Beyond the MusicThe stories behind the lyrics

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Check Out The Release of “Songs That Saved My Life”

Features...Neck Deep’s Ben Barlow Speaks Up About Mental Health

Turn to page 4 to see Ben Barlow and his interview regarding mental health during Mental Health Aware-ness Month

A new collaborative album has been released with bands including Neck deep, The Maine, As It Is, and many more as they cover songs that got them through hard times in life. All the proceeds will be going to a mental health organization.

written by Hannah Ross

A Tribute to Chester BenningtonGet an inside look on Chester’s life and his tragic death as we celebrate all he did for the music com-munity

Beyond The Music

Mark Hoppus From Blink182 Explains The Process and Meaning Behind “Adam’s Song”Hoppus and Blink-182 cover suicide, depression, and lonlieness in this serious punk ballad. This is one of Blink’s most serious songs to date.

The Signs of Declining Mental HealthNot sure if you are a friend are in need of help? Check out this article to know the signs of someone struggling with mental health and how you can help.

Who is There To Help?

Get informed on what hotlines there are for people in crisis and what they can do for you. They save lives and are available to talk 24/7!

Punk TalkMusicians are busy people, so where should they turn to for help? Punk Talk pairs msucians with mental help proffessionals on the road so they can continue to rock out while keeping their mental health a priority.

Editor’s Note This magazine aims to connect music and mental health. Punk rock/pop punk music is all about emotion and singing your raw emotions. It is honest and relateable and can help break the stigma surrounding mental health. This past year has easily been the hardest of my life due to my struggle with de-pression and anxiety, but one thing that truly helped me through hard times was mu-sic. It was so helpful to hear the people I

admired talk about their own struggles with mental health and be able to connect with them through music. Music has been such a powerful ele-ment in my life and I hope the stories in this magazine show that and can help others in their battle with men-tal health. I hope this helps educates people on mental health and offers an outlet in a time where there can feel like there is no where to go.

“Songs That Saved My Life”A joint album from bands that share their mental health journies and what songs got them through tough times.

Since october is nation-ally recognized as Menatl Health Awareness Month, a joint album was released comprised of different pop punk bands that shares their covers of their favorite songs that got them through hard times. The genre of “pop-punk” is known to be edgy and emotional, so these bands are no stranger to feeling down. Members of these bands have struggles themselevs with mental health. The mission of the brand “Songs That Saved My Lfe” is as fol-lows: Songs That Saved My Life is a brand centered around music that played a pivotal role in the lives of artists and fans that benefits men-tal health and suicide prevention charities. Everyone has music that helped them through a tough time. Songs That Saved My Life looks to engage current artists with cover versions of those songs and share those stories with the world. Cur-rently, this project benefits Crisis Text Line, Hope For The Day, The Trevor Project, and To Write Love On Her Arms.

Songs That Saved My Life has four initiatives. It is comprised of songs, playlists, merch, and videos. The songs are from bands from the pop-punk community that want to share what songs got them through hard times. The videos are testimonials from bands, video playlists from these bands, and their own music videos that they created from the song that they chose to cover. The playlists are hand picked by the bands to share even more music with their listeners. The merch is the Songs That Saved My Life logo as well as lyrics from the al-bum in combination with specific band logos. The proceeds from the merch and music are going to specific organizations that sup-port mental health awareness. The website for this brand lets you learn more about the artists involved, buy merch, puts links to where you can listen to the album, puts up statistics about mental health, and even gives you the oppertunity to get involved.

The LabelHopeless Records is the label company that pro-duced adn released this twelve track album. Hope-less record founder went on to say “Many of us became passionate about music, not just because it made us feel good in good times, but because of how it got us through tough times,” label founder and Presi-dent Louis Posen said in press release. “Songs That Saved My Life is an ongoing project of our non-profit organization, Sub City, with a goal to recognize and use the power of music to break down the stigma associated with talking about mental health and to end the suf-fering of our loved ones.”

