Q&A: Brian Byrne of I Mother Earth Sings for Suicide Awareness

Earlier this week, it was revealed that I Mother Earth frontman Brian Byrne had partnered with Collateral Damage, a suicide prevention and awareness organization, to help raise funds for its initiatives.

As part of the efforts, Byrne contributed his track “Arizona (I Miss You Most)” to the cause. Available for download on iTunes, and making the rounds on numerous radio stations, all proceeds generated from the song will go directly to Collateral Damage.

This morning, Riffyou.com spoke with a very humbled and thoughtful Byrne about the reaction to this endeavour; why he chose to take part; and the feelings being had by listeners and himself.

RY: Congratulations on releasing “Arizona (I Miss You Most).” It seems to already be making a big impact:

Brian: “Obviously, every time you try to do something nice and good, you’re hoping with everything in your heart that it’s going to go well. But, I didn’t know it was going to get this kind of traction. I’m so pleased with it.”

RY: What kind of reaction have you received from the song already?

Brian: “First off, the people submitting their videos [about people they’ve lost] was a big thing for us – that was the ‘wow, people are wanting to share and really wanting to talk about their experience and how they’ve been impacted by suicide’ [moment]. From that, there were personal e-mail and Facebook messages from people who just wanted to share, and say ‘thank you.’ I had an incredibly surreal moment this morning in Toronto. I was walking down the street, and this girl stopped me, took her headphones out and said, ‘I want to thank you for the work that you’re doing. It’s a great song, and it’s going to make a difference.’ That was such a heavy moment, I texted my friend and said that I had to toughen up because I almost cried in the street,” laughs.

RY: Was this song in existence before this cause came up, or did you write the song specifically for it?

Brian: “No, it was around before. It was something that I wrote a while ago when thinking about a situation I had gone through. I stopped playing it live…to work through my own stuff. Then last year, when my friend Jay Smith died of suicide, I looked at my wife and said that I had to resurrect the song, and that we have to do something about suicide awareness/prevention through music. To me, it related to exactly how I felt when I found out about Jay passing.”

RY: Was it tough for you to bring that song back after putting it away?

Brian: “Yeah, it was. After a while, there wasn’t a disconnect, but I was putting it away for a reason…because I wasn’t talking about things that I should’ve been talking about. When I brought that song back out, it brought up a whole lot of other stuff. Every time I play it now, I’m reminded of people that I’ve lost and some nights it goes well when I’m playing it; some nights it’s hard to get through.”

RY: Why did you decide to partner with Collateral Damage for this initiative? As many know, there are a lot of suicide prevention/awareness groups out there.

Brian: “First and foremost, a friend introduced me to Scott (Chisholm, founder of Collateral Damage). When I spoke to him, I could instantly feel his spirit and his passion, and what a good man he was…and that this had been his life’s work for the past five years. He was really in need of assistance to keep doing what he’s doing. So for me, it was an absolute perfect fit. I think he’s such a great soul, and he needs every ounce [of support] for what he’s doing.”

RY: You’ve mentioned the positives of people coming up to you and thanking you for your involvement in this cause. But, is embarking on it a challenge when you’re faced with tough stories and emotions from people who might be strangers to you?

Brian: “It’s really tough. When we started the launch of this project last week in Halifax, by the time I finished the show, I looked at my wife and said ‘I’m so emotionally drained from this.’ But I just needed a good night sleep to go at it again. I know that people are embracing [the song] and people are telling me that it’s making a difference. I need to embrace that, pull up my socks, and keep going with it. There are days where it’s really hard to talk about [suicide]. But, the bigger part of it is moving…knowing that you’re helping people.”

RY: Do you feel like the subject of suicide is still a taboo topic in terms of trying to find ways to assist people and families that have been through it?

Brian: “Absolutely. That’s really a big part of what we’re trying to do – to make sure that people open up and start to communicate. Scott, with us, wants to try and develop programs for schools and people who are going through post-traumatic stress. People don’t [always] want to talk about suicide…it’s the elephant in the room, but we have to know that through all of this, is something that Scott says: ‘It’s not just about saving lives, it’s about making people realize that their lives are worth living.’”

RY: Be it in terms of your solo career or time with I Mother Earth, you’ve surely accomplished many things and had a lot of memorable experiences. Where does your involvement in this cause rank in terms of what you’ve done in music?

Brian: “I can honestly say that, so far, this is my biggest accomplishment and my biggest moment in music. I can’t really articulate how grateful I am to actually be doing something good through music, and not just the self-gratuitous ‘I’m out doing music thing.’ There’s nothing wrong with that…I’ve done it for a lot of years and I love it, but to be able to do this, it is by far my greatest achievement, musically. No matter where the song goes or what it does in terms of radio, or how many shows I get to do from it, that’s so secondary to what is actually happening. I’m still human, and obviously it would be nice to go out and play shows – because that’s my entire life – but, I need to separate those things and realize that this is the bigger part of it.”

-Adam Grant
-Main Article Photo by Sara Spring

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