Please believe the signs.
Closing out Mental Health Awareness Month, I sat down with pop-rock duo MGSP to discuss their personal experiences with depression, anxiety, and how they address their struggles through their music.
You’re listening to Episode 61 of the Music-Preneur Mindset Podcast.
Hello! You’re listening to Episode 61: Music-Preneur Spotlight: MGSP.
I’m your host, Suz – a mindset coach helping music professionals get clear on their goals and find the time to get it all done while maintaining a healthy work/life balance.
I don’t usually do 2 Spotlights back-to-back, but in order to properly close out Mental Health Awareness Month, my discussion with the guys of MGSP around their individual struggles with depression and anxieties is too fitting not to share with you today.
This incredibly talented duo beautifully blends pop, EDM, industrial rock, R&B, and more into music with a message. Their latest single, Signs, is a moving story that illustrates an inner battle many of us grapple with throughout life and pleads with the listener to believe what their body is telling them. You can check it out on our show notes page www.therockstaradvocate.com/ep61.
Matt and Gregg also opened up about how they support one another while trying to focus on building a career in music. It’s not easy trying to move forward when a fellow bandmate is struggling and then sometimes it can feel as if when they’re good you’re down or vise versa and if that’s the case how does anything ever move forward?
I think you’ll all learn a lot from their candidness and I have to say… much of this interview had to be edited simply because I was laughing too hard – so as serious as this topic can be, these two manage to keep it light and fun and you’ll soon here, we definitely had fun. I bring you MGSP.
Suz: So I’m here with Matt and Gregg from MGSP and I’m so excited for this interview. It’s something I’ve been looking forward to for a while and you guys will soon find out why.
So Matt and Gregg, thanks so much for being here with us.
Gregg: Oh yeah! What’s up??
Matt: Thank you for having us so much.
Suz: Absolutely! So, you know, I love your music and there’s a lot of different genres that you guys pull from. It really is just a really mixed bag, and you guys integrate all the different genres so flawlessly. So you know, you definitely hear some rock, and some EDM, and R&B, even some like industrial, more like heavy duty rock. So kind of explain to us where do you guys find your inspiration? And when you sit down to write a song is there a certain kind of way that you attack it first? Or is it always different? Kind of walk us through that process…
Matt: Let’s start with the first part of the genres, and I’m glad you noticed that cause that’s sort of what we wound up doing. That’s been a life long process of us being just in a rock band, you know Gregg and I met each other in what was a grammar school?
Gregg: I think fifth grade – I mean five years old, six years old?
Suz: So we’re going back!
Matt: Drum sets, and you know, he played guitar, so we started with rock and roll. My first CD was ACDC, what was yours?
Gregg: Boston, I think.
Suz: Nice!
Matt: So we started there, and then we just kept that going throughout middle school, high school, everything and then I had moved out to LA ‘cause I was DJ-ing at the time and I just started learning how to produce EDM.
Gregg was in a rock band he kept going with his rock roots. Metal, we both… so we then took that – we took a loving to the modern R&B sound right now – like Khalid and stuff like that?
Suz: Mhmm.
Matt: Really what you’re saying is exactly what we did. I tend to think that what we listen to comes out in what we make. So I notice if I get stuck, like I just start listening to different music, you know, and then without even trying it comes out in the music.
So at the time, I think we were listening to a lot of R&B, and we always stick to our roots, so it’s just it’s interesting how that happened. It wasn’t really on purpose. We just kind of fearlessly went for it. And we were like, who are we? You know, we just started to discover that through the songs, you know? And then anything else you want to say about that part of it?
Gregg: It specifically with “Signs” everything just came – I mean it’s one of those songs that, I’m sure you’ve heard many times, that you don’t know how it happens it’s just kind of…
Matt: Yeah!
Suz: It’s just there!
Gregg: Hello!!! And we were going through a lot for the time between personal and loved ones so it hits close to home, it’s a very special one.
