Rock is dead, but I’m glad I’m not.
A few days ago we released a new single called “Problem Solver” it’s about suicide. There is
nothing tongue in cheek about it, the verses blatantly lay out my anger, and hurt from the time
when it was written. The chorus flat out states I’ll be gone by my own hand soon enough, with a
tag-line that makes it clear I’m holding a revolver to my head. I wrote the words at my lowest
low, depressed, emotionally a wreck, over-using drugs and alcohol, and taking part in risky, and
dangerous behaviour just to feel something that wasn't misery. Loudly screaming “I bought a
revolver” on stage weekend after weekend made me feel like I had some power over how I felt.
For a long time before the release, I found myself more, and more nervous about the subject
matter. I worried that a song about suicide didn’t need to go floating around the world we are all
dealing with right now. I worried I shouldn’t mention the topic. I am not a mental health
professional, I’m not a social worker, I’m not a therapist. I don’t have much of a way to help if
you feel now, like I did then, but it was slated, it was recorded, it was out...
What I found when Newcastle Kings released the track, was that people liked it, they really,
really liked it… They learned the words fast, and sang them with a devilish smile, and it seemed,
they felt for a second or two, better about their own miseries. It made me feel like perhaps as a
band, we had just said what everyone was thinking. I’ve realised I’m not the first to feel that way
for a little while, nor will I be the last, and that even people I know, have had days where they’ve
felt that low as well.
My life today does not in any fraction resemble the life I was living when Problem Solver was
conceived, and I can tell you; finding help, talking to friends, family or professionals, and
creating and coping with an outlet can help you through. Write, draw, paint, blog, sing, exercise,
volunteer, find something that is yours, and don’t be afraid to use it to say how you feel. You will
find out you are not the only one.
So, I`m not a mental health professional, I’m not a social worker, I’m not a therapist, but I’m
helping the only way I know how. I’m an artist, I create, I put feelings into words, and Problem
Solver is how I felt for a while. Sing it loud as catharsis, scream it in the car on the way to work,
play air guitar in your kitchen, feel better for two minutes and 46 seconds, and if it helps, put it
on repeat, and do it again. Know you’re not alone. Stay here with us. These days the classic
rock purists, and the regular media would have us believe “rock is dead” but Rock saved my life.
Rock is dead, but I’m glad I’m not.
-Skylar Dayton Bean
Newcastle Kings