The MaineThe Maine is another head-lining band to jump on this album. The song they chose to cover is “Transat-lanticism.” This epic song is from another popular band, Death Cab For Cutie. “This song didn’t single-handedly save any of our lives, but it certainly changed them in a major way,” says vocalist

how lonely that can feel. It talks about the struggles of long distance relation-ships through metaphors of oceans and lakes.

John O’Callaghan. “We attempted to stay out of our way and tried to maintain the integrity of the arrange-ment and vibe of the tune so as to not ruin it for our-selves — or hopefully any who listen. We hope

The MessageHopeless Records has made a huge step forward in rais-ing awareness for mental health and the resources available for people who are struggling. Having popular

bands like Neck Deep, The Maine, Stand Atlan-tic and many more share their stories in interviews and song covers is a great way to end the stigma that mental health issues only happen to people who have experienced tradgedy. Mental health does not discriminate and everyone can go through it whether it was triggered by an event or not. There is a stigma around mental health that it is a bad thing if people are struggling and that that person is weak, but this al-bum and these bands fight that stigma and let people know it is okay to not feel good all the time and there are resources available for people who need help.

you enjoy!” This song talks about the struggles of long distance relationships andhow lonely that can feel. It talks about not feeling as connected to someone any-more and the sadness and struggles that follows that. It describes not being able to handle that pain and the struggle of finding happi-ness after losing someone to distance.

The Maine during a pho-toshoot in CA

Sub City is a non-profit organization that connects bands and music with different causes to create a movement and aware-ness for these causes and charities. Their mission statement is as follows: In 1999 we at Hopeless Re-cords got the crazy idea that if we gave bands and their fans the opportunity to connect their talent and passion with causes that were important to them we could make a positive impact through music. Sub City is run by the Hopeless Records team and we look to incorporate a charity component into as much of what we do as possible.

Neck Deep posing on set for one of their music videos

Sub City

make a difference together regardless of age, socio-economic status, physical ability or any other factor.

The BandsNeck deep is the first band to release their song on the album. They chose Torn, by Natalie Imbruglia. The song discusses heartbreak and being left out to dry after a tough break up. Lyrics like “ This is how I feel, I’m cold and I’m ashamed, Bound and broken on the floor, I am torn” help carry the theme of hearbreak and lonliness. Ben Barrlow, the leader singer from Neck Deep, go candid in interview with Songs That Saved My Life saying that the song to him is about someone who is stuck between two places and is torn and does not know what to do. He explained how he first heard the song from his girlfriend who loved it.

make a difference together regardless of age, socio-economic status, physical ability or any other factor.At Sub City, we don’t be-lieve many peoples’ mis-conception that our new generation is just lazy and avoiding real life issues such as getting “real jobs”; we believe bands and their fans are out changing the world by taking action. With your continued participation in our various fundraisers, tours, grants, releases and other events we are able to illustrate how we can all

Ben then goes on to say he related to the song because of his fear of failure. He was always afraid of not being good enough and afraid of disapointing his family, friends, fans, and even him-self. He struggled with self confidence and self esteem his whole life. He took time off of social media to help himself and gain control

of his feelings. He no want-ed to rely on the internet for validation and wanted to find self-love within himself.

He took his time off to focus on the people around him instead of what people were posting which he said went a long way with his self esteem. Ben also disccuses the stigma around fame. He believes people in the enter-tainment business have an

expectation to be okay all the time because they are well off financially. He explains how this makes it harder to seek help because

of the guilt surrounding that stigma. Ben signs off on the interview telling people it is okay to get help and it is okay to not feel good. He references a couple different hotlines and crisis lines and en-courages people to reach out and help each other.

Top 5 Things in Hannah’s Bag

I don’t leave the house without my head-phones. Whether I am walking to class, heading to practice, or taking the bus home I will always have a set of headphones in to my bump my favorite songs through. They are also a huge help when walk-ing past solicitors- they won’t attempt to talk to you if they think you can’t hear them.

