbed away and I was allowed to grow as a songwriter, we were allowed to grow as a band and we finally had the songs and we finally got the right pieces in place and a great producer Jacknife Lee.
“Back in 2003 when we released Final Straw that was the first record that…deserved to be at least given a chance, given an opportunity to be successful.
“I’ve finally understood the difference between ego and aspiration and I understood that that ten years that we took that gestation period was absolutely worth every minute of it, even though at certain times, it felt like pushing a big rock up a hill.”
The group have now established themselves on the worldwide stage and have enjoyed 15 million global album sales as well as over one billion global track streams.
They have recently been touring in Northern Ireland and Gary has moved back home permanently.
The global star says he has learned what is important in life and was full of praise for the music scene back home:
“I moved home, I got a place in Bangor ten years ago now so I’ve been back and forwards a lot but I’m permanently back now and from the one I grew up in as a kid…it’s a much, much different place, it’s a revelation really.
“Northern Irish culture has been allowed to thrive and certainly Northern Irish music and film and arts are in the ascendancy and competing in a world stage and it’s a beautiful thing to see.
“There’s a lot of people making extraordinary art at the moment.”