Mt.Joy: Panic Attacks and Touring Burnout

Matt Quinn of Mt.Joy explains how musically replicating a panic attack made it onto their latest album, and why being open about mental health is so important.

“We don’t see ourselves as artists that have to fit into some huge earning machine,” says Matt Quinn of indie five-piece, Mt.Joy. “We’re just a band with a very loyal fanbase, so if we’d held this new album back, we’d only be holding it back from them.”

Singer and guitarist Quinn is referring to some of the more mainstream acts keeping music under locks until the lockdown ends in order to maximize the financial gain when touring and merchandising potential goes back to normal. But this would not be in keeping with the ethos of Mt.Joy.

And especially with the impossibility of predicting when that might be. With new album Rearrange Us out now, Mt.Joy would love nothing more than to be out there performing.

“Of course we want to be touring,” Quinn says. “That’s such a huge part of the music. But I think it’s pretty clear that here in the US, we’re doing a terrible job of controlling the virus! So instead of trying to predict anything, we just decided to try and figure out what the new normal is and release this music.”

Achieving instant success with their debut single, Astrovan, in 2016, Los Angeles-based Mt.Joy built on their breakthrough with a number of singles leading up to their self-titled debut album in 2018.

“Me and Sam (Cooper) were both working in law,” Quinn says. “I was working a day job in a legal department, and Sam was a fully-fledged lawyer. He was not loving it at all, and I knew I wanted to write songs. When we put Astrovan online, it kind of went viral and was an instant success – I dropped out of law school and quit my job!”

One of the singles from Rearrange Us is the song Acrobats, which seeks to lyrically and musically speak to the unpleasant experience of having a panic attack, something Quinn has experienced first hand.

“Like many bands after their first bit of success, we were thrown into touring very hard, saying yes to almost everything, and that constant ‘where is the second album?” he says. “With very little time to actually sit down and write anything.

“The panic attack in question, I couldn’t say exactly what precipitated it, but I’m sure it was work and music-related. When Sam showed me some of the guitar parts for the song, it did kind of remind me of going through that particular moment. [laughs] The idea for us was to create this swirling effect – because, in those attacks, there’s a rush of anxiety, blood, and of course panic. It kind of captures you. We were trying to portray that frenzy in the music. Sometimes you can calm it down with techniques such as noting things in the room, but sometimes you just have to ride it out.”

Mental health is a huge (and brave) topic explored in the lyrics of Mt.Joy, with Quinn being an outspoken advocate of the subject.

“For some people this has been a big time of anxiety,” he says. “But I know other people who’ve found it relieving. I think often people are anxious about what’s coming or preparing for the worst; so it’s almost been calmer being in the storm itself. I’ve personally been less anxious of late.”

In terms of keeping calmer, for Quinn it’s been a case of trying to be as present as he can, and appreciating the things in his life that are working.

“Whereas before, it was the conundrum of somehow trying to be a prolific writer while being constantly on tour. Maybe this will even turn out to be a great period of art, as people sit more with their emotions. That’s certainly been my experience as everything has slowed down.”