In a conversation with Music Wall, Judas Priest’s vocalist – and Metal god – Rob Halford talked about a subject that most avoid talking: suicide. Take a look on what he said about the increasing numbers of suicide among Rock and Metal musicians (as transcribed by Blabbermouth).
Rob said:
“We have to keep talking about this – because here’s the thing with this type of situation… When we lose our dear friends, we always hear the story, ‘Well, they were fine. They had a great show and said ‘see you tomorrow’ on the bus.’ And they’re gone.
“It’s an incredibly difficult thing to try to focus in and try to figure out what’s going on in somebody’s head. The only thing you can do is love each other and support each other and just see if there are any kind of telltale signals.
“And there generally is something somewhere in the mix that’s just gone by you in what happens in a day. But it’s awful. Rock ‘n’ roll, creative people, it’s just this terrible, terrible thing that just doesn’t seem to go away.
“But what is good is that these days now, it’s being discussed more openly. It used to be, ‘Oh, you’re depressed. Pull your boots up and get out there.’ You can’t do that. You’ve gotta try and help the person.
“Each of us deals with it in our own way. I will say for myself – when I stopped drinking and drugging 33 years ago, that was the best thing I could have done for myself.
“‘Cause a lot of the decisions you make yourself in those particular areas, because that’s a physical transition, the mental transition is incredibly difficult to do. I mean, even now, I work through the day. Personally, I work through the day.
“I’ve got my own little tools to get me through the day. ‘Cause it never leaves you when you’re a drug addict and an alcoholic, which is what I am. That’s what I am. And we should stop trying to push that out of the way: ‘You’ve recovered from that.’ Well, it’s a lie.
“You live with it, you deal with it, and you do whatever you’ve gotta do to get through each day, one day at a time. But the mental side of it is very difficult.
“I know for a fact that there are outlets instantly where you can reach to. It’s on the internet. Just sending a text to somebody, staying in touch, looking after each other, seeing how you mate is doing.
“‘You haven’t called me for a couple of days. Is everything all right?’ An e-mail. Anything. It’s reaching out, it’s staying with each other, having each other’s backs, as the expression goes, and trying to do what you can.”
I’m just a lucky guy who has chosen metal to live with for a long time. Metal changed my life for good. It made me more confident and stronger. Metalheads are naturally far away from the mass mediocrity and don’t accept impostures from anybody else. Metal is more than music, it’s a life changing oportunity!