LISTEN HERE: Rocking On Mental Health
Lazy bum, good-for-nothing, failure, lacks motivation, can’t even be bothered to get out of bed … these are just some of the invalidations hurled at grown men struggling with mental health. Most come from themselves.
It’s quite the pickle. Men are supposed to be strong, it may be hard-wired, and some have trouble getting in touch with their emotions. These days more men are reaching out for help when they need it, yet the stigma remains.
Singer Zack Kelly of the band SHAG says he went through some struggles about eight years ago, which he addresses in the band’s new song, I Don’t Feel Right. Kind of says it all.
“Just a general depression,” he says. “Sometimes I would feel like a piece of shit, holed up on the couch, unable to move. Didn’t know why. That’s kind of how it goes. If anything maybe it was the 20-odd concussions I got playing football and hockey, including four major ones.”
The song, Kelly says, was originally written about the antidepressants he was prescribed, “And how much I didn’t like taking them. They didn’t work. They made me feel like a robot.” Worst of all, he adds, “They fucked up my ability to write music.”
So no more pills. Counseling was far more effective, Kelly reports. He says he’s feeling much better, personally and creatively.
SHAG, whose four members are all originally from the village of Kitscoty, Alberta, and were named because their rehearsal space had shag carpeting, released their third recording, the EP All Supply, No Demand, last October. I Don’t Feel Right is the latest single, which you can hear live when the band plays Saturday, Feb. 22 at the Aviary, on the bill with Kasteel and Magnet and the Magnettes.
LISTEN HERE: I Don’t Feel Right, by Shag