Matt: And in regards to the process, that one that was a day where we had bad writer’s block, actually.
Gregg: Right
Matt: And thank God that doesn’t happen much anymore. We were down the shore at Gregg’s beach house. Gregg had went to bed.
Gregg: It was raining, it was pouring.
Matt: It was pouring. It was a stormy night. So I love cinematic music, so I took out a really nice string sound in my library and I started programming very cinematic chord progression, which is that beginning piano part that you hear, and it was on strings.
And I said, ‘Gregg, can you do anything with this?’ I arranged it, I had worked the next day and he sent me back the vocal and I was in my car crying. I was like ‘Gregg, what is this? Like seriously…’ So we just … at that time it had rock drums on it, strings and it was just beautiful, so to answer your question where’s starts …
So mostly we used to be all kind of all over. After doing a few songs we realized a specific process that works for us better. Usually it’s in the computer with sounds, I think, right? Like I’ll usually lay down a bed sort of with electronic sounds or some piano patches or something like that, string patches, I know what sort of inspires us. I’ll start with like a sixteen bar bed.
Gregg will start doing some melodies with the guitar and some lyrics, then we’ll collaborate with the lyrics and if we get stuck we just go back to our rock roots. You know, we just become little kids again and I grab the drumsticks, he grabs a guitar, we jam it out, and we arrange it that way.
So there’s really no block, but some songs are starting a drum set and on the guitar, and some will start in the box. Recently they’ve been starting with a bed of sounds, correct?
Gregg: Right.
Matt: And then the lyrics come. It’s interesting, it usually speaks to us and tells it like a word or phrase, or something comes to us and we just go with it, you know, it’s very interesting.
Suz: Nice, it’s really fascinating and you know one of the things I read in The New York Times, I think it was written by Charles Duhigg, but I could be wrong, but it was about creating on purpose. And you know you had mentioned, you know, writer’s block and and not having that in a little while – do you find, is it more just praying to the gods of
songwriting that it comes to you?
Or have you noticed certain things that can unblock you? You know, what do you do when you have writer’s block? Do you just walk away from it and go do something or… like walk us through that process. What usually happens? Or is it just on a wing and a prayer and you just hope it’s there?
Gregg: Usually we’ll take a walk on the beach. We’ll go for a walk, hang out if … well most of these songs are written in the middle of winter, and it’s cold down the shore in Jersey in the winter, so we like to go there because there’s nobody around. It’s nice to do when you’re the only ones there.
If something natural comes out, but if we get stuck we’ll take a walk in the night go to the beach or something somewhere – someplace where nobody exists, nothing but nature kind of thing. Then we’ll just reset and go back. That or I’ll eat a bunch of food and I’ll feel good to go again.
Matt: What’s interesting about that is I think Gregg and I both have different ways of dealing with writer’s block.
Gregg’s good at resetting, I’m not. I’ll throw the ball against the wall until it works. But what caught me that you said was that you read that. There’s an author called Steven Pressfield, he has a book called The War of Art, correct? Or Do The Work? Which was the one I lent you?
Anyway, he talks about something called “the muse” and he’s a writer, and he says it works in everything creative, so, for me, that’s more my process. I don’t know what the hell I’m gonna make when I sit down. I notice when there’s a lot going on in my life, I have a harder time reminding myself that the faith is there, that I can always, always, always have an idea.
Whether it’s good or bad you know?
Suz: Right.
Matt: That’s what I forget, if I get my own way I’m screwed. I can go for twenty five walks, I can run fifty miles and still, still have that writer’s block until I change, flip that switch and say, ‘There’s an idea there’ you know? I just gotta stop trying to control it. That’s my approach and Gregg’s approach is eating a lot of damn food.
Suz: Fuel the creativity! I like it.
Gregg: There’s no rules.
Matt: The mozzarella!
Gregg: Suz is from Queens! You know the good mozz!
Suz: Mozzarella – I get it!
Matt: It’s interesting because we do have different ways of dealing with it and Gregg knows my way and I know his way. We used to not and would clash a little bit, but now we know, so it works out.
