Life on the road as a musician isn't easy; not even if you’re part of the most successful acts in the planet. Singer Olivia Rodrigo knows this all too well, having toured the world since she was only 19. From the long hours of rehearsal and traveling to being away from home for months at a time, it can wear down even those who have done it for decades. To protect the mental health of her band and crew, guitarist Daisy Spencer reveals, Rodrigo paid for everyone in her touring party to get therapy.
“On the Guts World Tour, Olivia and our tour manager, Marty Hom, made accessible and free therapy for all of the touring personnel,” Spencer told The StageLeft Podcast. “I have never had anything like that. And that reignited the importance of therapy to me because I had just kind of fallen off for so long, and then suddenly I had this free resource of incredible therapists, and I utilized the crap out of that.”
Spencer added that this service included both the time they are on tour with Rodrigo and the breaks between the tour legs. “Honestly, that was one of the coolest things that has ever happened on tour,” Spencer added. “Like, seriously, one of the best things you can give to people is accessible free therapy, because it can get kind of expensive.” Rodrigo, whose father is a family therapist, is keenly aware of the importance of mental health.
Mind, a UK-based mental health charity, has reported that people in the music industry are “more prone to mental health problems than the general population,” due to the financial pressures and frantic lifestyles that come with touring. The organization has also found that musicians are “up to three times more likely to suffer from depression.”
For Spencer, therapy has allowed her to process not only her current lifestyle, but also everything that has brought her to this point. “It’s been a gift for real. I feel like it is such a gift to be able to look within yourself and have someone else help you bring some stuff out of you that you might otherwise on your own not be able to get there,” the guitarist added. “That’s the gift that therapy has given to me, is that I am able to really flesh out some stuff from my childhood that needed a voice.”
Rodrigo and Spencer are currently on the final leg of the Guts World Tour. Having wrapped their first Latin American tour in the spring, Rodrigo and her band are now playing festivals around Europe. They will return to North America later in the summer to perform at Lollapalooza in Chicago and Osheaga Festival in Montreal. To learn more and get tickets, visit Olivia Rodrigo's website.
To protect the mental health of her band and crew on tour, Olivia Rodrigo paid for all of them to have free access to therapy. The perk also covered the breaks between the tour legs.
Photo: Regina Sienra / My Modern Met
“On the Guts World Tour, Olivia and our tour manager, Marty Hom, made accessible and free therapy for all of the touring personnel,” Daisy Spencer, Rodrigo's guitarist, told The StageLeft Podcast.
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“Honestly, that was one of the coolest things that has ever happened on tour. Like, seriously, one of the best things you can give to people is accessible free therapy.”
Ver esta publicación en Instagram
Olivia Rodrigo: Website | Instagram
Daisy Spencer: Instagram
Sources: Olivia Rodrigo paid for her entire touring crew to have therapy; Music sector guides at Mind
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