Welcome to Proper Mental episode 21!
This week I’m joined by Tom and Sarah from In Earnest!
In Earnest are a band from South End on Sea, consisting of Tom (vocals, electric guitar), Sarah (vocals & keys) and Toby (violin, acoustic guitar). Tom and Sarah write the bulk of the songs and Toby makes them pretty. They mostly write around personal topics such as mental illness, nostalgia and identity, with a view to inspiring people to talk openly about these difficult topics.
They released their self-titled debut E.P last year and followed it up in March of this year with a double A side ‘Your Dog/Good Boy. They are currently working on a new E.P due in October.
In Earnest are also ambassadors for @myblackdog _co, an online peer to peer chat service that supports people struggling with their mental health.
I had a great chat with Sarah and Tom about the personal reasons behind the band’s advocacy, about how depression can affect the creative process and what it’s like to try and put these sorts of things in to songs.
We also talk about what it’s like to be in a couple and see your partner struggling with mental health issues and how anxiety and depression affect not just the person dealing with these things, but the people around them too.
For obvious reasons I found this one incredibly relatable and I hope you do to! It’s a really important and powerful conversation and I can’t thank Tom and Sarah enough for their openness and honesty because we really get in to.
I listened to their E.P a lot as part of my preparation for this chat and I’m still listening to it a lot now, they are making incredibly beautiful music and I highly recommend you give them a listen!
The band were good enough to let me pick a track to add to the episode and I picked Put Me Under and In Between for all the reasons mentioned in the intro.
The video we chat about during the episode can be watched here:
'put me under' - in earnest (music video) - YouTube
You can download or stream their music on all platforms and find out more about them via their website www.inearnest.co.uk or social media @inearnestband.
You can connect with me on all socials @propermentalpodcast and if you would take the time to leave me a review you would make my day!
Thanks for listening! Enjoy!