Headphones

Unfortunately I cannot leave the house without these tablets. My stomach and I are not very good friends and happen to fight a lot, so these tablets help mitigate the con-versation and help keep my food down. Although this isn’t the most glam-orous item in the bag, it is certainly the most helpful.

Tablets

ChargerFor the life of me I can never remember to charge my phone at night, so a phone charger is essential for travel for me. Since the iPhone 8 does not allow you to listen to music and let you charge your phone at the same time, I will let my phone die while listening to music instead of pausing it to let it recharge. My ir-responsible tendencies make my charger an essential travel buddy.

Water BottleI am from New Jersey, so whenever I spend time out here in Colo-rado I feel like Sponge-bob dying of thirst at the end of the Sponge-bob movie from lack of water. The air is so dry and thin here that I feel like I have to be chug-ging water every hour of the day. There are only so many lip splits that I can take before I look like I’ve been in a fight.

My iPhoneI am only allowed so many missed calls from my mother before a search party is sent out to find me and all of my roommates will be called. Besides fielding calls from my mom, I always have my phone on me in case there is a fami-ly emergency. It is also my source of music and without checking twitter every couple of hours I am not ashamed to ad-mit I probably could not make it through the day without that source of entertainment.

Chester’s ChildhoodChester was born on March 20, 1976 in Phoenix, Arizo-na. His mother was a nurse and his father was a detec-tive who worked on child sexual abuse cases.Chester did not have an ideal childhood at all. At the age of seven, he suffered sexual abuse by an older male friend. This continued until he was thirteen. He was also beaten by this man on top of the sexual abuse. “It destroyed my self-con-fidence,” he explained. “Like most people, I was too afraid to say anything. I didn’t want people to think I was gay or that I was lying. It was a horrible experience.” At the agae of eleven, he was forced to live with his father after his parents divorced. Chester and his father did not have a good relationship. Chester eventually turned to drugs picking up opium, am-phetamines, marijuana and cocaine alongside alcohol. “I was on 11 hits of acid a day,” he recalls. “I dropped so much acid I’m surprised I can still speak. I’d smoke a

bunch of crack, do a bit of meth and just sit there and freak out. Then I’d smoke opium to come down. I weighed 110 pounds. My mom said I looked like I stepped out of Auschwitz. So I used pot to get off drugs. Every time I’d get a craving, I’d smoke my pot.” After a gang broke into his house and jumped his friends, that was the wake

up call for Chester. In 1992, he ditched drugs and moved to Los Angeles. Al-though this was not the last time he would experience addiction in his life, this sober episode lead him to what would be his greatest success, Linkin Park.

Linkin ParkChester’s biggest success was Linkin Park. Linkin

Park was formed in Agoura Hills, California in 1996. The band’s debut album, Hybrid Theory, would quickly dominate the charts. This was thanks to a heavy rotation on MTV. The singles “One Step Closer,” “Crawling” and “In the End” all charted high on the mainstream rock chart, and “In the End” also crossed over to the

pop chart, reaching Num-ber Two and becoming gold-certified. “Crawling” earned the band its first Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance. In 2003, they released Me-teora, which was also a success. The band’s most popular son, Numb, con-sists of Chester screaming about feeling disconnect-ed from the world and the people around him. A lot of Linkin Park’s songs talked about feeling down and disconnected, which was a result of Chester’s battle with depression. “Most of my work has been a reflection of what I’ve been going through in one way or another,” ex-plains Chester. Following the release of this album their mashup of Linkin Park’s “Numb” and Jay-Z’s “Encore” won them a Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Performance.While on tour, Chester slipped back into his addiction. The tours we did in the beginning, everybody … was either drinking or doing drugs, I can’t think of any that were sober.

