Reed Chancellor, comic book artist and author of ”Hardcore Anxiety: A Graphic Guide to Punk Rock and Mental Health,” shares how his journey through punk and hardcore culture was intertwined with discovering his mental health struggles, ultimately challenging the DIY ethos to advocate for seeking therapy, building a support system, and recognizing that recovery is never something you have to face alone.’
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Transcript
[01:13:03] from kentucky always a comic book creator that’s pretty dope
[01:13:16] hi my name is reed chancellor i am a comic book artist and author specifically i wrote and drew
[01:13:23] the book hardcore anxiety a graphic guide to punk rock and mental health
[01:13:30] and the book is essentially my journey through
[01:13:33] discovering mental health issues in my life as well as an introduction into punk music and culture
[01:13:41] and hardcore music and hardcore culture and it is it’s it’s my own journey through that because
[01:13:46] that’s that’s where i learned all these things that’s where my you know journey really begins
[01:13:53] with mental health is intertwined with my introduction into punk music and the main
[01:13:59] thing i think i really want to talk about is this idea of of do-it-yourself of diy and it’s
[01:14:06] something that i talk a little bit about in the book but i think it’s something that needs to be
[01:14:12] said because honestly i feel like i have to tell myself this every day that while do-it-yourself
[01:14:18] is a great mantra when it comes to learning three chords and having a kick drum and you know
[01:14:27] yelling something into a microphone
[01:14:29] and putting out a seven inch and just creating a scene creating the things that you want to see
[01:14:35] in the world do-it-yourself is fantastic for that and i’m not saying that do-yourself is a
[01:14:42] is a negative thing in the world at all as a whole but the one thing that i wish punk would
[01:14:51] have taught me as i grew up in it and as i learned more about the genre and more about myself as i
[01:14:57] wish that somebody
[01:14:59] would have said that you you don’t have to do it yourself you know that that’s the beauty of a
[01:15:06] community is that it’s not a bunch of individuals just saying i don’t need your help the community
[01:15:11] is everybody working together towards a common goal and whether that common goal is 200 people
[01:15:19] in a sweaty basement with a terrible pa screaming along the words of a song or the common goal is
[01:15:29] having the courage to talk to somebody about what you’re feeling
[01:15:34] it’s it’s never something you have to do yourself and you shouldn’t do it yourself i know i used
[01:15:45] busyness and exhaustion as a coping mechanism because all i could do because all i thought i
[01:15:54] could do all i thought i was was somebody who played in a band i didn’t think i had to do it
[01:15:59] i didn’t think i had worth in other areas of my life i couldn’t be a student dropped out of college i
[01:16:03] couldn’t be a teacher i quit that i couldn’t hold down a job that was more than 30 hours a week i
[01:16:10] couldn’t do these things because my identity was put into this thought of i have to do this on my own
[01:16:20] and that’s no way to live and so in 2015 i finally made i made the jump
[01:16:29] i i said i can’t do this on my own i can’t live every aspect of my life diy i i got help and i started
[01:16:41] seeing a therapist and after months turned into years and session after session and talking after
[01:16:53] talking and a lot of missteps and a lot of misunderstandings on my own part and trying to
[01:16:59] figure out who i am or who i want to be i finally came to the conclusion that
[01:17:08] i don’t need to do anything diy i don’t need to do anything myself
[01:17:14] because i have a system i have a support system i have a wonderful wife i have a
[01:17:21] beautiful family i have a great identity in something that’s more than power core
[01:17:29] and as much as i love listening to the bad brains and listening to black flag and the ramones
[01:17:40] and how they’ve taught me nearly everything that i want to know and everything that i hold dear
[01:17:52] they’re they’re not saving my life i i’m saving my life and
[01:17:59] it’s the truth you have to make that choice i say in the end of my book that punk rock opens the door
[01:18:09] to a lot of awareness of mental health you know people screaming about shock treatment and nervous
[01:18:18] breakdowns and fixing my head and all sorts of depression but i’ve never heard the punk song
[01:18:26] you know i need to go to my therapist early and even if it’s something anywhere that doesn’t involve me and always, you know i still achieved everything with it. Because it’s the truth.
[01:18:29] And I don’t know, that might not be a very good song, but it’s something that I think people need to hear.
[01:18:41] And so, five years of steady therapy, and medication, and positive thinking, and ways to do it,
[01:18:49] and in this I finally feel like I have the identity that I want, and the identity that is true.
[01:18:57] And that’s who I am, and that’s what both punk has taught me, and what punk didn’t teach me at all.
[01:19:14] So for the days that I feel great, and I’m able to vent to people, and talk to friends, and family, and doctors, and anybody,
[01:19:27] I have that ability that I don’t have to do it myself.
[01:19:32] I have that thought process that I’m not stuck in this on my own.
[01:19:40] And for the days that I don’t feel like I have that, I still have the Clash.
[01:19:45] I still have the Ramones.
[01:19:48] I still have Black Flag.
[01:19:50] I still have Fugazi.
[01:19:56] And they’re all saying the same thing.
[01:19:57] That you’re not alone, and we’ll all make it out of this alive.