Australian Music Industry talk mental health in Support Act’s ‘Tune Ups’

It’s time for another tune up.

As we reach the first full year since the WHO declared COVID a global pandemic, Support Act unveils the second release of Tune Ups, an intimate and hard-hitting video series on mental health, featuring some of the brightest names in Australian music.

Spanning seven episodes across as many weeks, Tune Ups features The Teskey Brothers’ Brendon Love; country star Fanny Lumsden; multi-instrumentalist GFlip; hip-hop artists Ziggy Ramo and Barkaa; live music veteran Sahara Herald, Tour Director of Frontier Touring; and longtime roadie and CrewCare co-founder Howard “Weird” Freeman.

Each episode explores the subject’s personal mental health journeys and, in some cases, the amplification of those conditions brought on by isolation.

“I hope that my story might help just one other person,” comments Herald.

Sahara Herald

“It’s scary,” says G-Flip, recounting a particularly low point in her life, “because you think you’re never going to get out of it.”

The series kicks off Thursday, March 4, with support from the Australian Government through the Office for the Arts, Brag Media and YouTube.

“Now more than ever we need to ensure that conversations around mental health happen publicly and regularly, especially in the music industry which sees alarming rates of mental illness persisting,” comments Clive Miller, CEO of Support Act.

“The Tune Ups content series is not to sensationalise, but to show people they are not alone and that there is support available.”

2020 has been a wretched year, especially for music industry professionals and artists. So far, 2021 hasn’t brought a seachange.

In its first-ever survey of its members last year, the Australian Live Music Business Council the vast majority of respondents predicted closure within six months as cashflow dried up.

The knock-on effects on mental health are incalculable.

Support Act is “working with both individuals and the industry to remove stigma and put in place strategies to increase support and resilience,” Miller continues, “including delivering mental health first aid training, increasing capacity of our Wellbeing Helpline, and developing a new online mental health portal with critical music industry specific resources.

These programs, he explains, “are potentially life-saving.”

Watch each episode at supportact.org.au/tune-ups.

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.