COVID-19 restrictions may have all but removed Amy Vee's opportunity to perform live, but the pandemic has further prompted the acclaimed singer-songwriter to use her voice to raise awareness and understanding of musicians' mental health.
"That's something I'm really passionate about, so I'm finding two of my worlds colliding in that sense," Vee says in the latest episode of the Newcastle Herald's podcast series, Voices of the Hunter with Scott Bevan.
While the stereotype of rock musicians may revolve around a fun-loving and relatively carefree lifestyle, Amy Vee, who is a psychology graduate and has worked in the mental health field, says there are concerning rates of anxiety and depression in the music industry.
"Personally, I think a lot of it has to do with precarity," she says. "It's all around finances and not having secure work, that seems to be a major source of stress and anxiety for people in our industry."
That uncertainty was only made worse by COVID and the lockdowns, which Vee believes has had a major impact on musicians, as many have had nowhere to perform live and income streams have dried up.
"Anecdotally, and just from conversations I've had with people in the industry, I'd say it's definitely had a huge impact."
The singer-songwriter says there should have been better government support for an industry that has had a key earning platform taken away by the restrictions imposed during the pandemic.
"It's almost like there's a disdain for people working in the arts," she says.
As a usually busy working musician, Amy Vee has felt the emotional impact of COVID.
"To suddenly have all of that taken away, it doesn't just impact you financially, it's a whole lifestyle, and it's a whole sense of identity," Vee says. "That's one thing I really struggled with, with the pandemic.
"You start to question, 'Well, who am I, if that doesn't exist? Who am I, as a person?'. It was really tricky."
As Vee talks about in the podcast, she has used the challenges of COVID to create, writing a song a week during the first lockdown. A number of the songs, including the haunting ballad "Forget Me", explores the emotions stirred up by the pandemic.
And she has turned her attention to the issue of mental health among musicians, undertaking research as part of post-graduate studies and speaking up on something that she says is affecting her industry.
While there is that old saying about suffering for your art, Vee believes that should not be the case.
"People who are deep in suffering often can't construct creative ideas," she says.
So, as well as looking forward to returning to the stage, Amy Vee hopes to help her fellow musicians, "making it more normal to be a highly functioning, well person, and creating art".
You can listen to the conversation with Amy Vee in "Voices of the Hunter with Scott Bevan" on the Apple, Spotify and Google podcasts, and through newcastleherald.com.au
