Touring and Mental Health: The Music Industry Manual, edited by Tamsin Embleton and published earlier this year by Omnibus Press, is “like having a therapist in your back pocket,” noted Sugababes founding member Siobhan Donaghy. “I wish it had been around when I started touring, added Philip Selway, drummer from Radiohead. Nile Rodgers has praised it as “a wonderful initiative.”
Embleton is part of the Music Industry Therapist Collective (MITC), a group of therapists and support staff offering mental health workshops and seminars. The book, supported by Live Nation, is written to help musicians and those working in live music to identify, process and manage the physical and psychological difficulties that can occur on the road or as a result of touring.
Calling it “the first book of its kind,” Embleton noted that the 624-page volume includes touring anecdotes from over 80 artists and touring professionals, including Marty Hom, Jim Digby, Dale “Opie” Skjerseth, Dom Morley, and more.
Embleton added that the book, which was first made available in March, has so far sold more than 6,000 copies, including 3,500 by Michael Rapino, CEO and president of Live Nation, for use in festival and venue dressing rooms around the world. An edition in Spanish is set to be available next year.
For more information about the book, go to www.touringmanual.com.
For more on MITC, go to www.musicindustrytherapists.com.
