Behind The Mic - Tyler Shea

In this episode of Behind The Mic we checked in with Tyler Shea. 

Tyler is a singer/songwriter, currently based in Cornwall and is a mutual friend of friend of the pod Lily Ward.

After writing his first album at the age of 14/15 years old, Tyler took the leap to become an artist in 2019 with his Tyler Shea project. 

Since then, he has released his debut EP, ‘Still Not Over You’ in 2025 and is looking to define his pop-based sound going forward. 

In this episode we discuss his music journey, growing up in a musical household, studying for a degree in music production and sound engineering at university, and taking his first steps as an artist. 

For Tyler’s mental health journey, we discuss his struggles in school in making friends and never quite truly fitting into any social group he was in.

We also discuss how he learned to come out of his shell, why music was key to it, and the deliberations he has had in moving to London to further his career.

As always, #itsokaytovent 

You can listen to Tyler on streaming platforms below: 

• Spotify
• YouTube

You can follow Tyler on social media platforms below: 

• Instagram
• TikTok

Support Us:

• Patreon
• PayPal
• Merchandise

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:13

Hi Venters, welcome back to another episode of Behind the Mic. This is a Vent music podcast series hosted by me, Freddie Cocker, as part of the Just Checking In podcast and presented to you by Vent. Vent is a place where everyone, but especially men and boys, can open up about their mental health issues, break down stigmas, and start conversations. In each episode of Behind the Mic, I check in with artists across different music scenes in the UK and beyond. We talk all about their musical journeys, their artistry, and most importantly, the person behind the mic. My special guest for this episode of Behind the Mic is Tyler Shay. Tyler is a singer, songwriter, currently based in Cornwall and is a mutual friend of Friend of the Pod Lily Ward, which is how Tyler and I connected. After writing his first album at the age of around 14 or 15 years old, Tyler took the leap to become an artist in 2019 with his Tyler Shea project. Since then, he's released his debut EP for this project called Still Not Over You in 2025, and he's looking to define his pop-based sound going forward. In this episode, we discuss his music journey, growing up in a musical household, studying for a degree in music production and sound engineering at university, and taking his first steps as an artist. For Tyler's mental health journey, we discussed his struggles in school, in making friends, and never quite truly fitting in to any social group he was in. We also discussed how he's learned to come out of his shell in later years and why music was key to it. And finally, the deliberations he's had in moving to London to further his career. So get yourself comfy and have a listen as I go behind the mic with Tyler Shea. Tyler, welcome to Behind the Mic. Thank you so much for coming on and letting me check in with you. I came across you through our wonderful mutual friend, the wonderful and lovely Lily Ward, and I'm so pleased you agreed to come on as you had a bit of a run-up to this. How are you on this Saturday morning, mate?

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Not bad, thank you. Yeah, thank you for having me on.

SPEAKER_02 2:25

I'm really excited for what the next steps will be in your music career, mate, and you have so much potential. So are you ready to start the show and talk all about your wonderful journey? Absolutely. Let's start the pod as we always do on Behind the Mic by talking about your music journey, Tyler. So I ask all my artists, producers, DJs this question first. Tell me how your love affair with music began. What were some of your favourite records growing up? Music idols, inspirations, and how old you were when you first got into singing, writing, or playing instruments.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

Okay, so yeah, no, I um I started delving into music when I was, must have been when I was about 10 years old, 11 years old. And I think that, you know, after listening to a lot of kind of like Ed Sheeran, and I remember when James Arthur kind of first life of those and everything, that kind of like, you know, a guitar and and the whole singing thing. And I think that kind of just really inspired me to start singing for one. Because I mean, at that point I hadn't quite yet picked up the guitar or picked up anything. And I think that, especially Ed Sheeran, Ed Sheeran was like a big, big inspiration.

SPEAKER_02 3:32

Golden era of uh acoustic folk, wasn't it? Everyone had three names James Vincent McMorrow, Benjamin Francis, Leftwich.

SPEAKER_01 3:40

Yeah, it was a bit when eventually, kind of like I learned about Ed Sheeran and things like that. I realised that I enjoy singing to his music. And I think I got to about 11 years old, and my parents bought me a piano. That was my first kind of instrument, not quite a guitar, but I didn't even think about piano to be honest. And then it kind of just went from there. I think that you know, I'd started learning piano with one of my neighbours, and and that just kind of progressed into starting to write my own stuff. And that must have been about yeah, 11 or 12, maybe. And then it wasn't until I got to 13 or 14 that I'd picked up a guitar for the first time. That was again, I mean, I'd still listening to Ed Sheeran and everything, kind of in that era of my life. So, you know, eventually picking up the guitar, it was then learning all the you know the 80s. I mean, it was nice and easy, wasn't it? So, you know, it was nice to pick up those instruments, but that's where it kind of went from, I suppose. It's like Ed Sheron was that first person to make me realise that you know I enjoy writing music, I enjoy playing music, and I enjoy singing to music and and that kind of stuff. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:35

You grew up in a musical household, your dad worked in music production when he was younger in the sort of 80s and 90s, and you then took the brave step of performing live when you were at secondary school, including musicals. How did those come about? How did they shape you during that time? Imagine that puts hairs on your chest as a teenager performing in front of the whole school.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