Suz: I think that’s great and I, you know , I really like what you said about the fact that ideas are there – good or bad, and I think a lot of artists are afraid of the bad ideas. One of my cousins, he’s actually screenwriter and he was able to get the attention of Judd Apatow on Twitter and he asked him, you know, ‘What happens when you can’t write?’ And he was like, ‘No you can always write. It doesn’t mean it’s gonna be great all the time but you just write.’
And that’s definitely what they were saying in The New York Times article as well. Just do it, and if it’s bad then you move on, but if you get out and you keep getting used to using those muscles, that’s really important. I love that you said that. It definitely opens up opportunities to write something as beautiful as “Signs.”
Matt: It’s always a bad ideas, you know, that have gotten us there. You know, once I stopped caring that it was good or bad, I realize that the bad ideas are just steps stepping stones to the good ideas. I’ll start a bad song and then change one sound and then it’s like, ‘Woah!’ Gregg, how many times did we completely change a song and it was like there it is?
Gregg: Too many.
Matt: One change is all it takes but you also have to know when to stop.
Suz: Sure.
Matt: But sometimes I just follow it out, and we give ourselves thank guillotine like, ‘Okay like if this isn’t, if we get nowhere after a day or two… okay. We finished it, another one done.’ So I’m glad that you said some of the things you did because it reminded me again actually of how we do that, so it’s great.
Suz: This podcast is all about that music-preneur mindset, and I think the most important thing when being successful as an entrepreneur, as somebody who is building their own career with their passion, is to not be afraid of mistakes – that’s where the magic happens!
Or like you said, it leads to the magic, right? It’s just the boat that gets you there. I love that you guys said that.
Your latest release, “Signs,” we’ve been talking about was released at the end of March, you know, it brought tears to my eyes when I first listened to it. I mean it’s such a beautiful song and the lyrics specifically that kind of made me go like, ‘Oh my God’ was in the very beginning of the song when it says, ‘I’m begging you, read the signs.’
I’m somebody who’s been very open about my journey through therapy, been in therapy for over ten years, and I’ve had unfortunately lost a number of friends to suicide and drug use and all of that, and when I heard the line, ‘I’m begging you to read the signs,’ yeah I mean it was like it hit my core.
And I read somewhere that you guys you know we’re talking about understanding mental illness and understanding depression and anxiety as “beauty that you found in the dark,” so can you elaborate on that for our listeners? I thought that was such an important thing to say, what does that mean to you?
Gregg: That you can’t have dark without light, and you can’t have light without dark. That being the case it’s, I mean, for me, lyrically that was… it was a really, really rough time for that. And it was one of those songs where you’re on the mic and you’re trying to just think of something and you do one or two takes and it’s all there.
And, you know, most of it like the whole ending part, it’s all it’s all kind of ad-libbed.
Nothing’s really thought out. It’s just feeling out with that’s the light of the whole situation, so that saying is almost half of the whole thing because the light came out of that dark.
Matt: And that song to me is the good – like the lyrics in that song are exactly the things that when the dark is so loud that the light is saying, you know what I mean? Like it’s like the devil and the angel in your head.
The words in that song are so hard to believe when you’re in that dark place. I never changed my life until I fully let myself feel that darkness because I’ve had brutal battles with depression and losing my mom to cancer and alcoholism in my family and I was so scared that.
When I fully, fully, fully, was like, ‘Okay these are things I need to deal with,’ I started to see the real me that I never saw all my life. So like people like you that is, you’re a great example of it – look what you’re doing. You’re doing a podcast to bring that experience to people and we’re doing the same thing and those are the warriors out there that are able to transcend that sort of darkness, you know, because at some point you just say enough’s enough and you listen to the other side of it.
