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Depressed? Then the last thing you’d probably consider on a Saturday night is dancing to some tearful tunes. Well think again, Feeling Gloomy is a London-based club aimed specifically for those feeling low and helping to support the charity Depression Alliance. Michelle Connolly found out more from the founder Carl Hill.
 Carl says he’s never suffered explicitly from depression. “I have dark teatimes of the soul like anyone,” he laughs. “I’ve never been clinically diagnosed but then I’d never seen a doctor about it.”
The direct inspiration for the club came, quite aptly, through his stereo. After his sacking from running the popular School Disco he was without a job, had no girlfriend and was approaching thirty. Life didn’t look too rosey.
“I was lying on my bed feeling the most down I’ve ever been and The Smiths’ classic ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’ came on and it actually made me smile,” he recalls. “The Smiths are typecast as a depressing band and it made me think that some of the sadder songs can actually bring you up.”
A great deal of hard work later, and despite it being on paper, as Carl admits ‘commercial suicide’, Feeling Gloomy began its highly successful run at Bar Academy, Islington. The evening is hosted by Carl’s alter-ego, Cliff, and takes an irreverent ‘working-class gallows humour’ poke at miserabilism.
Depression Alliance
Carl quickly established ties with The Depression Alliance, the UK’s leading charity for people with depression. It’s unusual for a club to become involved with a charity but then it’s unusual for a club to become involved with a miserable music only policy.
“We approached The Depression Alliance because we wanted to be more than a club night, we wanted to raise money for a cause that affects a quarter of the population at any time in their life,” says Carl. “It’s all too easy not to be socially responsible: people are inherently lazy, but this time I was determined I would act.”
"The leaflets are not a joke!"
People who are clinically depressed come regularly to the club and pick up the literature from charities that’s lying on the tables. “Some clubbers thought the leaflets were a joke!” recalls Carl.
“Some Germans one evening told me it’s very British: it’s that British sense of humour of laughing in the face of adversity.”
“Many people tell me they suffer from depression and they agree we’re doing a good thing,” he says.
In a BBC poll for 6 Music, another Smiths’ number ‘I Know It’s Over’ was the tune people most often turned to when feeling down. REM's ‘Everybody Hurts’ also featured in the top ten. It seems counterintuitive to suppose miserable songs help people who are clinically depressed but Carl says this isn’t entirely so:
“If you listen to downbeat music incessantly, then that probably will have an effect on your mind,” he says. “But the positive effect is that the listener feels an empathy with the singer, as if there’s someone who understands their situation.”
The study of the link between music and mental health is at a nascent stage but experts have shown that endorphins, endocannabinoids, dopamine and nitric oxide may play a role in the musical experience and that music therapy may have a role in the clinical management of psychiatric disorders.
“I think Feeling Gloomy is therapeutic. It is about the narrow line that divides happiness and sadness: melancholia. Some Germans one evening told me it’s very British: it’s that British sense of humour of laughing in the face of adversity.”
Indie Air Guitar
Feeling Gloomy is also supporting the Samaritans with ‘The Indie Air Guitar Showcase’.
“Feeling Gloomy hosts the world’s only indie air guitar band, The Miserabilists, and so we felt people would prefer to try their hand at indie air guitar, as opposed to rock air guitar, which seems to be the preeminent form of the artistry,” grins Carl.
You can find out more about Feeling Gloomy at www.feelinggloomy.com .
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