Artist Andrew Hagar Drops Beats for Mental Wellness

Before the pandemic, Berklee Online music school reported in 2019 findings of a web survey conducted by Swedish digital music distribution platform Record Union, and 73% of the 1,500 independent musicians who responded had experienced negative mental health issues, particularly anxiety and depression. Covid led to worse outcomes, as cancelled live performances and the resulting loss of income caused nine in ten musicians surveyed by UK independent charity Help Musicians in 2021 to report their mental health deteriorating since the pandemic began.

The music industry is moving to change the dispiriting narrative. At this year’s South by Southwest film festival, a Mental Health in the Music Industry panel will address the causes and possible solutions to leading mental health issues facing the music industry, including substance abuse culture, high rates of depression and anxiety, and the physical and mental toll of touring.

Musicians are also addressing current mental wellness themes in their music. American Singer and Songwriter Andrew Hagar is amplifying mental health awareness with his new project dubbed “The Midnight Suns” that is a culmination of artistic experimentation during the past few years. In advance of a debut EP, titled Limited Edition Psycho, dropping later this year, he is releasing a new single, “Leave It Alone” and a bonus track, “If Ya Wanna,” both which play into various mental health topics.

“I came up with the idea of ‘The Midnight Suns’ because the midnight sun is the star that shines the brightest in the darkness, and all of these songs came out of a really dark time, a really dark place,” Hagar says. “It all ties into the theme of overcoming some mental health issues that plagued everyone over the past few years.”

Hagar, the son of rockstar Sammy Hagar (known as Red Rocker of the 1970s hard rock band Montrose), was born into music. He describes his music as a nod to the rock influences of Alice In Chains, Nine Inch Nails and Stone Temple Pilots mixed with classic folk. Teaming up with artist Trev Lukather as producer and co-writer of his new album, Hagar, describes the tracks as eloquent lyricism paired with grunge-inflected grooves.

“If You Wanna” is an uplifting song about overcoming the spiraling and reclaiming agency over your own mind. Most people, Hagar says, have been through bouts of self doubt, punctuated with negative self talk, imposter syndrome and depressive feelings of inadequacy.

Since the early days of the pandemic, Hagar says that he felt curious minded people were grasping for straws, looking for answers to the chaos and unrest unfolding around the world. Many, he says, strayed too deep in their search for answers, and never really returned to their previous states of mind. In that sense, “Leave It Alone” is about the darker side of mental health as well as dangers of misinformation, obsessing over the search for truth and the idea that “you can’t put the toothpaste back in the proverbial tube.”

“This song (”Leave It Alone”) pokes fun at the internal dialog of someone trying to change their own mind about themself,” Hagar says. “Greatly inspired by my own use of meditative mantras and affirmations to turn off the hyper critical self-analysis, it was also heavily inspired by an Alan Watts quote that kept popping into my brain during the writing process: ‘the mind is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master.’ So I set out to master my mind before it mastered me, and anyone can do it if they just make a conscious decision to take control of their own thoughts.”

Producer and songwriter Trev Lukather says that his highest of highs and lowest of lows always lead him to a music studio, and he owes his sanity to songwriting. He considers working with Hagar “a mental cleansing experience” for both parties who were both facing a challenging time.

The duo leaned on each other, laughed a ton and placed all of their emotions into their work. Putting pieces of yourself out there into the world only to be judged is the other side of mental struggle as a songwriter, explains Lukatther. For him, the process relieves pain but also opens the door to more pain.

“It lifted a ton of weight off of our spiritual shoulders … Drew had a lot to say, I had a lot to say … I can remember those feelings while listening back. I’m a stronger person today because of those songs, we are all very vulnerable,” says Lukatther. “But, after it’s all said and done, we have to shed our skin only to build tougher skin. It’s an experience and feeling I wouldn’t give up for the world.”