THERE’S a simple reason why this Border band has invested thousands of their own money and months of their time to organise a concert to support an Albury-Wodonga headspace.
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“We want to prevent anything happening again to people we know and people we care about,” The Jester Complex vocalist Pete Henderson said, ahead of tomorrow’s Makin’ Noise for headspace at Albury’s QEII Square.
Henderson said four of his friends had died in just two years.
“It’s always the same — they never say anything or the people they did say stuff to didn’t realise, or haven’t known what to do and where to get help,” he said.
Henderson said that with each death, friends and family were left vulnerable because they, too didn’t know where to find help from the Border’s overworked mental health services.
“Every one of us has had some sort of depression or issue that has changed us,” Henderson said of the band members who all had dealt with the suicide of a friend.
"It would have been nice to have something like headspace when we were younger."
"We are the ones who didn't commit suicide, who found something to live for."
Band members Henderson, guitarist Rhys Tillett, bass player James Andersen and drummer Josh Orford, said they believed up to 60 per cent of their friends had lost a loved one to suicide.
The Jester Complex has written four songs on how suicide had affected band members.
“People look to the cities as where the problems are. No-one looks at smaller communities,” Tillett said.
“And until a few months ago, we hadn’t even heard of headspace.”
The Jester Complex will be joined by Idle Fret and Distant Memory at Makin’ Noise for headspace, at QEII Square tomorrow from 1pm to 5pm.
Entry to the drug and alcohol-free concert is free and open to all ages.
Organisers hope donations will cover the cost of the event.