Suz: Matt, I believe it was you who I read this about, you had mentioned, ‘I began a personal relationship with myself,’ when you started to seek help for the things you were struggling with. I read that, and I was so connected to that statement because I definitely… I know what you mean by that and I feel like I’ve definitely been through the same. Can you tell our listeners a bit more what you mean by that on that journey that you took through coping with the things that you’ve battled with?
Matt: My whole growing up I just never fit in. I don’t know why. I can’t tell you why, and when that happens you start to believe, you don’t – your mind becomes a collective of the bullies and the noise and you essentially lose yourself in that noise.
You don’t see yourself for who you really are. I look in the mirror and I see the guy that everyone labeled me as, you know? When I started going to therapy and when I started to have mentors and people that showed me the truth like, ‘Hey man, like none of that is true and there’s a way to disconnect from that and actually just watch it all go by,’ that was the moment my life changed.
Because I said, ‘Oh my God a little kid that I was before all this, is still there.’ I remember breaking down on the floor, I was on the phone my dad in California that day and an earthquake happened the second – I kid you not, I wish he was here to tell you – that separation showed me that there was a voice of love in me. There was a me that cared
about me, that believed in me, that was when I re-found that relationship with myself.
Instead of saying, ‘I can’t do this’ or ‘You’re too this, you’re too that,’ it said, ‘Give yourself a break. It’s okay, we’re gonna take this one step at a time. You’re gonna be okay.’ It wasn’t like these things like, ‘You can take over the world!’ But it was like a much more forgiving, loving, gentle, kind voice you know. And even as a man, that’s hard to say because everyone expects you to be masculine and this and that.
To be able to allow myself to feel that way, I realize that was all I needed. And through therapy and affirmations was big, journaling was big, meditation was big, so those are things that have helped me. There’s a blog of our website that Gregg and I have put together that we wrote, some of the things and the books that sort of took us along journey, so I hope that makes sense for you. It’s a very hard thing to explain to people.
Suz: One-hundred percent.
Matt: Anxiety is huge right now. I know and it’s sort of stigmatized a lot, but I know I’m seeing it a lot more pop up. That’s another important thing I that I had to get past because for me, anxiety was a side effect of depression. Not only did I have to get through the physical feeling of depression, I had to cut through the anxiety, too.
Gregg has a similar way too, I mean his his journey was identical when we met for this group, you know? It was incredible, so hopefully that helps.
Suz: No, absolutely and thank you for that! Because yeah I definitely relate to that and I’m sorry to both of you for your losses. Our listeners here know I lost my dad to cancer a few years ago and there was a lot of battle with alcoholism, so, you know, I totally relate to all of that, and I know a lot of our listeners do, unfortunately, as well.
And Matt just brought up a good point because my next question was going to be Gregg, you know, as Matt went through all of this, what was it like for you? You guys being partners and working together, you know, understanding and being able to go on a journey together where you’re building a career, but maybe you yourself are going through things, too. So what was that like as Matt started to say, when you guys came together and you’ve both got
your own things to deal with? Can you shine some light on that for us?
Gregg: Right. Sure. While Matt was dealing with all that, most of that time he was on the other side the country. This story is pretty hysterical, actually. I was doing my rock band over on the east coast here and he was in LA. It a female-fronted rock band and the singer was my girlfriend, which is the worst thing you could do ever, but and I learned that the hard way, but I mean it’s it takes you through amazing experience, because when you’re so young – sixteen years old, seventeen years old – you’re going across, you’re going down the coast, going across the country, playing these shows, you build who you are personally, businesswise, career-wise and you share a lot together.
So it was interesting, and while that was the busiest time my life, and I graduated school, and I left the band, broke up with the girl on the same day. And this band was doing pretty well at the time, so it was my career. The future was bright!
And everything started over again and it put me through, it set me back. It put me through a wormhole. I walked out of graduation and was like, ‘Well … gotta start over!’ So I called up one of my buddies, we start a band – little thing.
We had a song, and I needed a remixer, somebody to re-mix this song. And I went through all, we are working with a cool writer at the time. He exhausted all of his options and I exhausted all of mine, and I was stuck. I was like, ‘Uh, what are we gonna do now?’ I was with them, I was at the gym with my buddy, Pete, and we’re leaving the gym.
