Coming May 5
In a 2019 study surveying roughly fifteen hundred musicians, 75 percent reported suffering from some form of mental health difficulty, pulling back the curtain on a harsh reality within the music industry. Further complicating this situation is the industry's darkly romantic association with mental health, regarding diagnoses of anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and the like not as mental health concerns but as fuel for the art form―a troublesome but ultimately beneficial fount of creativity.
Containing interviews with sixteen indie music artists, including Shamir, Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World, Ritzy Bryan of The Joy Formidable, Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional, Tegan Quin of Tegan and Sara, and others, Sound Mindsexplores mental health in the music industry through the eyes of the musicians themselves, articulating the realities of the industry's mental health crisis. Additionally, Hilleary pens a poignant and honest introduction regarding his own struggles with mental health and detailing what readers will learn from these musicians’ perspectives. All told, Hilleary offers an in-depth look at how mental health conditions affect and challenge even our most beloved and seemingly undaunted artistic heroes.
Out Now
Rolling Stone, Creem, the Village Voice, SPIN, Billboard, Stereogum, Pitchfork. How did the music journalists who write for these popular publications break into the business? How have they honed their writing and interviewing techniques? How have they managed to thrive amid major changes in the industry, as print magazines have declined and digital publications have emerged? What does it take to turn a love of music into a professional writing career?
Bringing together interviews from an impressive roster of over fifty music writers, Mike Hilleary offers up an engaging and wide-reaching examination of the past and potential future of music journalism. This accessible oral history contains professional insights into journalists' craft and purpose, practical advice, and essential life lessons from a diverse cast of music writers -- ranging from long-respected veterans of the field such as Rob Sheffield, Jessica Hopper, Ann Powers, and Chuck Klosterman to must-read modern voices including Amanda Petrusich, Hanif Abdurraqib, Lindsay Zoladz, and Jayson Greene. Honest and absorbing, On the Record will educate and enlighten anyone who wants to write about music, or anyone who wants a better understanding about those who do.