Linkin Park at a photoshoot

Celebrating The Life of Chester Bennington

On July 20th, 2017, Chester Bennington of Linkin Park tragically took his own life at the age of fourty-one in his own home. Chester battled with depression and addiction his whole life. The disease finally took over his life and he succumed to the battle. His funeral included family and friends as well as many other artists that played

Chester’s legacy will live on forever and his journey with mental health is one to pay attention to. Chester was a father to three sons and two daughters. He rem-married in 2005 to Talinda Ann Bentley. Not only was Chester a loving fatehr and husband, but he was an in-credibly talented artist that was open about his strug-gles with mental health and how it impacted his life.Chester performing at a concert

“I do,”states Chester. The suicide of his friend hit Chester hard and only add-ed to the sadness in his life.

The FameLike Ben Barrlow from Neck Deep, Chester also does not like the idea that just because he is famous does not mean he is not allowed to be human. “The idea that success equals happiness pisses me off,” he says. “It’s funny to think that just because you’re successful you’re now immune to the full range of the human experience. But we also realize that we’re not kids any more; we’re not youngsters with this teen angst and this feeling of ‘why does the world piss me off?’ and finding a way to express it. “We have had a lot of suc-cess and there are a lot of great things going on for us, but there are things that really matter to us,” he add-ed. “When we talk about lyrical content we can’t just go back to being that angry kid. We need to talk about something that makes sense to who we are today.”

Chester’s DeathBennington was found dead at his home in Palos Verdes Estates, California; his housekeeper discovered his body around 9:00 a.m. Chester had hung himself in his own home. The lead guitarist from Linkin Park, Mike Shinoda, confirmed his death on twitter saying “Shocked and heartbroken, but it’s true. An official statement will come out as soon as we have one”. Brian Elias, the chief of opera-tions for the office of the medical examiner-coroner, confirmed that a half-emp-ty bottle of alcohol was found at the scene, but no other drugs were present. The One More Light tour was cancelled and all tickets were refunded. The tour was to honor Chris Conell who also hung himself two months before Ches-ter. Bennington’s funeral was held at South Coast Botanic Garden in Palos Verdes, California, on July 29. In addition to his family members and close friends, many musicians who toured or played with Linkin Park were also in Chester and Chris Connell

In 2007, Linkin Park released Minutes to Mid-night, a change in the bands usual metal sound. Their producer helped them slow down the pace of their music which gave it more of a U2 feel. The risk made for the hits “What I’ve Done,” “Bleed It Out” and “Shadow of the Day,” all of which were certified platinum and multi-platinum.Dead by SunriseChester worked on a side project called Dead By Sun-rise that comprised of a

couple of different tracks he did not feel fit Linkin Park’s new style. They were darker and much moodier than what Linkin Park was playing, so he created this side project as a way to ex-press himself and talk about how he was feeling. This was an important outlet for chester. “They were darker and moodier than anything I’d come up with for the band. So I decided to work on them on my own.” This outlet helped Chester open up about his feelings. Numb

Linkin Park’s “Numb” and “Heavy” are the two most emotional songs produced by Linkin Park. “Heavy,” which features Benning-ton trading catchy verses with 22-year-old singer and songwriter Kiiara, had only made it into the mid-dle-half of the pop chart at the time of the singer’s death, though the album had debuted at Number One. Both songs talk about Chester’s depression and how he feels numb to everything. Heavy has the same feel as he talks about

carrying around the weight of his emotions and how they are weighing him down. The rock/metal genre tends to talk about these issues and is com-prised by quite a few bal-lads about not feeling okay and needing help. The band had recently performed the album’s title track, “One More Light,” on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in tribute to Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell, who had died of a suicide by hanging earlier this year. “Who cares if one more light goes out,” Chester at a concert

R.I.P. Chester Bennington

1976-2017

attendance. The service also included a full stage for musical tributes. Chester was cremated.