We’re in the car, I’m just telling about this. I’m like ‘I need somebody to remix this song!’ And then we’re at a light and again, I’m like ‘I need somebody to remix this song!” We’re stuck at a light in town and all of a sudden as soon as I said that, I was like screaming, ‘Come on!’ I hear a beep and I look across the street and there’s this red-headed nut sticking his head out the window.
And he’s like ‘Gregg!!!’ I look at my buddy Pete, and I’m like, ‘No way…’ and then I’m like, ‘What’s up?’ And he’s like ‘I’m back from LA! We gotta link up, we gotta jam. We gotta get together.’
Suz: You’re like, ‘Remix my song!’
Gregg: I was like, ‘Remix this damn song man!’ And then from that point on we got together, we showed him the song. He remixed it and then start working together on his solo project. It turns out that that was more relatable to both of our situations with our love loss, with our family loss, with our state of minds, and it was very relatable, so we just, we took the liberty to say, ‘Whatchu think, man? Should we do it?’ And we were like ‘Yeah!’
And from there it’s been a worm hole again of a journey of going… of the ups and downs again. I mean we’ve been doing this for two years, this project just trying to figure out – we’ve been in the lab for two years figuring it out.
Matt: More than that.
Suz: Man, if that wasn’t a sign from the universe – jeez. That’s such an amazing story.
Matt: Signs – read the signs!
Suz: So I want to touch upon the fact that, you know, I think it’s great you both came together – you were able to bond on a lot of different personal experiences, and when it comes to your music clearly, I mean, you guys have each learned tools to help you cope with certain things and I want to get to that in a minute, but as a partnership, as a duo, sometimes things get in the way.
We plan and then God laughs and, you know, maybe you have a bad day or a bad week or something personal happens, so how do you guys support one another? How do you, you know, kind of go with the ebb and flow of trying to make this happen and building your careers together but you’re each dealing with your own stuff at the end of the day?
Matt: That’s such a great question because we’re just getting through that exact thing. Well I, for one, would say I don’t know what I’d do without this guy because it, you know, there’s been mornings I couldn’t get out of bed because I was, you know, just so upset about some personal stuff and he would come to my house, wake me up for work, we’d go to the gym.
He’d wake me up, so I mean it’s a knowing now where I think we know each other so well or it’s like if one of us is having a bad day, we’re comfortable talking about it. What helps us is going back to the music actually.
Suz: Yeah.
Matt: Just jamming or making a song, you know. We know when to give each other space, and we know when to step in.
Gregg: It’s resetting always going back, I mean it’s where we come from. What brought us together was the music years and years ago when we were little – it’s Matt and Gregg, you know? It’s always going back to that whether it’s in the lab or we’re visualizing the stage or jamming with some friends or we’re just – and when that’s not happening it’s just going out and being kids again, going to railroad tracks, going to the woods, going on walks, you know, just like working out… whatever it is.
Matt: There’s such a level – a deep, deep level of respect that we’ve built over the last, I mean, our lifetimes in a sense, so we’re brothers, honestly. And that helps because I think everyone in our life has to have that one person that they can really, and I mean really trust, you know, and a secure place. And that’s what we have here and the music should say that.
The exact way me and Gregg are to each other is sort of the way we’re talking in “Signs,” you know? And that should show our personalities should shine through in that because that’s how we do it.
Suz: And I love that you guys mention, you know, there’s more than just music and obviously it all feeds into your music and it gives you inspiration, but that you do spend time together outside of just sitting and recording a song or rehearsing for show or any of that stuff. I mean I think a lot of the times artists forget to live life and just go out and have shared experiences and be there for one another beyond, you know…
Sometimes we get so focused on, ‘I have to make this happen, I have to build my career, I have to do this, I have to’ … and we get blinded by the fact that like wow life is passing by, you know? Or checking in with one another beyond, ‘Hey did you finish that verse?’ or you know, ‘Do you have that mix ready?’