Yeah, actually, um, I tell you what, I it was a very weird kind of experience for me. I think that like I originally started doing a few performances back when I was like just before I got into secondary school. So it was like in year six, I'd started doing a few piano things for the school, you know, in assembly, for example. I think the teachers learned that I was actually I really enjoyed music and doing the whole kind of like piano thing. That was when I was just starting to learn. Like, year six was that time I just started to learn. So, like, I remember like I'd learnt someone like you by Adele on the piano, and and all the teachers in assembly would be like, Oh, well, else we'll have a sing song, and I would go up to the front where we had like a little upright piano in the in the hall, and I'd play someone like you, and everyone would sing along. And obviously, that was a little bit different because it was kind of just me kind of playing a piano and I was facing a wall, so it didn't really matter. And yeah, I mean it was great. And then that was when I did my first school musical was in year six, and we did like, I mean, obviously, you know, you're only 11 years old or whatever, but you know, we did um Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Uh, ended up being Charlie, and then for some reason we had um a song from Matilda the musical in it, so I had to sing that. But and then coming into secondary school, music just grew on me so much, and I think that eventually when I went on to doing, you know, looking into drama and musical theatre and things like that, it was very it was different. It wasn't something that I'd really necessarily thought of doing. So, you know, when eventually it came around to the point where you know I got to like year 10 or so and I ended up doing high school musical, you know, I kind of cringe at the thought a little bit just because it it was very different for me. It was a bit, you know, very out there, and I think that wasn't quite me yet. So it was a good experience, but it was like it was very odd to kind of be in that scene, I think.

SPEAKER_02 6:33

You then started producing, and fortunately, because of your dad, he used Ableton and he was able to get you started on it straight away. Now, for people who don't know, Ableton is one of like the best music production software platforms you can use. You started on it, which is a bit of a weird sort of journey because most people start on Garage Band, Fruity Loops, something like that, but you kind of started at the top tier end. What was that experience like? Because for those of those who don't know, Ableton looks like a Star Trek interface, basically.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

Yeah, it definitely does. Yeah, I remember I had this really, really shitty laptop, and it was just like it could barely run anything, you know. That was how I got it because I'd really like to play, you know, like video games on it when I was a lot younger, and it could it couldn't run anything. But my dad grew up using Ableton as one of his main doors, so it was, I think, because he really enjoyed making acid music and that kind of genre music, so that kind of catered perfectly for him using it. He loved doing live stuff and he had like hardware synth, and I can't remember exactly what he had. I know he had like T R808 and that kind of thing. So he really liked doing the live aspect of thing. I think, especially with that genre of music, kind of Ableton fit his style perfectly. So I picked it up because I didn't know about any other DAWs that existed. So Ableton was my first, and it was it was a tough one to get my head around for a while, but it was, I think just opening myself up to like the possibility of production and things like that was really great, especially at kind of that 14, 15-year-old self. I think it was really interesting for me, but it was definitely hard to get around, I think Ableton. One of the more tough ones.

SPEAKER_02 8:10

You then went to university and you study music, production, and sound engineering, and you don't move forward with logic, but you kind of move backwards a little bit because logic is for the listeners not as sophisticated as Ableton, but it's still pretty good. What was your experience like there, mate?

SPEAKER_01 8:25

I think when I got into college and university, they used logic on-site. So we had to learn logic anyway, but I'd bring in my own laptop and use Ableton when I could. But I I felt that like when I was learning logic, I realized actually that it is quite a simple door. It's not really overcomplicated. And I think that that was when I'd realized that other DOWs do exist and that they all kind of serve a purpose. So I think that I'd got into college and uni and we were learning logic and we were learning pro tools and we were learning all the different DOWs. It kind of made me realize that maybe Ableton wasn't exactly the DOW that served its specific purpose for me. Logic just seemed a little bit more simple, and it kind of catered towards a more creative style, I feel, in kind of pop music. I think that Ableton is great and I enjoy using it, and I still dabble in it sometimes, but I think that it was kind of like realizing that Ableton felt like more of an experiment, you know, it was kind of something you chuck together some fun things and then you come out with this weird sound. And I suppose like I didn't need all that extra bloat when I was making music because I kind of knew the direction I wanted to take a song, and I wouldn't like it, you know, it's kind of very much electronic music. It was a step back, but it was a nice step back. Do you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 9:47

I get you. Before the Tyler Shea project, you also recorded your first album at the age of around 14-15 years old, and you were asked to perform it at something called the Lou Music Festival at a venue called The Box in Truro in Cornwall. What was that experience like as a basically young seal pup musician?

