Mental Health on the Road

INTERVIEW SPECIAL

MENTAL HEALTH ON THE ROAD: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU EXPERIENCE TRAUMA AND WHAT HELP IS AVAILABLE?

Luke Edwards, Production Designer and Production Manager for Gary Numan’s latest UK tour, talks to TPi Editor Kel Murray about dealing with an unpredictable, and sudden tragedy.

Photo: The Fifth Estate

“It’s important to have people around that you can rely on, especially when something really tough and upsetting happens on tour,” the words of a man rawly dealing with the after affects of an accident.

“Our tour bus unfortunately struck a pedestrian and killed them,” he said with an evident, fresh emotion. “We were on the bus at the time, travelling to the next venue in America. As a Production Manager, it was one of the toughest things I’ve ever had to deal with.”

Unfortunately, being first aid trained, Edwards’ first reaction was to jump off the bus and inspect the accident. The scene - which proved instantly fatal - was one of devastation. The deceased was a very elderly man. The bus wasn’t speeding, it was just horrifically bad timing which resulted in the loss of a life. “Luckily, I was the only person on the tour who witnessed it. After the shock began to die down, it became clear that this was going to be one of the toughest things I’d ever personally experienced too.”

Weeks later, during the UK leg of the tour, Edwards informed TPi that talking about it is the only way forward. “It’s one of those things; yes, I’m still struggling with it and I’m still dealing with it, but I’m also really glad that all the crew and all the band were told to get back on the bus, as they didn’t need to see what the aftermath was.

“After a couple of days, during some downtime in the States, the band and crew acknowledged that the best thing for us to do was to be on tour and be with each other. I’d have felt horrible if we had all just gone home and separated with nobody to talk to who had gone through the same emotions. It was almost like trying to get back to a state of consciousness, collectively. I remember we were at the scene for nine hours, but it felt like 20 minutes to me because I was so busy trying to keep these people

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safe and trying to deal with press fall out and cancelling shows. It was a haze.”

At just 27, Edwards has come a long way since his LD schooling days, moving up the ranks with Gary Numan’s camp and going on to lead its technical elements. Yet, this kind of experience doesn’t come with age, it comes from pure bad luck. “When you’re a production manager, you’re the person who fixes problems for the crew, but when you actually sit down for a minute after something like this, you have a sudden realisation of ‘ahhhhh’. Because in the face of tragedy, who is looking after you? Luckily, all the band and crew stuck together and were there for each other and myself in those troubling times. “

MUSIC SUPPORT “We’ve been in-touch with music support quite a bit, and they’ve actually put me in touch with a therapist who I went to see for the first time just before this tour started. They think there’s a real chance I have PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) because seeing a human being’s life end in that state is not natural. Music Support have actually been wicked, and I recommend them to anyone dealing with an issue while they’re on tour.

On Cue Design and Gary Numan’s Facebook page, we’ve shared helpful links. Touring can be tough enough, without anything like this happening , so it is important for people to know there is help out there and that it works. I want people to feel like they’re not on their own. You might be reading this and decide that you don’t want help… but sometimes just knowing help is available, is enough.

IT’S OKAY TO NOT BE OKAY “As a production manager, I had to tell my crew that I wasn’t okay. I’m leading by example because there is nothing wrong in asking for help. I was trying to reinforce that sentiment; ‘look, we’ve all been through something incredibly traumatic while at work, and I hope nobody ever goes through this again’. Meanwhile, if anyone needs help in dealing with this, there is support in place. I openly said: ‘I am going to have to go to therapy for this’. It was time to reassure people and let them know that you can talk to me, you can talk to anyone, you can talk to a therapist - you just need to talk it out. Within our core crew, I’m actually the youngest but still trying to be there for everyone and making sure everyone know that they are not alone and that there is help available.

“I’ve got no issues with letting people know my situation; the whole mental health thing, for me, always needed to be addressed on tour and I think it’s important that the conversation is ongoing. Another side of this, was processing what I believe was guilt, because after going through something so traumatic, and then trying to do something joyous each night,” he paused, “I struggled with that; someone’s life had just ended and here I was trying to put a show on. It’s one of the things which is difficult in our industry, because it is so glossy and lovely sometimes, that perhaps for younger people reading, they should know that emotional struggle - for whatever reason - can be a reality too, and we do cool stuff on tour, but there are also 18-hour days.”

THE SHOW MUST GO ON “For me, it was really important to make this next run a success. We had some time off following the accident in America, but our first show back was highly emotional. There’s a song at the end of Gary’s set, and it’s quite emotional as it is, but that night, I was sat crying at the end of the set. Our merch guy was there, and we hugged each other and were literally balling our eyes out. All of the

fans were really supportive, and all of the in-house venue crews had obviously heard what had happened and they were also really supportive. It has been nice to witness people in the industry be so sympathetic. The amount of calls and texts I received afterwards was nice too, so thank you to everyone who was there, even though I couldn’t type of the words to reply to them all at the time, I read them. This whole mental health thing is becoming more openly discussed, and the recognition from the industry has come on significantly, luckily for me. I’d like to say a big thank you to Gary, his Wife Gemma and all the band and crew for being such incredibly supportive human beings. TPi

Stagehand, the original charity for production people, is keen to help our industry improve its approach to mental wellbeing. Part of their work is to encourage touring crew to become Mental Health First Aiders, to that end, Stagehand is offering to fund half the cost of the two day course for self employed members. We all know that it’s OK to not be OK, we know it’s OK to talk, we now need more people who are even more OK to talk to.

Drop a line to the PSA office gm@psa.org.uk for more details. Check out www.mhfaengland.org/ for information about Mental Health First Aid.

The mission of Music Support is to make sure that nobody in the UK music industry is left to suffer alone. Its founders are veterans of the music industry and are all in recovery themselves, from various mental health and addiction issues. The organisation believes that those in our industry who are susceptible to, mental, emotional and behavioural health disorders (including but not limited to alcohol and drug addiction), are particularly vulnerable due to the environments, lifestyles and stresses that exist within. Stigmas surrounding these conditions are still so strong that they can go ignored, unrecognised or untreated until it is too late.

The charity operates a 24/7-telephone helpline offering peer support from volunteers with personal experiences of the music industry and mental health and addiction matters. It does not give advice or offer clinical services but offer signposting to certified and accredited professionals in the fields of mental health and addiction. It also offers information and resources via our website. Call on: 0800 030 6789 Email: helpline@musicsupport.org

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