Be nice

Following the passing of David Berman, I’ve started thinking again about the amount of musicians I admire who have chosen to end their own lives. I suppose suffering from forms of depression and anxiety whilst being creative and being able to turn your innermost thoughts into art are something that tend to go together. I’m sure musicians like David Berman had plenty of support around their work but having heard how good his latest record is I would have loved to have reached out to him just to tell him how much I enjoyed it. It may not make a difference to the eventual outcome but may have made that particular moment a lot more bearable.

There’s been a lot written on social media about musicians struggling financially. I personally have never done this for the money and know I got very very lucky in being part of Hood which meant that I had a ready made fanbase for future endeavours. The music industry has changed out of all recognition and I for one don’t begrudge people using Spotify to discover new music. I do think though that we should all try harder to send appreciation to musicians whose records we really enjoy. It’s always made all the difference to us over the years and one person writing to say they like a track or an album can give you the incentive to carry on.

I value every single person who listens to or buys our music as that’s one of the things that keeps me going. Even if in 2025 there’s just ten of you left out there I’ll still do it because I have no real choice other than to be creative and keep making music.

with thanks always

Richard/The Declining Winter

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