Mental health, making music and staying alive. Explore intimate, vulnerable and fascinating stories from musicians and creative people on their real-life challenges, triumphs, and how they've navigated the world while making art. Hosted by Christina Rowatt.
Comedian Luke Severeid: Dealing Dopamine, Metal As Medicine & His New Double Special
Luke Severeid is a comedian with heavy metal running through his veins and increasingly making its way into his sets. In this far-ranging conversation, we talk about wrangling ADHD as a creative person, the strange dopamine economy of stand-up, and his new double special exploring everything from heavy music to empathy, blasphemy and our broken brains.
We also get into whether nu-metal's resurgence is connected to the male loneliness crisis, why heavy metal might actually be good for us, finding community in an increasingly atomised world, the dark forces shaping modern life and one undeniable truth: looksmaxxers wouldn't be so mental if they could grow a beard.
21 May 2026
024 - Caroline Harrison: Art vs. ADHD & Creating a Habitat for Big Feelings
What happens when two people with loud brains, big feelings and years of surviving their own minds sit down and compare notes? Artist Caroline Harrison and host Christina Rowatt talk about the overlap between creativity, neurodivergence, depression, burnout and the exhausting effort of trying to function in a world that often feels too loud. From masking and emotional flooding through to the weird guilt of rest and the danger of tying your worth to productivity, the conversation moves through the messier corners of being human without trying to neatly resolve any of it. Together, they unpack the tension between art and mental illness, the invisible labour of "holding it together" and why creating something meaningful can sometimes feel like the only thing keeping the lights on.
5 May 2026
023 - Mel Bampton: The Psychology of Producing, Music Festivals & Mental Health in Music
Mel Bampton has spent over thirty years on Australian radio. She is an author, yoga practitioner and accomplished music journalist who began her career at triple j in Brisbane.
In this conversation, Mel reflects on producing the radio series and book Off The Record, travelling the world to interview legendary producers like Steve Albini and Michael Beinhorn. She also shares inside stories from her time as a key figure behind Soundwave Festival, once Australia's largest touring music event.
We explore the power of music and how it shapes identity, emotion and behaviour, along with the mental health impact of building a life in the industry. This is a conversation about creativity, psychology and what happens when music becomes more than something you listen to.
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
5 ratings
Spotify
4.6 / 5
19 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 47 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
67
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
71
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