SPEAKER_01 10:07

It was definitely scary, I'll tell you that. We'd been like my parents are kind of like good friends with a lot of the council of Lou. So they were speaking to one of the council members here, and um, she'd mentioned that she really liked my singing and she liked my music, and she'd asked if I could write a song for Lou. Like as a town, we were going through this weird phase where like we kind of stopped doing Lou Music Festival because of funding, and a lot of the town, especially my parents, they were really looking to bring it back and have kind of like their own music festival just because it was like that was like the best part of the year for us around here, you know, having all these people down and having the big thing on the beach, and it was really special to a lot of people here, and I think that when kind of funding cut back and things like that, it was really just a lot of willpower from all the locals to try and get something going again. So we kind of set up our own music festival and it was kind of like a fundraiser event to kind of get money back for the next few years, and it was called Lou Saves the Day. And it was at that time that we'd raised enough money and we'd raised a bit more for the next year when that came around. We then went on to Lou Live, and that was kind of like our bigger event that I think we'd like to see it. So it was at that point that I'd been asked to kind of write a song for Lou, write a song about the festival and try and, you know, bring people in and that type of thing. So I ended up working on it when I was yeah, it must have been year nine or ten that I started to write that song for Lou. And because my parents love me and they think I'm great, we ended up going down to the Cube in Truro and recording, you know, the plan was to record the song Hometown that I'd written for Lou so that it could be published as like the song for Lou. We were down there, and I think my parents were like, Do you know what? While you're down here, you can record your whole first album. They were very generous and they let me record all the other songs that I'd written up to that point. Admittedly, a lot of them I didn't like. They were all written when I was very young. But it was definitely an experience. I think also just seeing action in the studio. At that age, bro, it's great. Yeah, it was really, really cool. It was definitely an experience. I think that having someone like Gareth, the producer at the Cube there, he was just great to work with. It was just such fun learning, watching someone do that type of thing, you know. And one of the songs we hired someone to come in, like a celloist, and they came in and like I got to see them record something for my song, and it was it was definitely an experience. And I think that when I recorded those bits, it was then like, okay, brilliant. Well, you know, here's my song for Lou. Here's also all my other songs, but here's my song for Lou. And they ended up putting it on the website for Lou Live at the time, and I was the kind of opening act of the festival on the first day, and I managed to play that song live, and it was a great experience, but definitely a lot happened all at once.

SPEAKER_02 12:49

Very much so. And we'll talk about the stage in a second, mate. Let's talk about Tyler Shea now and this journey as an artist professionally, and you officially started it in 2019. So, how would you describe your sound for the listeners who haven't heard of you? And what was the inspiration behind this project?

SPEAKER_01 13:05

So I think that I'd realised once I kind of come out of I think it was oh yeah, it must have been like going into college and learning production and and having that first album under my belt that I'd recorded. I think that it was one of those things where I was like, okay, do you know what? I really do want to learn production. I've seen someone else do it now. I'm starting to learn how to do it, and I do really want to push myself to write more music and kind of get some music out there and learn to do this myself. And after I'd kind of been learning for a while, I remember releasing kind of a few tracks, and admittedly I look back at them and the production is not up to my standards, but that's part of the growth, mate. It's part of it's all part of it, so it's okay. But you know, I just started kind of releasing a few tracks here and there and and kind of going towards that pop sound that I've always wanted. And I suppose that like I mean, even now, up to where I'm at now, I still haven't really found a specific sound that I really want for myself.

SPEAKER_02 14:03

Yet. And that's okay, bro. You're still young, it's okay. There's time, there's time, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:07

But it is definitely one of them, you know, it's definitely I know I want like that pop sound, but I also do really love to kind of experiment and have something slightly different, you know. At the moment, one of my biggest influences is the 1975, and they are the best band in the world.

SPEAKER_02 14:23

Absolutely, they are known for not sticking to one genre, very much so. They've created genres, there's a lot of songs that they've just created a whole genre of music of like 50 bands off the back of it.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

Yeah, exactly. So I think that just like they've kind of shaped me in my later years, and I think that just like I'm liking all these different kinds of types of music, but like I know I want it to be pop, and I know that that's kind of what I am hoping to aim for. But I think just defining my sound, I think that I'm trying not to lock it down too much just because I want to make sure I can get my own sound, if that makes sense. Do you know what I mean? I don't want to just lock down like this is who I want to sound like, this is what I want to be, you know, I want to be Tyler Shea.

SPEAKER_02 14:59

It's a complete tangent here, but you've triggered my 1975 love. I remember when they first released Sex, and I was about a couple months into uni in my first year, and I've seen them five times now, and the fourth time I saw them, I think it was the fourth time, so it was about three or four months after I'd seen Haim at the O2, and Haime had brought out Taylor Swift, and I was watching the 1975 show, and I wasn't standing. This is the only ticket for a show I hadn't been standing at the O2 to see them, and they all go off as a mid-interval, and a big message comes on the screen that says guest starring, and I just say really loudly, Taylor Swift, and he goes, Taylor Swift, and I was like, I have manifested this happening. Yeah, so I saw in two consecutive O2 shows I saw Taylor Swift get bright as a guest twice, which is mad. So I always claim that I actually created that. Complete tady, but great. I always ask this question on behind the mic T to expose the myths and show the realities of being an artist in the music industry that your friends or your family, even your fans might not see, right? So, what are some of the realities you've experienced, positive or negative, that you can share with my listeners, whether that comes to work-life balance, relationships, something else entirely through a mental health lens?

SPEAKER_01 16:26

I think that there's a lot that people don't realise that goes on, especially as like an independent artist who's just kind of trying to break through, you know. I mean, there's there's no I think at this point there's no proper when I say real progression, I don't mean it because there is progression.