His LegacyChester left this world a better place. His gift to us was his music and his ability to express himself through it. In an exert from Billboard magazine, “Although rooted in alter-native metal, Linkin Park became one of the most

successful acts of the 2000s by welcoming elements of hip-hop, modern rock, and atmospheric electronica into their music ... focusing as much on the vocal inter-play between singer Chester Bennington and rapper Mike Shinoda”. Chester’s music was raw and real and despite what direction Linkin Park was going in, he always stayed true to his music and inspired and

helped others during his time here on earth. James Hingle, a music critic, com-mented on Chester’s carreer saying he “was one of the most honest vocalists out there when it came to his mental health”. Ben Beu-mont from the Guardian went on to say “Benning-ton’s decision to sing clearly and openly was, therefore, more radical than he is giv-en credit for, and indeed

more socially valuable. His cleanly articulated tales of emotional struggle gave millions the sense that someone understood them, and the huge sound of his band around him mag-nified that sense, moving listeners from the psychic space of their bedrooms into an arena of thousands of people who shared their pain.” Chester was someone who was very open about

his mental health and was a leader in this movement to end the stigma around mental health. His legacy will live on as one of the greatest artists of our gener-ation. his wife Talinda Ben-nington launched a cam-paign called 320 Changes Direction in honor of her husband to help break the stigma surrounding mental health.

The last picture of Chester taken with his family the day before his death.

“Adam’s Song”

most serious songs. Though he worried it was “a bit too far and depressing for what we were trying to do,” his bandmates were receptive towards the idea “Adam’s Song” peaked at number two on the US Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart; it was also a top 25 hit in Canada and Italy.

Mark Hoppus from Blink182 goes into detail about the making of the pop punk ballad “Adam’s Song” about a young boy contemplating suicide. Adam’s Song was released in 1999 on the album “Enema of the State”. Hoppus was the primary composer of this song and is to date one of Blink182s

significant others to return signifi-cant others to re-turn home to, he was single. Hop-pus said the song’s inspiration came from “reading a magazine where some teenage kid had killed himself and left a letter for his family.” The song is supposed to be an anti-sui-cide song and was highly praised for its message and honestly. Richard Harrington of The Washington Post deemed the song “a powerful explo-ration of exhaus-tion and

depression.” Unfortunelty, although it is an anti-suicude song because it touches on the crushing after-math of when someone com-mits suicide, a fan did not feel the same way. 17-year-old Greg Barnes, a teenager who attended Col-umbine High School and had lost one of his best friends in the massacre the previous year, hanged himself in the garage of his family’s

The LyricsThe first couple of lines of the song get straight to the point. Hop-pus starts off by singing “I never thought I’d die alone I laughed the loudest who’d have known? I trace the cord back to the wallNo wonder it was never plugged in at allI took my time, I hurried upThe choice was mine I didn’t think enough I’m too depressed to go on, You’ll be sorry when I’m gone.” These lyrics

set the mood for the rest of the song. He talks about how no one notices how sad and lone-ly he is and how his depression is consuming him. These intense and honest lyrics are a cry for help.

The StoryHoppus’ personal experience with depression while on tour helped him write this song. Hoppus explains how he was inspired by the loneliness he experienced while on tour; while his bandmates had

home. “Adam’s Song,” by the group Blink 182, was playing when Greg’s parents found the body, Mitchell, a friend of Greg’s told The Associated Press.Hoppus his band mates responded

to this awful news. Hoppus: “I was actually out shop-ping, and man-agement called me up and told me the story of what happened, and I was like, “But that’s an anti-sui-cide song!” It felt

awful. I mean, the things that the kid had had to go through in his life were very sad-dening, and then to end it that way was really depress-ing. But “Adam’s Song”, the heart of the song is about

having hard times in your life, being depressed, and going through a difficult period, but then finding the strength to go on and finding a better place at the other side of that.” Overall this song

is incredibly per-sonal to Blink182 and touched a lot of people go-ing through hard times. This song is relateable yet is intended to divert people who are struggling away from suicide.

