The lead singer of Canadian funk duo Chromeo has opened up about the mental health struggles which saw the band cancel an Australian tour last summer.
The Montreal outfit axed three dates Down Under over health concerns.
In a statement at the time the band said the rigours of touring had caught up with them.
Then Chromeo’s lead singer Dave Macklovitch went public with his struggles with anxiety and depression.
“It doesn’t match the fun, carefree hedonistic tone of our music, but I felt like it was necessary,” Macklovitch told CTV News Channel.
“This kind of music was always my escape from anxiety. With our audience, when we came out and talked about this stuff, a lot of fans said ‘we feel less alone hearing you mention this’.”
He said most Chromeo songs were written on days he couldn’t get out of bed due to anxiety.
“Removing the stigma from mental health, I think we can broaden the conversation and arrive at ways to treat it together as a culture,” he said.
“The more we talk about it and the more we normalize it and the more we make it acceptable and de-stigmatize it the better it’s going to be for all of us.”
Today is Bell Let’s Talk Day. Bell, which owns CTV News, will donate five cents to mental health initiatives for every text, mobile and long distance call on Bell Canada, Bell Aliant and Bell MTS.
It will also donate the same amount for each tweet using the hashtag #BellLetsTalks and every Bell Let’s Talk video view.
On Facebook, video views and use of the Bell Let’s Talk frame will also see the company donate five cents a time. The same with the special Snapchat filter.
Last year, Bell donated just over $6.9 million to Canadian mental health programmes.
