Lead singer of The Music Rob Harvey has revealed he suffered from depression and addiction following his band’s second album ‘Welcome to the North’.
Talking to the BBC, Harvey said:” "I believed I was a young, untouchable great singer who could do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. Everybody has an image of themselves in their mind. I had an image of myself, and when things change or life moves on, that's when people struggle. For me that happened at quite a young age.”
Harvey went on to say that the brunt of the depression came after the band toured America. “America changed me a lot. I became greedy. It was all about wants and needs and that's not me as a human being. That's not the kind of person I am and I didn't like the person I'd become. I was putting myself under a lot of pressure and allowing past failures and things like that to control the moment, instead of just expressing myself like I used to be able to. I'd lost that especially as a performer. I was half the singer I used to be".
‘Welcome to the North’ was released in 2004 to mixed reviews, which contributed to the downward spiral of Harvey. Despite confidence in his band’s ability, he suffered from panic attacks and alcohol addiction. “"I kept thinking 'Hang on a sec, I've should have a good life here, why am I feeling this way?' I'm in what I believe to be one of the best bands in the country and I'm sat panicking about random stuff, distorted thoughts. Suicide became an option. I became a very unhappy young man. But even suicide is the act of an ego - that's the final act of an ego to protect oneself from being wrong. When your body's physically shaking and you can't keep still and you're sweating, and you're sat watching your TV, and your heart's like a machine gun, that's when I got to the point where I was thinking, 'there's something not right here'".
He admitted that he would suffer from up to 15 panic attacks a day and after beating a cannabis addiction in his teens, drank to compensate. It took his manager to spell it out for him, and send him into rehab. “I checked in and got myself sorted for a few weeks,” continued Harvey.
He is now back on the up, after the release of his band’s third album ‘Strength in Numbers’. "After that it's just been constant care and attention. I've been sober for two-and-a-half years now. Staying fit, eating well, seeing a regular therapist whenever I can, whenever I've got things to talk about."