SPEAKER_02 16:43

I just mean that if you've got rich parents, if you've got music industry connects, maybe yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:50

Not naming any names. Yeah, we'll talk about those off air. No, I think that just like when you realise how much goes into working towards that kind of image you have of being a musician and an artist, you don't realise the steps you have to take. And I don't know, it's really weird. It's really weird. It's like I think that you know, when I first started off music, it was like, oh yeah, this is great. I get to release some music, I get to sing, I get to write what I want to write, and I get to release it, and people will hear it, and then you realize that it's not as easy as that. You know, doing kind of everything yourself, and you know, when it comes down to the writing, and then the playing all the instruments, and then the production, and then the mixing, and then the mastering, you know, the listening and then the photography, and then the social media, and then the marketing, everything else, like to go with it, and then you know, you're doing all this while you still gotta push yourself. You know, that's I think one of the more difficult things. I think that you spend days doing one thing and months trying to perfect something that you want to work towards and you want in your life. And I think that you know, when you don't get the validation that you imagine, it can be a little disheartening, you know. And I think that that's like there's actually so much here I have to do, it's ridiculous. And I think that then that kind of comes into the fact that I'm not only trying to do all this, but I'm also trying to keep a steady job, and I'm also trying to keep steady relationships, and I'm also trying to make new connections, and I'm also trying to get out there and start going out and seeing the world. You know what I mean? There's so much you have to put so much into it, it can sometimes take away from everything else. And I think that that's kind of something I have experienced kind of like as of recent.

SPEAKER_02 18:26

One piece of advice I always give to young musicians and musicians around my age, mate, is whenever they post out a teaser and I know the teaser bangs, I just drop a message, just release the music. Because I think artists get so in their heads, they've got hard drives, millions of hard drives of unreleased music. When I hear something good, I'm just like, mate, just release it. Don't worry about all this marketing run. If you like it, release it. Put it out there, get it out there. More music the better. Especially if it's good, I should say. Let's move on to performing in the stage, mate. So I want to start with the stage first, because we mentioned it a little bit earlier. What does a stage provide for your mental health? It's a broad question, but you can answer it any way you want.

SPEAKER_01 19:10

Okay. The stage has always been a very intimidating thing for me. Even as someone who really wants to push in music, it's always been very intimidating for me. I think that, you know, originally the thought of going up on a stage and singing to people was like, it was great at first. And then kind of when it started to actually happen and I got pushed onto a few stages and things like that, it was quite scary, I will admit. I think the thought of it is harder than actually being on the stage. Always the way. But, you know, when I'm up there, it's not as bad. But I've always notoriously been kind of that anxious person. So, you know, originally getting myself to get out there and do that type of thing is like, you know, very scary. But you know, once I'm up there, I think that I don't know, it does feel great. I think being on a stage and having people support you and shout out to my parents, you know, like they've been to almost every gig I've ever been to, and pretty much they have, you know. And I think that when you have those few people that support you, you know, even if nobody's going crazy or ham or, you know, and they're all just enjoying listening to you playing, it is a good feeling. It does push you, I think, to then think, you know, in the future, who else am I gonna be playing to? How am I gonna be playing to? You know, there'll be a point where it's like people will be singing back, you know.

SPEAKER_02 20:25

And what impact does singing, songwriting, playing instruments, or performing have on your mental health? And also, which one of these has the biggest impact?

SPEAKER_01 20:36

Oh yeah, I I think that for me, music has always been one of the more positive things in my life. I think that music has always been something that I could never ever live without. And I know that's such like a cliche comment to say, you know, that's something a lot of people say, you know, I can't live without music, and I but I genuinely mean it. Like music is this is anything. This is singing, this is listening to music, this is playing guitar, this is playing piano, this is anything to do with music. Like, it it fuels me day to day. There's days where I've, you know, I've got the day off and I just spend all day just playing the guitar or singing a song or doing karaoke or listening to music, you know what I mean? It's something that that really is like really does fuel me most days, and I think that I'd suppose that when it comes to kind of creation of music, the singing part has always been one thing that's really impacted me, I think, the most. And obviously there are some, you know, mostly it's positive just because I absolutely love singing. There are some negatives, you know, it's it's quite a daunting thing, you know, especially singing to to other people, and you've got the constant worry of like, you know, am I good enough and that type of thing? But singing has always been like the big part for me, you know. I mean, I absolutely love singing, and I may not be absolutely a hundred percent perfect, you know, I'm not some crazy god who could do runs and all this type of thing, but I just love it.

SPEAKER_02 22:01

Before we reflect, you released your debut EP as part of Tyler Shea, Still Not Over You. Tell me what you wanted to achieve with it, mate, and how you felt when it was finally out there.

SPEAKER_01 22:12

So working on that project, it was a few years coming, and it was an EP that I knew I had to release because I hadn't really released anything that defined me. And I'd worked on a few tracks before because a few of them were already out. And when I'd first released like the movies, that was kind of the first song I was like, actually, do you know what? This is me. This is like going towards my style now of the stuff that I want to start to produce and work on. And it kind of got to writing a few more songs after I'd released like the movies and nostalgia. It made me realize that, you know what, this is a collection of songs that not only show my kind of style of music, but this means something to me. All these songs that I've written in here, they seriously mean something to me. And that's from the 17 steps being about the fact that I haven't really lost anyone close to my family yet, but I could be 17 steps away from it. Or still not over you being it sounds like kind of like a typical love song, but it's, you know, truly about the loss of the safety net of, you know, education and university and kind of do I really want to leave uni? Do I really want to be out in the big world? Do you know what I mean? So I think that it meant a lot to me, and I think that releasing that was like it was relieving to release something like that, I think, to get kind of like a little bit more of me out there. It felt like something serious. It kind of all the music that I'd released before kind of felt a little bit like I was just doing it for the sake of doing it. I think there's a lot of songs that I write where I'm just like, this is more of a story than it is about me. So kind of releasing something like that was like a big thing for me, you know, releasing meaningful music, if you want to say.