I think it’s really beautiful that you guys have that. I’m just wondering being that you both clearly have put in so much work both singularly and together as a duo to deal with, you know, some things are never going to go away right?
Somethings we struggle with our entire lives, but what matters is that you’ve learned ways to cope. So I know it’s important to you guys to encourage your fans to reach out for help and being that you guys have, what are some things that you guys have learned to do in order to cope?
I know you’ve mentioned briefly, you know, meditation, you know, getting out and experiencing life – like what do you guys do? And do you find kind of reminding each other like of certain coping mechanisms? You know have there been times where one of you have said to the other, ‘Hey why don’t why don’t we do this? Why don’t you get out of your head for a little bit and do this?’ Can you maybe elaborate on that?
Gregg: What really got me out of a dark time was getting off of social media.
Suz: Yes!
Matt: Yeah.
Gregg: That summer when I left the group and school and I was just like there to find me again, I was actually to find me for the first time. I basically locked myself in my beach house basement and brought some studio speakers down and brought my guitar and I was basically, I turned off, my social media was gone. I barely talked to anybody and I just had a beard growing out of my beard, and I was just writing and writing and writing and just spent
a lot of time alone that I never spent.
I never spent time with myself to understand who I am and what, a lot of times you think you’re doing the right thing for yourself but most of the time that’s kind of wrong – you’re living for other people.
Suz: Mmm.
Gregg: It was fearlessly exploring the parts that are hard to get in touch with and through art for me, I mean art is my way of exploiting that. Yeah, so unplugging from everything was the best thing that ever happened for me regarding my own personal sanity and balance.
Matt: For me, self-awareness was huge. I started to realize that Gregg and I started to repeat a lot of the same mistakes over and over again. And it started to lead us into just bad scenarios for us that maybe weren’t getting paid enough, maybe the artist we were working with wasn’t right for us.
What I realized was that we had to draw boundaries for who we work with. We can’t sell ourselves short. In my personal journey it’s more about my anxiety is bad or I’ll feel a little bit depressed when I’m around people that don’t make me feel that voice that I should be, you know, that don’t really I don’t feel like I’m my light.
So a lot of that but the most important lesson that I want to say I’m learning right now is to surround yourself with that, whether it’s people, whether it’s places, you really have to have some boundaries for yourself on what you allow yourself to intake. Cause it’s hard as an artist I feel like to fit in to society right now, for some reason. I feel like, have you ever seen
The Matrix where they’re sort of unplugged from the machine? I feel that way sometimes.
Gregg: I just try to surround myself with people who are better than me.
Suz: Absolutely! And I think when you guys really hit upon were boundaries. Like I talk about it all the time on this podcast. Guys boundaries are so important! And, you know, we feel like they’ll be limiting, but they’re actually counter-intuitively so freeing – to have those boundaries – and I thank you guys for bringing that up and talking about that.
The whole reason I created The Rock/Star Advocate was because of so many friends of mine in the music industry that were struggling to talk about their mental illness and to talk about finding that work-life balance and not burning out, not getting so overwhelmed. Whether they have a specific affliction or not, this is a hard industry to be in and I think being more open about that… I thank you guys so much for shining a light on, you know, how you guys
work together, how you support one another and how you use that to funnel it through your music.
What I love about your music is that it’s got something to say, it’s not just talented musicians putting out records, but it’s also, you know, you have a platform and you’re using it for something important. And I love that you encourage your fans to seek help and to get those conversations started so thank you for doing that.
And now, I know this is this is like a heavy episode for some people to listen to, and some people might be getting this information for the very first time and I’m sure they’re having a lot of realizations about themselves and seeing themselves reflected in the stories you shared, so we’re gonna end it on a lighter note.
We’re gonna have some fun, rapid-fire questions that I ask all of my guests, so whatever comes to mind you guys let me know, and you can each answer, you don’t have to answer as a group if you rather not, but if you could have one super power what would it be?
