‘It’s so easy to laugh, it’s so easy to hate, it
takes strength to be gentle and kind’
One thing I've noticed while running this project, is that I've really considered the idea of strength a lot more in relation to stranger. I now see pictures of people insta and can't help but consider their opinions and experiences on the matter. So when I began working with James, @monkeys_and_morrissey, for Kiloran, I knew I had to get him involved. I've followed James for ages and always considered him a strangely elusive figure as for a long time he was faceless on insta, and now his profile stands as a collage of his own writings along with the multitude of projects he's involved with. I chatted to him about the issue of strength, mental health and art...
What does
strength mean to you?
To me,
strength, is mental strength, the ability to overcome hardship, turmoil, or
tragedy in any way that you can, whilst maintaining your morals, core values
and ideals. It’s the way in which you conduct yourself, perhaps treating others
with respect when they show you none, etc…
Can you tell me
about a time when strength was evident in your life?
I feel like at
this point it’s important that I talk about something important. Around 18
months ago, I was, unexpectedly, the first respondent at the suicide of a lady
in my town. It is something that was
deeply traumatic for me, and something that has taken a lot of strength to
overcome. For me, the hardest part of it all was admitting that I needed help,
both professionally, and from my friends and family.
Do you think
writing makes you strong, or does it take strength to be a writer?
Writing, for
me, acts as an outlet that allows me to convey my emotions and feelings,
without having to talk to others, like a diary I suppose. The strength, however,
comes when sharing my writing; I tend to worry a little bit about what people
will think about it, how they will react, etc.
Is having an
outlet like your writing/social media presence is vital for your strength?
I’d say that
they both act as an escape from the real word, yeah, and although I’d say I’m
not strong for this, I do try and talk about things that need to be talked
about, for example egalitarianism, beauty standards, gender roles and ideals,
politics, etc… When I do talk about these things, I know that a lot of people
dismiss me as pretentious, egotistical or self-absorbed, (and I probably get
more critics than anything from these discussions) I’d like to think that I’m
nice enough to be honest. People from my town don’t really ‘get’ the whole
instagram thing and I know plenty of people rip on me for it, but it’s
important to me. Also, the fact that there are six and a half thousand people,
who to some degree, care about my life, (at least enough to keep up to date
with it) does probably help stroke my ego a little after a hard day.
Some of your
writing is super emotive and open almost to the point of vulnerability, as well
as your work for the mental health awareness project ‘yellow4change’; Do you think art help change the way the
public perceive what strength is?
I try to be
myself as much as possible in my writing, I’m quite a shy, vulnerable person
and I think that comes through a little. Most of my songs/lyricals are soppy
love songs, I was a bit unlucky in love, struggled with the way I looked, and
that sort of influences my writing I guess, also the songwriters who influence
me, show their vulnerability, lyrically, (people like Morrissey, Frank Ocean,
Alex Turner, and more recently, people like Zach Lount from King No-One, and
Joe Harvey from Clay) I think everyone can relate to being a bit vulnerable,
and that’s something I want to do too, to be honest.
Yellow4Change
is such an important project, Millie Smith is a true darling for setting it up.
Music is something that is part of everyone’s life, and that’s what makes it so
accessible. With the rising number of mental health cases, and the continued
lack of funding to treat such cases, it is clear that people need to understand
the strength of those suffering from mental illnesses, but at the same time
realise that we all need to be stronger, together. Personally, I see it as a
way for charities that work with the NHS, to be there for more people. After the suicide, I couldn’t get a GP’s
appointment for around 4 months because the NHS simply didn’t have the
resources available to see me, but when I did, it helped me so, so much;
everyone needs that when they’re struggling. Plus, like, it’s such a class way
to get people to hear some bands that maybe they wouldn’t have otherwise. So
working in tandem, music and MIND charity, I think we can help more people…
Does having
such a strong online following help your strength or put pressure on it?
To be honest, I
don’t even know if I have a strong online following, I just post about my life
and my mates, the music that I like and the views that I have. But,
understanding that I have some form of a platform for my ideas, I do feel
slightly pressured to do something good, or at least worthwhile. Setting up
Telus Promotion to help bands spread their word, and working with
Yellow4Change, are just two of the things I have planned for this year.
Obviously, I will be using it to strengthen my own musical ambitions with
Soseity, and I suppose, in a good way, I feel pressured to make our first few releases
perfect, because I release the amount of people looking on.
For a long time
you didn’t show your
face on Instagram, what was the reason for that? And do you think social media
and the vanity involved is affecting the strength of our generation?
Yeah, so, when
I set up my ‘monkey and morrissey’ instagram account, I was feeling a bit disconnected
from the world around me, I was still a bit unsure of myself and I wanted to
see if people would still want to know me, regardless of my appearance. At the
same time, I wanted to tackle beauty standards, with Kardashian (amongst
others) influenced normalisation of plastic surgery, I saw how people around me
were becoming so concerned with their appearance. I wanted to change that. Outer
beauty is something that is so perceptual and relative, that it’s mad to think
that somebody would ever want to change their appearance, everybody is
beautiful to somebody, or at least that's what I think. So, anyway, I saw this
quote, by Leo Tolstoy, ‘it is amazing how complete is the delusion, that beauty
is goodness’ and so I thought I’d see if I was able to connect with people who
were unaware of my appearance, some people thought it was ‘catfishing’, some
thought it was pretentious, but seeing the people who I became friends with
form their own image of me through the way I spoke, and the way I dressed, the
music I like and the views that I held, was proper interesting, so I kept it up
for a year, tackling standards and issues. People perceive beauty as central to
who we are, but it’s not, it’s simply a fictitious idea, I take strength from
my internal ‘beauty’, and that’s how I hope everyone can be someday.
When do you
feel strongest?
I probably feel
strongest, in this spot up near my house, it’s in the hills, away from anything
or anyone, I go up there to write, to drink, to get away, it’s like my hiding
place, ironic I guess that I feel strongest when I’m hiding…
Could you sum
up strength in three words for me?
‘Being
yourself, always…’
---------
James' band Soseity is set to release their debut track soon, but in the meantime you can read some of his work in the upcoming issue of Kiloran released 11/2/17, or on their tumblr. Also make sure to follow Yellow4Change (@yellow4change) as it's such a great project for an even greater cause.
Find James-
His Instagram - @monkeys_and_morrissey
His Band's Instagram - @soseity.uk
Tumblr -soseity.tumblr.com
His promotion company - @teluspromotion
