We heard about them when they asked if we would display their leaflets in our Soho store but wanted to do a little more to bring attention to their cause. We don’t apologise for this blog post being a promotion for their cause- it’s worthwhile and needs and deserves our support.
Tonic Music for Mental Health is a not-for-profit organisation based in the South-Coast of England and was established in 2012. With both Terry Hall and Kevin Cummins as their patrons they have the right friends in the industry to help out.
Tonic raises awareness and challenges the stigma often associated with mental illness through music and art based events. They organise music workshops, gigs, art groups and community projects throughout the year for people experiencing mental health problems.Tonic supports musicians and artists by funding art and music projects that helps individual recovery and enables the individual to earn an income through their craft.
In the current climate of austerity measures and government cuts, services available to people with mental health problems are often limited and hard to access. Tonic aim to support people who may already be receiving input from mental health services and those who have not had any previous contact to provide an inclusive support network to help people through their recovery.
Tonic needs ongoing financial support so that they can continue to provide workshops, support to musicians, artists and anyone experiencing a mental health problem both within the Tonic HQ studio and the wider community.
Tonic Music for mental Health will be hosting a series of 4 iconic fundraising gigs at the legendary 100 Club to mark their debut in London.
The gigs will feature a legendary band, DJ & local support band all of whom support Tonic and share their ethos of raising awareness and reducing stigma of mental health.
The gigs will raise awareness of mental health in a relaxed, informal and fun environment. Musicians will make short speeches about Tonic and in some cases, talk about living with their own experiences of mental health problems. Information will be available to the audience as well as opportunities for people to speak with representatives from Tonic about any aspect of mental health. The Tonic team will be there to offer support, signpost and discuss ways people can get involved with their work and attend future music workshops in London.
All profits from the gigs will be used to host 3 free all day music workshops at the 100 Club for up to 40 participants per workshop. Music workshops each have the theme of creativity, confidence and belief and will be facilitated by established musicians (Bonehead ex Oasis co facilitated the first workshop). Previous participants have gone on to form their own bands and record Eps (funded by Tonic), formed friendships, reduced mental health hospital admissions, reduced social isolation, found paid employment following long periods of unemployment, performed at gigs and festivals.
The first gig is this week at the 100 Club- 7th April and features Dub Pistols, Norman Jay and Rodney P. You can get tickets from the 100 Club or from Tonic.
For more details then get in touch with Steph
Steph Langan -Founder / Director Tonic Music for Mental Health
Recovery through Music & Art
Underground Soundwave presents an ongoing series of reports on emerging and established bands with close-up Q&As, new release reviews and gig reports with a special emphasis on supporting diversity in music, women in music, independent labels and venues and the local music scene.
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