Gregg: I got it! I got it!
Matt: Oh my God.
Gregg: Okay this might come across as awesome! You ready? Okay. You go into CVS, you going anywhere that has an automated door … I’d love it if I had a super power that could open them up like one or two seconds before. Just one or two seconds before they open cause it’s always too late it’s interrupting my flow I’m trying to walk into the CVS.
I need to get some chocolate or some Reese’s or something and I walked into this automatic doors and it says CAUTION, like what why should I caution if it’s going to open up automatically? And then I have to stop and wait for it to open. I want it to open a little quicker, that’s my superpower.
Suz: I’m just gonna end this podcast now because we’re not going to get anything to top that answer. I’m just gonna unplug everything. Just forget it.
Matt: I’m sitting here, I’m like I just want to be able to fly ‘cause I’m late a lot, and he says that!
Suz: Why doesn’t everybody ever say invisible? Oh my gosh!
Matt: No no, I don’t want to be invisible.
Suz: See because you guys are are musicians, you’re attention whores. Like I want to be invisible and just be a fly on the wall and listen to people’s conversations.
Matt: If I could fly, I could avoid a lot of traffic that’s all I’m saying.
Suz: Oh my God. Based on those last answers I’m afraid to ask this question. Three musicians, living or dead, who could join you for dinner – who are they?
Gregg: Individually or…?
Suz: I don’t want to start fights so I’ll let you both answer if you have your own.
Gregg: My number one is Bowie. What about you? What’s your number one?
Matt: All right my number one is Dave Grohl.
Suz: Nice! Oh that’s a personal favorite of mine.
Matt: Now let’s agree on one, how about that?
Gregg: Alright, alright.
Matt: Who’s like our favorite female artist? Quick, it’s rapid fire so…
Gregg: I mean Stevie Nicks for me.
Matt: Stevie Nicks! Done! Yes!
Suz: Nice! If time travel were possible and you can go back and tell your younger self a lesson that you now know, what would it be?
Gregg: When the pizza comes out of the oven is really hot.
Suz: Alright, goodbye. I’m leaving.
Matt: Oh my God.
Gregg: That’s one.
Matt: Oh man.
Gregg: I would honestly say the things that I worry about, none of it really matters? There’s so much that just does not matter and there’s so much time spent on worrying about what somebody thinks or what I think of a certain situation when meanwhile I could have just forgotten about it and moved on to the next thing.
And time is the only thing that really matters in this world, and it’s the only thing that exist in my, I mean, you know what I mean? It’s the only think you can lose and not get back, so I would tell my younger self, dude forget about it. Just brush it off. It’s not that big of a deal.
Matt: Mine would be patience. One word. Seriously. It would be teach me how to be patient or start being patient. It’s either that or making boundaries for myself to be healthy.
That’s it. Because I never knew that you had to do that like avoid certain people, places, scenarios so it’s one or the other. They’re both very strong to me, but if I had to choose it would be patience.
Suz: Nice. Yeah! Totally agree, so the final question… this podcast is all about action taking and so usually each week I give an action or whatever lesson I discuss there’s a downloadable worksheet but with the interviews you guys make my job easy. I don’t have to make a worksheet, but it’s up to you guys then to give our audience what their action is going to be for this week. So what would you like their action to be? What should they go do this week?
Gregg: The most healthy I’ve ever been when in hard times, I would wake up write down a bunch of stuff, whatever’s on my mind without thinking and just writing – a page or two just about things, whatever it is – whether it’s a dream or about what I ate for dinner, whether it’s about a relationship or anything just stream of consciousness.
That set me up for complete artistic freedom, and I really just I was more present than I ever could have been. So me personally, I would challenge people to, as boring as it seems or as as tedious as it seems, just to wake up, don’t do anything, don’t look at your phone – throw that across the room, out a window let a bird take it to another house and go get it. Write down what’s on your mind before you do anything. Before you brush your teeth – do that.
