Tuesday 10 October 2017

Dancing for a Good Cause: Interview with Mind Yer Self's Ruaridh Gill

How a club night in Glasgow is combining their love for music with their passion for tackling the stigma attached to mental health. 

When I originally started thinking about nights to discuss on this blog, this was the first one that came to mind (unintentional pun). Not only is Mind Yer Self (MYS) far too under the radar for the unreal DJs it brings to Glasgow, but it's doing it all in the name of raising awareness for mental health issues. 

"it had really helped them come to terms with their own mental health and had helped them start talking about it more openly with those around them"

Alongside donating all profits to local mental health charity Penumbra, MYS share anonymous stories of brave individuals and their personal battle with mental health as they aim to detach the stigma surrounding illnesses such as depression and anxiety. They instead open up conversation on issues such as the under funding of government support services for those seeking help and the importance of confiding in loved ones. I urge you to visit the page and read these stories for yourself. 

"However, who can forget that last tune by Earl Jeffers!?"

As well as this I urge you to actually attend the night! Having been to the first two nights of Mind Yer Self seeing Loose Joints and O'Flynn, I was positively heartbroken to be missing the third cus I was back home in Larne. This wasn't made any easier receiving messages the next day letting me know how amazing Earl Jeffers was... So yeah, I am buzzing for the 4th night, especially cus, well, Damiano Von Erckert!!! If his past boiler rooms and festival sets are anything to go by we should expect a LOT of funky tunes.

Having concluded I could babble on for hours about this night, I decided who better to tell you about it that MYS themselves! I was able to catch up with 1/3 of the team, Ruaridh Gill, earlier in the week to find out a bit about their journey. 

  1.    Hi Ruaridh, so firstly, tell me a bit about how the idea of the night came about?
    Me, Cammy and Matty have been friends for years and both Cammy and Matty run other nights in Edinburgh and Kirkaldy respectively. We were all keen to start up a night in Glasgow which had something a little different to your generic night. Combined with this  we are all very passionate about mental health and felt like we could combine these two passions, music and mental health, together to create something new, fun and beneficial.


  2.        How would you describe your music taste and how much does this influence the DJs you secure for Mind Yer Self nights?
    Thankfully we all have a relatively similar musical taste, all loving the more disco, soul and afro infused aspects of house music. This is the driving force behind our booking policy with us aiming to bring interesting and slightly different acts to Glasgow which can get the dancefloor dancing away.

  3.        You’re about to host the 4th night of Mind Yer Self. What’s been the best/ most rewarding moment for you since it all started?
    As the night mixes together mental health awareness and music I think we need two moments to answer this one.

    In terms of mental health awareness we had one person approach us at one of our events and thank us for all the work we are doing, stating that it had really helped them come to terms with their own mental health and had helped them start talking about it more openly with those around them.

    In terms of music, there has already been so many! I think for me when O’Flynn played “Spirit of Love- The Power Of Your Love” was a highlight as its easily one of my favourite tunes ever. However, who can forget that last tune by Earl Jeffers!?

    Sure Damiano Von Erckert on November 5th will provide some more memorable moments.

  4.         Establishing a night in Glasgow where there’s so much competition has got to be difficult. What are some of the biggest challenges you have faced or still do?
    The largest challenge we face is that our incredible venue at Berkeley Suite is a small venue with a limited capacity, this can make it hard to book DJs who will draw in a large crowd whilst still keeping our tickets affordable! Think we have managed so far and we hope people keep coming and supporting us, starting with our next night on November 5th.

    With our mental health link, where we try to raise awareness and lower stigma surrounding mental ill health in young people, and where we give all of our profits to local charity Penumbra, means that we are pretty unique compared to other nights and therefore don’t face much competition in that sense! 

  5.         And finally, is there anything exciting in the pipeline?

    First of all it is only a few weeks until our next outing with Damiano Von Erckert at Berkeley Suite which is sure to be a peach of a night.

    Long term, there's always exciting stuff coming up with the Mind Yer Self boys! We have some very exciting bookings for 2018 so get liking us on FB to find out more! 







Next Night 




Mind Yer Self Presents: Damiano von Erckert
Sunday 5th November 

Tickets: Resident Advisor 

OR

Contact the guys on Facebook directly to get a physical ticket and save yourself the £1 booking fee  
     

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