SPEAKER_02 23:56

Let's reflect on your music journey then, mate. So far. So, what has it taught you about yourself?

SPEAKER_01 24:03

Um I think my music journey has taught me that well, one thing is that it's really fucking hard. It's tough, it's a tough industry. But what it's also taught me is that I think when I was in that kind of stage of like, do you know what I'm actually worrying all the time and I'm anxious all the time, music would always kind of bring me out of that. And I think that that's the one big thing that's got me to kind of change as a person is music. You know, before I was doing music, I was just this little kind of anxious guy that didn't really do much or say anything. And being able to step into the world of music and being forced to kind of like do musicals for school and sing and perform on these stages really pushed me out of my comfort zone. Do you know what? It taught me to not be so afraid all the time. That's what it taught me.

SPEAKER_02 25:01

We've talked about Tyler Shea, the artist. Let's go behind the mic and talk about your own mental health journey tea. So, firstly, I ask all my special guests on this topic this question first two. Tell me back to early life in Cornwall, childhood, teenagers, and looking back, were there any early mental health experiences? If any, who's the Tyler we meet here?

SPEAKER_01 25:23

Okay, so it was when I was 13, I'd moved down to Cornwall. And before that, I was living in Hampshire, and that's where I grew up. I was going to school in Newbury, and it was very much kind of not quite what I was expecting. Didn't have the best kind of time in that school, so I think that you know, moving down to Cornwall was like a really big change for me. I'd moved down here, yeah, I would have been in what year nine when I moved down here. And going from somewhere like Hampshire to somewhere like Lou is a massive change. And it was the best change that's ever happened to me. I think that having somewhere like Lou where everyone is like this such a tight community, and you have all these people and all these friends that live so close, and you have a beach on your doorstep.

SPEAKER_02 26:16

Oh, is it a sand beach as well? Oh, okay, that's the best time. I had a when I went to uni, I had a pebble beach in Brighton. That's not even a beach.

SPEAKER_01 26:23

So it's great. It's gorgeous here. And I think that just everyone here is such a good community, and I think that that change of, you know, I'm taking a coach 40 minutes to school every day. I live in the middle of nowhere, I don't really have any friends, to then coming here where it's like I've got friends on either side of me on my doorstep, you know, going for that kind of change was insane.

SPEAKER_02 26:43

You experienced that bullying when you were in Hampshire, you have this massive fresh start, which obviously changed your adolescence, it changed your perception of yourself, probably as well. However, there were some challenges because you said that you never felt quite permanently in any social group. Obviously, joining late doesn't help. You flitted in and out with a few different ones. In a positive way, did that allow you to kind of go into different groups, but also negatively, did it stop you from really establishing a firm group that you can carry with you now?

SPEAKER_01 27:17

Yeah, it was a nice kind of time being it was one of them things that I come from this first school and I'd had kind of one group of friends and they were all girls because none of the guys like me. And then, you know, moving here, it was I'd kind of been put into the more popular guys per se group. And I think that that kind of didn't really fit with me for a while. It was one of them things where I was like, do you know what? It's just not really my not really my cup of tea. So I think, you know, kind of moving around and flitting between a few groups was kind of my only option. You know, I'd I'd just joined and I was making new friends, and I think a lot of people kind of enjoyed the fact that I did music. And I think, you know, when I first started doing that music and type of thing, I met so many more people doing that. And then it was like, okay, do you know what? Here's actually a really good group of friends that I get along with who are guys in this certain class and this kind of, you know. So I never really defined, I think, you know, I've I've still got a couple friends from secondary school when moving down here, but yeah, no, it's very limited. And that's been the same anyway. When I got to college and university, my friend groups there were also very temporary, you know, it was kind of like made a friend, moving on, made a friend, moving on, made a friend, moving on. It's allowed me to meet so many amazing people though, and have so many experiences from it and learn really who I am. I suppose that at that stage in my life I didn't know who I was, I didn't know what I wanted to be. So exactly. Do you know what I mean? It's just like I think being able to flip between all these different characteristics of people really kind of helped me find myself, which sounds a bit weird, really, but now that I think about it.

SPEAKER_02 28:53

When you're in that period, you're struggling to make friends, or maybe an established friendship group, shall we say, you're feeling a bit anxious, you're not quite sure of yourself. What role did music play in helping you come out of your shell, maybe give you a bit of status being a music guy and give you a bit of confidence too?

SPEAKER_01 29:09

I mean, to put it plainly, I think that it was doing music. I mean, I'd always obviously loved music in general, but I never pushed myself. So when I had the people around me pushing me, not only my parents big time, but my music teacher and my drama teacher, and you know, all that type of thing. Like, there's so many people pushing me to do music when I was in this weird state, when I was, you know, in this kind of feeling of anxiety and like, no, no, no, no, like I don't feel like I'm good enough. I think that when they pushed me, it made me realise that do you know what? This is what I love doing. I love this, and I love the attention.

unknown 29:44

It doesn't fight.

