‘Get back up, that’s your mantra, a change but not a change,
‘A hard time, it was full of anger, but it made you laugh’
                                                   – It Made You, Sean Millar and songwriters of St Patrick MHS,
sung by Paula Higgins

IT Made You is an extraordinary collaboration between users of St Patrick’s Mental Health Services and Irish musicians, coordinated by Sean ‘Dr’ Milllar. The nine-song album in aid of Walk In My Shoes, the Mental Health Information and Support Service, is the focus of a celebratory gig in the hospital for our First Fortnight Festival ’16 on January 9th.

Gavin Glass came on board to play and produce, while contributors include Jack L, Paula Higgins, Kevin Nolan, Aoife Cullinane, Brendan Carvill and Cillian Gavin. Some of the musicians involved contributed songs following their own experiences with mental health services at St Patrick’s, indeed Kevin gave a performance at the hospital as part of a previous FF festival.

Dublin songwriter Dr Millar, of Cute Hoors fame, has a brace of albums to his name, including solo classics The Bitter Lie and The Deal, and has long used his musical skills for social commentary and engagement.

Ahead of the show, I spoke to Sean about the origins of It Made You and the often intense processes that went into creating the work for the hospital’s vital Twilight project.

Q. How did you get involved in the project?

SEAN: (Twilight music therapist) Paula Higgins had the original idea and needed a songwriter. I was recommended to her on the basis of other similar projects I have done over the last twenty years where I have been commissioned by organisations to create collaborative pieces around particular issues. She approached me about it and we discussed different aspects of it, ie what would be the best therapeutic outcome, what was possible within her budget, what would artistically be the best outcome etc and then we made a plan.

Q. Tell me about the title It Made You and the reasons for choosing it?

S: It’s the chorus of one of the songs – we felt it summed something up, an approach towards mental illness that sees it as multivarious and complex but also a universal struggle. It was just one of the many truths that emerged. I encouraged the idea that we didn’t have to be literal in our lyrics, that things could have many meanings. The person that you meet is the product of many processes. The worst things that happen can, occasionally, lead to positive outcomes. That can happen. It’s just one truth that was expressed.

Q. I hear over 90 service users of St Patrick’s were involved. How did that work on a practical level?

S: What we arranged was that I would do a series of workshops with groups of service users. There were usually about ten people, sometimes more, sometimes less. Normally it takes about three of these with one group to get enough input to create a lyric but because of the nature of the people attending, sometimes I only met people once. Sometimes they came back.

People were in very different places emotionally and mentally. Over the years, I have developed different techniques for helping people to contribute. I try and avoid democracy and aim instead for complete inclusion. This means that something from absolutely everyone who attends is included. I ask simple and banal questions. I don’t ask people to discuss their illness but rather to describe situations, some people include or reference their mental health situations in these descriptions but usually it’s the details of ordinary life that become the crux of the lyric. I ended up with the bones of a lyric, and sometimes with the bones of a tune. I then spent some weeks reworking them to make them flow and feel like actual songs, writing chord changes and melodies etc. Five of the songs on the record were made this way.

Q: What was your approach on day one?

S: My approach is always the same. Be myself, be real, don’t make assumptions. Ask questions that are easy to answer.

Q: You’ve worked with non-professional composers in the past, young people etc on various projects and found a lot of willingness and talent there. Do you find it relatively easy to ignite that or does it take a lot of work and experimentation?

S: I find it incredibly difficult. After a workshop writing session, I spend the next day resting as I have found over the years that if I don’t recognise how much energy I expend, I will get sick. The energy is spent in maintaining everyone’s individual participation and inclusion – encouraging and supporting their response, demonstrating that everything is valid, everything they have to contribute is worthwhile, trying to make them believe that or understand that, maybe even sometimes just get them to hear that.

Q: What would be your advice to people who want to express themselves through music or art, at any level?

S: Be yourself, try and listen to your heart. Value what you make, no matter how fragile or unimpressive it might seem. Some of the greatest songs ever written are almost moronic in their simplicity and yet for people all over the world they are the essential art experience of their lives.

Q: What did you learn from this particular project?

S: It takes a village to raise a child, and art is no different – you need a good team around you. Without Gavin Glass’s incredible work as a musician and producer we wouldn’t have this beautiful record, the project changed completely when he became involved. Without the St Pat’s team it could never have happened.

Q: Tell me about the night we can expect from the It Made You show on January 9?

S: It’ll be a celebration of honest expression and beautiful music, from a group of musicians with a heartfelt desire to communicate, singing songs that explore the complexity and variety of experiences of mental health issues. We will talk a little and sing a lot! We will bring the audience inside the music.

Q: Anything else you’d like to mention?

S: Just I haven’t mentioned the amazing songwriting of the other contributors to the record. These were musicians who happened to be service users that were asked would they like to contribute a song and sing it. They all did such a powerful job! Such wonderful songs. It was a pleasure for Gavin and I to work with them and play their songs. Kevin, Cillian, Aoife and Brendan. What an experience!

Listen and buy the It Made You album here: http://www.walkinmyshoes.ie/product/it-made-you/
Tickets for the show at St Patrick’s Hospital, Dublin at 8pm on January 9, €5, and for all First Fortnight #16 shows available here: https://firstfortnight.ticketsolve.com/#/shows

FIONA REID
@fifilebon