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WHEN MY LEGS went from underneath me and my breath stopped coming, just minutes before we were due to go live on The Voice, I knew this was panic at its worst. Yet in the midst of the madness, something became clear. If I got through this, the secret I had guarded for years with all my life could not remain secret for much longer.
After experiencing a terrifying panic attack just before he was due to appear on live TV, Bressie knew he couldn’t hide the truth about his mental health issues any longer.
Later that night, Jeffrey was born.
In an interview with TheJournal.ie Bressie explains how humanising his depression or ‘black dog’ has helped him:
Video: Aoife Barry/Órla Ryan
When he was a teenager he went through a period where he suffered from daily panic attacks – one came on pretty much every time he lied down. As a result he suffered from insomnia and his hair started to fall out. He told no one what was going on.
At the age of 16 he intentionally broke his own arm.
Here, Bressie talks about why he did what he did and the “very misunderstood issue” that is self-harm. He also discusses his younger self’s fears about being sent to a mental institution.
Video: Aoife Barry/Órla Ryan
Bressie admits there is now, thankfully, less stigma around discussing mental health due to the work of several initiatives.
The 34-year-old previously played football with Westmeath and rugby with Leinster. He found musical fame as frontman of The Blizzards and a solo singer before working on The Voice.
On paper – like a lot of people – he had no ‘reason’ to feel depressed, but – like a lot of people – he did.
In his book, Me and My Mate Jeffrey, he speaks candidly about how his secret battle with his mental health eroded away relationships, such as those with his bandmates.
A lot of bridges have been mended since he opened up.
In the last couple of years, I’ve had so many friends coming to me going ‘Ah, now it makes sense’. And I’m like ‘No, I wasn’t just an ignorant bastard who kind of kept to himself and, as my mates would say, is wired differently’. My behaviour started making sense to a lot of people and no more so than the band.
The Blizzards went on hiatus in 2009, but are back in the recording studio working on new material.
Bressie has used a number of methods to help regain control over his anxiety and depression in recent years, including cognitive behavioural therapy, exercise and medication. He set up My 1,000 Hours to help people look after their mental health.
We’ll have more from our interview with Bressie over the weekend.
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I pay for Spotify, use it all the time in work. My phone has much more free space that would normally be full of music. No need for a harddrive full of music either. Youtube is grand for listening to music with a desktop, but not from a phone, doesn’t play in the background. Spotify also works with Last.fm which is nice.
i love spotify. its a convenient legal way to listen to a vast array of music online with ads every now and then and playlists. this announcement of a free mobile service makes it even better. i never paid for spotify i just listen to the few ads as its a small price to pay.
“Spotify has agreed licensing deals with Sony, Universal and Warner to use their music”
Their music. It belongs to the artists, dammit!
It actually doesn’t, it belongs to the labels. That’s how it works unfortunately.
I’m a great fan of spotify and the price of €9.99 per month is well worth it. There is a huge choice with every taste catered for. Great new playlists are appearing all the time or you can create your own. Once you are signed up you can store up to 3,000 songs to play off line which is great if you only use an ipad and you can then play them back in the car or wherever you are. Great for long journeys. The service is being improved all the time.
3333 songs :-)
Downloading remains superior, and free.
Plus there’s always youtube…
Youtube doesn’t get me TV shows and Movies before they even come out in Ireland. ;)
This is only to take on itube, by far the best, but wont work if there’s only limited tracks available
Straight up downloading doesn’t introduce you to new music and play lists you would never discover otherwise. Spotify is a very good service and if you’d rather steal from artists and record labels than support them then I feel sorry for you.
Why would I bother paying for spotify when I can use muzu.tv or tunein radio? ¿
Most songs are on YouTube anyway including some nice remixes which are hard to find elsewhere
Download iTube, it’s free, always up to date, saves playlists and has genre generated playlists all without taking up memory. Unbelievable app.
Thanks for that! Just downloaded it there! Always found it so annoying that YouTube won’t stay on in the background!
Great call Rory. Never heard of it before now. Nice one!!
Torrent
I prefer Google music myself..
Apple iTunes Radio will be available in Ireland soon for iPhones, which is essentially a better free version of spotify
iTunes Radio will only be free with ads after every song. The paid version will only be €24.99 a year though, which includes your iTunes Match service which I use heavily to. Means being able to stream your entire iTunes library. And a hell of a lot cheaper than spotify or google play
I still prefer Spotify as I can choose what I want to listen to. iTunes Radio is just that…a radio station.
I havnt bought much from iTunes so Match is no good to me.
I’ll be sticking with Spotify:-)
I’ve never bought anything iTunes but use Match and it’s great. It scans your library of dodgy downloads and matches to iTunes library allowing you to stream or download high quality tracks. It’s a great service and great value.
Means I then have my home collection in phone, work computer etc.
I have an ap called Anyplay. It’s essentially a free spotify. It’s by far my most used ap. It’s no longer available in the App Store but I have it saved onto my PC if anyone wants it ;)
I use Deezer which is free with my contract similar to spotify have it playing constantly
This has always been the way with spotify since the company began. New to Ireland maybe but not exactly headline news.
Anyone know what the limited amount will be? No mention above and the WSJ article is subscription only.
You can listen to approx. 100 songs per month with advertising in between. The way to avoid the ads is to set up a playlist and then there’s no breaks. In Sweden at least, they might introduce something different to Ireland but can’t see it happening. Have had an account since they started.
Try the itube app free in App Store uses cache downloading
So once watched it’s saved
Full music videos
have your say