SPEAKER_01 29:45

It's great. I think that, you know, getting attention from all these people is great. But yeah, no, I think that everyone else managed to kind of push me out of that worried little person I was, and I think that that kind of made me realise this is actually big time serious, that's something I want to do.

SPEAKER_02 30:00

You spoke earlier about this idea of not feeling quite good enough sometimes. And we spoke off there about how you've done a lot of internal monologuing in the past. Is that how it's manifested or something else?

SPEAKER_01 30:15

Uh I feel like it's a bit of both, really. I think that just like feeling the way that you feel when it comes to not good enough and worrying so much all the time never does anyone good anyway. There's no point in kind of like worrying so much about what other people think of you. And I think that that kind of hit me as like I've kind of hit a stage in my life where I don't actually care. I don't care what people think of me. And once you get over that hurdle, then it changes. It really does. You know, that wasn't just for music, that was everything when I was kind of, you know, 13, 14, whatever, you know. I mean, I I cared so much about what other people thought of me. And, you know, obviously that had kind of stemmed from the whole bullying situation.

SPEAKER_02 30:53

Happens with all of us, mate, who've been bullied. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:55

Yeah, exactly. Do you know what I mean? Like, and that was like, especially in that first go, as I said, like I think that just like not that it's an insult, but people would say, you know, you're gay.

SPEAKER_02 31:04

You have girl mates, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:05

And I think that that, you know, again, there was nothing wrong with it, obviously, but I think just being called it and having to like validate yourself and be like, Well, I'm not, and no one ever listens to you. Of course. That kind of shut me off. That makes it worse. That's what I mean. No one ever listens. They're like, Oh, well, you obviously it's just kids being kids, do you know what I mean? That was the insult, and it was just like, okay, whatever, and you know, it's whatever. And I think that my parents would always say, like, oh, they're just jealous, like, don't listen to them, they're just jealous, you know, because you can sing and you can do this. And I think that it took me way too long to realise that it's just like, do not care what other people think. Genuinely do not, because there just comes a point where it's just like it's too much. If you care and you overanalyse and you worry too much about what they're gonna think, you're never gonna get anywhere. And I think that in general, especially in the past couple years, you know, I'm still improving now. I just don't care. You know, if people like me, they like me. If they don't, they don't.

SPEAKER_02 31:57

I've said a lot on this podcast, mate, that self-acceptance is a suit of armour for men, right? Because if you have it, sometimes someone can jab a little bit, but they'll never get through. And you can roll about life being yourself in totality. What got you through that period? And when did you feel like you had built your suit of armor? It's not impenetrable, we all know that, but when did you feel like you had built one yourself?

SPEAKER_01 32:23

It was probably during my university years, I'd say. That was kind of like a big thing for me that I had had a lot of change at that point. And my first year of uni, I was still living at home because I could travel using the bus, and because I was still very shy and very much like, oh, I don't really want to like do anything or go anywhere. So when I got to my second year, I realised that do you know what? There's actually an opening at my friend's house. Let me go live there, let's go live in Plymouth for a while, you know, see how it goes. And I think that having that kind of experience was like really changed. It's big in it. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's definitely different.

SPEAKER_02 33:00

I burnt a lot of sausages, bro, when I for lived on my own for the first time in a unique. Tell me about it.

SPEAKER_01 33:06

Yeah, tell me about it. But yeah, no, I think that just like that was like a big door for me opening into kind of changing who I was and building that suit of armour per se, you know, it was definitely a big factor to that. And I think that then coming out of uni and going into my first real job and all these kind of small things, which is weird, you wouldn't think that getting a job and going to uni would impact the way you view music or anything. Do you know what I mean? And it impacts both ways, I think. The things I've learned in music have impacted me in my normal life, and the things that have impacted me in my normal life have impacted my music, and that's been like one thing that's been like really helpful to kind of glue it all together.

SPEAKER_02 33:48

Very much so. I want to move on to recent times because despite what Londoners born and bred like me think, there is a country outside of the capital. However, unfortunately, and this is a sad statement of the music industry, the capital is where a lot of the opportunities are for music. You've said you've considered moving to London in the last couple of years to try and chase that music dream in a different way. Obviously, you love Lou, you'll always love Lou. Where are you at with it right now, mate?

SPEAKER_01 34:16

The thought of moving is still playing on my mind, and I feel that as of now, as of this year, I feel like I've been thrown around so much the past few years. I think that I'm not quite ready to kind of step out yet. And I think that when I'd kind of come into uni and I'd moved out of my parents' house, I went to uni, I lived there for a while, I then stayed a little bit longer, got my own job in Plymouth, worked there, then I moved back down to Lou and then lived with one of my mum's friends for a couple of months, and then as of recently, I'm kind of in the process of now moving into a new place again. So I think that kind of not being stationary for such a long time and being always on the move and so many things going on in my life, like all the time. I think that just like at the moment it's not really crossed my mind too much just because I feel like I need I need a break for a meeting and I and I'm enjoying things that I've never done before. You know, I've now got a really, really good friend group down here, which I've never had before, and you know, now alcohol's in the equation, and that's just great. You know, I just think that just this type of life I never got to experience, especially because of COVID, you know. When I first turned 18, I was in COVID, so I never got the chance to go out and have mates and drink and that type of thing. And then I went to uni and then it was a job, and then you know what I mean? So I think that now I'm getting to experience that kind of like that side of myself, which is really great. So, and I know that it's daunting thinking at the fact that I'm now 23 and things are getting on and I need to push my music career. And I suppose that I need to think about settling down for a minute, and then you know, maybe in the next year or so really figuring out what I want to do.