Greg Barnes at a school basketball photshoot

1-800-273-8255

This number can save someone’s life. This is the number for the national suicide prevention center. The Lifeline pro-vides 24/7, free and confidential support for peo-ple in distress, prevention and crisis resources for

you or your loved ones, and best practices for pro-fessionals. They are committed to improving crisis services and ad-vancing suicide prevention by empowering indi-viduals, advanc-ing professional best practices, and

building aware-ness.

The Number

The CallWhat happens when you call the lifeline? First, you’ll hear an automated mes-sage featuring additional options while your call is routed to your local Lifeline

network crisis center. A trained crisis worker at your local center will answer the phone. This per-son will listen to you, understand how your problem is affecting you, provide support, and get you the help you need.

By spreading the word of this life-line and sharing the number with your friends and family, you can save a life. Trained proffesionals can help people in cri-sis and potentially save their lives.

Promote It

Let’s TalkA conversation can go a long way. Even if you just check up with your friends from time to time, a quick text or phone call can turn around someone’s day, especially if they are struggling. The important thing to understand is there is a specific way to talk to peo-ple when they are struggling. You can not”fix” the person with de-pression and this is not something they can just snap out of. This is

something that should be treat-ed like a physical injury-someone can’t just stand up and walk away on

a broken leg, and if your’e not a doc-tor you can’t fix their broken leg.What you can do is listen to them and validate their

Instead of telling them to stand up, slowly help them up but listen to them when it is too much. Educate yourself on the

illness before you attempt to con-nect to them in their time of need. Being a compas-sionate listener is much more important than giving advice. It is easy to give advice when you feel good, but it will mean noth-ing to someone who does not feel well and may even make them more distant. While talking to someone with depression you have to be patient and receptive. One conversation can change a life.

What are the Signs of Declining Mental Health?There are a lot of differnet signs that you or a friend can pick up on that someone is struggling. The American Psychi-atric Association describes some of those signs as dra-matic sleep and appetite changes or decline in per-sonal care, Rapid or dramatic shifts in emotions or depressed feel-ing, Recent social withdrawal and loss of interest in

activities previ-ously enjoyed, an unusual drop in functioning, and an odd, unchar-acteristic, pecu-liar behavior. All of these signs are warning signs that something could be wrong with you or a friend. It is important to be educated about these signs in or-der to catch a po-tential illness early before it is too late and you or an-other succumb to

Punk Talks Aims to Make a Change

Punk talks is a non-profit that aims at connect-ing DIY musi-cians and music industry workers to mental health resources. Punk Talks was devel-oped out of a de-sire to serve punk bands and con-nect them to men-tal health resourc-es. Punk Talks is for any and all DIY, punk, alter-native, etc. artists/music industry workers.

Since musicians are on the road a lot and their jobs are incredibly de-manding, so men-tal health may not seem like a prior-ity. There is also a stigma that people who experience fame and fortune do not experience mental health issues which is not true.The website

Punk Talk’s web-site offers links to resources people can use as well as

Success Storieseducational re-sources like what medications peo-ple can talk to their doctor about or what fami-ly members can do to help their loved ones in cri-sis. There are also resources avail-able for substance abuse on their website.

There is an op-tion to donate as well as merchan-dise available that goes to helping this foundation. They even pro-vide resources for low-cost therapy options.

Therapy On Tour

Molly Hudelson is an artist who came to Punk Talks for help. She struggled with depression all throughout high school and like most people, found an outlet

through music. She found coun-seling through Punk Talk’s and now feels much better. “Some-times I still deal with feelings of self-doubt and criticism and anxiety and

and heartbreak and loss, but I’m in a better place now. I know that there’s hope for the future and I know that what-ever happens, I can get through it.” Punk Talks is a great resource for artists everywhere.