Matt: I would say, right, set timer for ten minutes and write. Write whatever’s on your mind first thing in the morning that’s how that would work. And then mine is to really, really practice gratitude. Because that for me in the morning is so important, and if I don’t stop myself before I even leave for work or if I miss the gym one morning I’m in trouble because I forget and then that can carry out into the whole day.
So I would challenge everyone grab your favorite pen, grab a moleskin journal or something set your alarm for the morning maybe ten minutes earlier and write down when you grab that pen and move it over just jot down one thing that you’re grateful for.
Suz: And I’m gonna shameless plug that if you guys want my gratitude notepad it’s five dollars, free shipping you guys can do that very exercise with a cool little notepad.
Matt: I’m ordering one right now.
Suz: Well I’ll send you guys copies for your time, but thank so much for that! Thank you guys so much for being open enough to share all of that, and all of our listeners please please please go check the show notes because links to everything we’ve mentioned including their newest single, “Signs” and their website and their amazing blog and all things MGSP that you could know about are in the show notes.
And I definitely, highly suggest you guys follow them and make sure that they’re on your watchlist because they’ve really got out a lot of important messages and a lot of talent to share. So thank you guys so much for being with us, and I look forward to being in touch in the future.
Matt: Absolutely!
Gregg: Thank you so much!
Ultimately, the lesson here is to reach out and speak up. And that’s a lesson we could all be reminded of – we’re not alone out here and whenever we’re suffering with something we don’t have to suffer in silence. There will always be someone out there who can listen and more often than not relate to what we’re going through.
I want to thank Matt and Gregg again for their time and hopefully you’ll see them at this year’s Music-Preneur Mindset Summit! Our 3-day event kicks off Thursday Sept 26 in Long Beach, NY and runs through Saturday the 28th.
If you’re unable to be in NY we again will be offering streaming tickets so you can tune in from home in a private Facebook Group for only $25.
Early-bird tickets are on sale now through June 18, so be sure to go to the show notes and grab your tickets now before the prices go up!
Head on over to www.therockstaradvocate.com/ep61 and check out all things MGSP as well as more details on this year’s Summit. Also, be sure to leave me a comment or shoot me an email suz@therockstaradvocate.com to let me know what you thought of the episode!
That wraps it up for us in this year’s Mental Health Awareness Month, but you know this isn’t the last time we’ll be shining a light on mental wellness and health. We’ve got some great episodes coming down the pipeline that I feel will really resonate with you and I can’t wait to share them!
As always, I thank you for listening and I’m here if you have any questions. Email me at anytime: suz@therockstaradvocate.com
Until next time, Rockstar! Have a wonderful week and I hope to see you back here next week so we can get grounded to get rising! Take care.
Key Highlights
- Their songwriting process
- Their inspiration for their new single, Signs
- How they address mental illness and their personal struggles in their music
- How Matt began personal relationships with himself
- How they deal with and support each other through the tough times
- What they each do to cope when times get tough
- Their wishful superpowers
- 3 musicians they’d invite to dinner
- A lesson they would each tell their younger self
- What they want YOU to do this week
Links/Rocksources
- Theme music brought to you by DC-based Indie/Pop band Sub-Radio
- More podcast episodes can be found here
- You can download a copy of the episode’s transcript here
- Check out Steven Pressfield’s book The Art of War here
- Check out MGSP’s website here and be sure to check out their blog!
- Watch, like, and share their latest video for Signs here
- Connect with them on Instagram here
Gregg & Matt’s Actionable
Gregg wants you to wake up each morning and journal freely for 10 minutes to purge your thoughts. Matt suggests you start/end each day with gratitude. Why not try both?!?
Need help? Check out our End-Of-Day Mindset Checklist to track these healthy habits and live everyday in a mindset of gratitude. Only $5, free shipping!
The Music-Preneur Mindset Summit is Back!
Buy your Early-Bird tickets for only $47 here!
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