SPEAKER_02 35:58

You've got a lot of time, but take your time and you'll know when the right time is, mate, for whatever you do, whether you move or not, I'll always back your decision. Let's reflect on your mental health journey, mate. So, similar question is the first topic. What has this mental health journey taught you about yourself, first of all?

SPEAKER_01 36:16

It's it's taught me to be a stronger person, for one. I think braver? Braver, definitely braver, tougher, and as we said before, to not care. You know, I think coming out of that kind of weird point of my life where I just kind of shut myself away for so long, and then really kind of sprouting out into something different, it's really shown me that obviously just enjoy the things that you want to do, you know. I mean, get out there and and it definitely has changed my kind of aspect on mental health and how I've kind of been feeling, which is you know, I think that a lot of it is once you kind of hit a certain point and you kind of switch, you know, you're like, this is the thing I need to change, you change it and then boom, everything changes. So it's about how do I word it? It's a turning point. So I think that when you really kind of get over that and you realise you're like, boom, that's it, this is my turning point, and things start to change.

SPEAKER_02 37:23

And as a final question, if you could go back and talk to that 11-year-old Tyler being bullied in school in Hampshire, the 13, 14-year-old Tyler in that new school, flitting between different friendship groups, or the Tyler about to start this new project of Tyler Shea, what would you say to him, mate, knowing what you do now, if anything at all?

SPEAKER_01 37:46

I'd say just I wish that when I was younger I'd push myself more. You know, I would say, don't worry so much all the time. Push yourself harder, because I'm still guilty of it now. I'm still guilty of it now. I'm not pushing myself harder. Hey, we're manifesting it now, right? We're manifesting it now. Come on. I'm guilty of it now, so yeah, even now, just push yourself. Back then, push yourself, don't worry so much, stop caring what other people think. Do what you love. You know, that's what I love right now. This is what I love. I love music, and I will never stop doing music. I just know that. Like, I don't care where it gets me in life. Like, this is what I want to do, and I know that. And I'd wish that I'd realised that a while ago. I think obviously you're young, you don't realize some of these things, so it's kind of hard, but obviously, just like that's what I'd say.

SPEAKER_02 38:35

Our final topic of conversation, Tyler, and it's one I try and have with all of my special guests if we have time. It is a general natter and quickfire chat about our mental health. So, firstly, how is your mental health out of ten?

SPEAKER_01 38:48

I don't know how ten. Um, I'd say I'm at uh seven at the moment.

SPEAKER_02 38:54

Okay, I'll take a seven. What age were you when you became self-aware of your mental health and you realized for the first time that the feelings you were having weren't physical and they were actually in your mind?

SPEAKER_01 39:06

Uh I'd say 16.

SPEAKER_02 39:13

And was it a eureka moment or a gradual process?

unknown 39:17

Eureka.

SPEAKER_02 39:17

Gradual process. Can you remember the first or the most important conversation you've ever had with someone about your mental health? So if you can remember, who was it with? What did you say, and how do you look back on it? Did it feel like the stereotypical big weight have been lifted? Or on the other hand, something quite easy, natural, and normal to do?

SPEAKER_01 39:37

I think that probably one of the first conversations I'd had was with my parents. And I've always been like someone to like not open up.

SPEAKER_02 39:47

Until now.

SPEAKER_01 39:49

Until now, because here I am. Um but I think that, yeah, kind of speaking about it. I've never fully spoken about everything before. So I think And that's fine, mate.

SPEAKER_02 39:58

You don't have to share everything.

SPEAKER_01 39:59

Yeah, I just mean in general, like to anyone. It's never been like I'll share some things. So I suppose that you know, that full lifted feeling of everything of your chest has never really been there. But I'd say that, yeah, it's definitely been helpful.

SPEAKER_02 40:11

What things do you find in life, mate, if any, that trigger your mental health? So it could be things people say to you, could be a sound, smell, taste, sensation, or have you not figured all of them out yet?

SPEAKER_01 40:22

I'd say I probably wouldn't haven't figured them all out yet. There's some moments where I get triggered, and honestly, I wouldn't even be able to tell you why. What about positive triggers then? Like a song or maybe a smell or something like that. I was gonna say, I mean, it's gotta be. I mean, to be honest, I sometimes envision myself like most days, especially while listening to music, I'm like in a movie or something.

SPEAKER_02 40:45

Yeah, I'm always like that, always in a band. I'm always playing lead guitar, even though I can't play music for shit.

SPEAKER_01 40:53

No, I think that like if I'm feeling a little bit like emotional, I think that chucking on a good song, anything, something, you know, about you by the 1975, that gets me in my feels, I must admit. You know, something like that. And just pretending I'm in a movie, I feel like that's weird to admit, you know. I don't know what it is. I get like I've always been a very like imaginative. Yeah, I think that yeah, imaginative. And I think that just like I kind of revolve everything around music anyway. You know, I only really start to feel when I listen to music. That's kind of like my big thing.

SPEAKER_02 41:27

Conversely, what positive tools and methods do you use to improve your mental health or help you feel better? Which ones have worked for you, and maybe which ones that you've tried but haven't worked?

SPEAKER_01 41:38

Okay, well, I'm obviously gonna start with the big one is music. Obviously, that's helped me. Not only does it help me feel sad, but it also makes me feel happy. Of course it does. Makes me feel everything. I can feel any emotion I want with the power of music. It's great. I'll tell you what, as of recently, I actually started journaling. That's something that I've never done before. And when I mean recent, I mean two, three weeks ago. So this is a very new thing. Do you mean handwriting journaling or typing? No, handwriting. Okay. So not only do I never handwrite things anymore because of the world we live in, and why would I need to? But also I don't journal. I've never done that before. It was never something that I thought of doing. And I think about a month ago, I actually broke up with my girlfriend. Sorry to hear, brother. No, no, no, no, it's okay. And of course I'm sad about it. But I think I was going through a weird phase where I was like, am I happy? Am I sad? I don't really know. Do you know what? I'm gonna start journaling. It was never something that I thought I was gonna do. So I don't know. I just started writing and I started doing diary entries and I started talking to myself. This is how you should feel, or this is how you are feeling, and this is how you can improve it. And, you know, just saying, I feel like this today, and I feel like this today. That's such a new thing for me. I've never done it before. Yeah, that's definitely kind of helped me. And that's just anything now. I mean, obviously, I used it for a specific purpose, but now I'm just using it for the sake of using it. Even if I've had a good day, just I've had a good day. This is what I've done, you know. And it's actually really nice to get things on paper while things are in your head, especially I feel like my head's always running at 100 miles an hour. You know, I think that just like being able to write, you know, get things down on paper and not only just get them out of your head, but then also reflect on them later is like really great.

SPEAKER_02 43:16

What has been the best book, or as I call it, mental health Bible you've read for your mental health? Now it can be mental health or self-help related, but it doesn't have to be. It can be fiction, anything you want.

SPEAKER_01 43:28

I'll tell you what, this is gonna be a weird one. I mean, I'm not really like a big reader, so I've read like a few kind of books in my time. Just a few. Just a few, literally just a few. But I mean, again, it's so related to music, and I tell you what, it didn't even start as a book, I don't think. But it's actually the book adaptation of Dear Van Hansen. Okay. Which is a musical. And I'd always really loved the musical, so I mean I suppose reading the book for me, that's the best thing I can relate it to. And that was one of the only books that I read of kind of like Like in the span of a few years, because I've just never really got over the whole reading thing. Sounds a bit silly, really, but I suppose that like D Raven Hansen being such a big musical about mental health and getting over your fears and things like that. Admittedly, there's a lot of weird things, you know, in that musical. I suppose it is half about mental health and half about the fact that he's just a liar. But, you know, something like that really kind of changed perspective things. What do you love about yourself? Yeah. Um, I love I'll tell you what, I as of recent, I'm really love the confidence that I've gained. That's one thing. I'm actually quite proud of myself for gaining the confidence that I've gained as of recent. Because as I've said, being that close-off kind of person, I think then moving on to someone who's actually quite confident in themselves. And that's that's just not mentally, but that's physically as well. And being able to kind of speak to people, actually being quite happy with the way that I'm starting to look, you know, that kind of thing. So I think I tell you what, that's one thing I love about myself, is my confidence at the moment. Love that, bro.

SPEAKER_02 45:04

And as a final question, you can answer it any way you want. What more do you think we have to do to ensure men from all backgrounds, all social classes, all walks of life feel comfortable and safe in opening up about their mental health issues or just their general mental health, if most importantly, they want to do it?

SPEAKER_01 45:24

I think that after having some really good friends recently, I think that realizing that you can open up to the right people, probably one of the best things that you can do. And I have some really good friends, and I have a great flat mate that I'm living with. And I think that when you find that right person or those right people to speak to, it makes things a hell of a lot easier.

SPEAKER_02 45:55

What a lovely way to end it. Tyler Littlebro, thank you so much for coming on behind the mic and the Just Checking In podcast and talking to me.

SPEAKER_01 46:03

Thank you very much for having me. It's been great.

SPEAKER_02 46:05

Thank you. Well, that's all we've got time for on this episode of Behind the Mic. I want to say a big thank you to Tyler for being my special guest on this episode and letting me go behind the mic with him. I'll put all of Tyler's streaming and social media links in the show notes as always. Thank you to all the vendors who've tuned into this episode. I'll sign us off by saying, remember, if you've liked what you've heard, give it a share on social media by tagging us at VentsHelp UK, all one word. We are very close to being 1,000 followers on Instagram, so do drop us a follow if you would like to. You can tell your friends, your family, or work colleagues about us and spread the word of mouth. If you're feeling generous, you can write us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also support our Patreon at patreon.com slash vents helpuk or provide a one-off donation to our PayPal. All of those links are on our link tree. That's linktr.ee slash vent helpuk. Stay tuned for the next episode of Behind the Mic. And remember, guys, it is always okay to vent.