Overcome - A Mental Health Podcast

Music, Sobriety, and the Road to Healing with Danny Stevens

• Travis White • Episode 14

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In this episode of Overcome, host Travis White speaks with musician Danny Stevens about his journey through mental health challenges, addiction, and sobriety. Danny shares his experiences with alcohol, the impact of his music career on his mental health, and the importance of therapy and support systems. He discusses the societal stigma surrounding mental health and addiction, the role of medications, and the significance of personal growth. Danny also highlights the influence of his dog in his recovery and speaks about his new album.

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https://www.instagram.com/dannystevens/

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Travis White (00:01)
Hello and welcome to Overcome, a mental health podcast. I'm very excited for today's Danny Stevens. Welcome to the show. It's pleasure having you. Well, as you will know, Danny from Formalia audition and he actually does his solo stuff now as Danny Stevens. Danny, I just want this show to be yours. So I'm just going to give the microphone over to you.

Danny (00:11)
Thank you for having me. What's going on, man?

Yeah, man, like I said, thanks for having me. I appreciate you let me come on and I think You know just to start off I think mental health awareness is a is a noble Avenue for you to take my man. It it's important. You know, I suffer with with mental illness as I'm sure a lot of us do My family, you know

Everyone has a story about it. But yeah, mean, as far as music relates to it, I think mental health and music are kind of always, being a musician are always kind of at odds with one another, man. And I spent all of my 20s touring on the road and just nonstop doing music.

When you're young and excited and all of these opportunities are coming your way, like just rapid fire, you kind of just lose a sense of what's going on. like, you you kind of, if you let yourself get lost, like you never really find out who you are as a person and as an individual. And I think like once, for a lot of us, once it started going away,

Travis White (01:27)
you

Okay, that's the math. It comes down.

Danny (01:55)
a lot of us had these kind of like identity, I know I did, I had an identity crisis when the band was over.

And so I really leaned on alcohol and that was my crutch. And it started while I was in the band and it was touring and alcohol just go hand in hand. And I think once the band ended, as I said, I had this identity crisis and I was in Nashville and lost and just drunk.

Travis White (02:11)
Thank

Danny (02:24)
And I ended up getting sober in 2018 and I haven't had a drink since. I really...

I sought therapy, I got put on SSRIs and anti anxiety medication and it happened to work for me. I think the more we normalize it, the easier it will be for people to seek help that they need. like I said, it's a noble cause that this is what you put your time into.

Travis White (03:03)
Thank

Danny (03:05)
I'm just happy to be here, man. I appreciate you having me, for real.

Travis White (03:08)
Yeah, it's pleasure to have you on the show and be willing to be so open and come on and talk about your sobriety and addiction and all that stuff. It's not easy to be vulnerable. That's one thing that I'm figuring out while doing this. It took a lot for me to open up and say some of the things I've said and hopefully I'm not hurting anybody's feelings by being honest about it.

Danny (03:32)
Well,

hey, man, it's the truth and if you're just speaking it, then it's kind of on them. But there's a fine line between being an asshole and telling the truth. There are a lot of people that aren't very nice to others get away with their ways just by saying, I'm just being honest, which isn't helpful, because there's something called tact.

Travis White (03:45)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Danny (04:03)
are just honest in that way. don't know, there's a difference, you know? But yeah, I mean, I...

an open book when it comes to it because I know that people struggle with it and you know it's funny it's funny being a Nashville like I've had people reach out to me and you know how did you do it what what what was your your secret for lack of a better term and it's interesting how many of those people that like sought advice from me and you know they they're kind of still stuck in their ways and I think I think that's the addiction right it's it's not necessarily like

Travis White (04:37)
you

Danny (04:44)
homeless and like, you know, begging for change, you know, there's, there's a spectrum of addiction. And I'll just say this, I'm glad that I was able to escape it. Because if I hadn't, I would not be very happy with myself, I can tell you that because I wasn't, you know, and I was seven years ago, so I can only imagine what I would be feeling like seven years later, continuing down that road, you know.

Travis White (04:56)
Okay.

Yeah, and you are in an industry where like there's alcohol is pretty prevalent. Like how do you How do you deal with that? Do you feel like triggered or anything like when you're around it?

Danny (05:19)
No, I don't. I...

I never, I mean, once I make a decision on something and work my way through it, mean, let me, actually let me back up. Nashville is very much surrounded around, know, revolves around alcohol. mean, every meeting that you go to is either at a bar or a restaurant with alcohol. I mean, drinking will start at noon at lunch, you know, you're on a right at 10 a.m. and then all of sudden it's.

noon you go to lunch and people start drinking tequila and then you just that's just it that's the whole day you know and then you don't stop a train and that's you know there is a way to network and that that is kind of like the standard Nashville way to do it and I did that for a long time and

I think the way that I went about getting sober is the reason that I don't get triggered by it now is because, dude, I like pulled back from everything in my life, except my music. I kind of like excommunicated myself from my whole network in Nashville. And it was really hard to do that, you know, because those were the people that I was trying to build my

Travis White (06:16)
you

Danny (06:38)
career around and with. And I came to a point where I had to really choose if that was worth it over, you know.

Travis White (06:43)
you

Danny (06:53)
really, I mean, just continuing to poison myself. And I made the decision that it wasn't, you know, it wasn't worth it. And I, so like, for like a year, dude, like I really just pulled back and like, I didn't see anybody, I didn't do anything, man. Like I went to the bar a couple times and you know, I would give myself like a midnight curfew and be like, all right, dude, like if you're out here till midnight, that's it, you're going home because nothing good is happening at that time. So.

Travis White (06:59)
Thank you.

Thank

Danny (07:24)
Any conversation you may have or any type of networking you may do, it almost is irrelevant because you're the only one that's gonna be taking it seriously, you know? And that kind of just, like the whole thing just kind of got old to me. And so yeah, I I pulled myself back from it. And when I started making my new music, I just, I've been slowly rebuilding that network with

Travis White (07:24)
you

Danny (07:53)
people outside of that realm, you know, and it's been great. I've really met some awesome people that I'm glad that I work with and I'm just, and I've been meeting a lot of like-minded individuals as well as far as, you know, just the mental health and sobriety and I think that helps too, you know, surrounding yourself with people that.

Travis White (08:08)
Mm-hmm.

Danny (08:20)
don't judge you for not drinking because people think that once you stop drinking, almost, in my experience, when I would go to an event or anything and I would tell people that I quit drinking, you never heard people tell you how little they drink in their lives until you tell them that you're sober. know, yeah, you know, I caught way back, you know.

Travis White (08:36)
Mm-hmm.

Danny (08:47)
Two weeks ago, and I've only been drinking this, it's like, dude, I don't give a shit how much you drink. I don't care, dude. This was a decision from me. I don't judge you for what you do, because I am you.

Travis White (08:57)
Yeah, yeah.

And that's hard to do though. It sounds like you did a kind of hard reset just to revisit your surroundings and make sure. And what do you think was that point for you to realize, know what? I need help. I need to get rid of all this stuff.

Danny (09:12)
good way to put it.

Sorry about that.

points for me. There was a point where maybe the first point was, you know, I was like 30 or like maybe 31 at the time. And it was my third time that week puking in the toilet because I drank too much. And just I just remember because like I would I was the type of drinker that would drink until I threw up like I didn't really black out.

Travis White (09:51)
So, thank you.

Danny (09:57)
I mean, things would get fuzzy sometimes, but not so much that I wasn't really in control. drinking and throwing up and then drinking, that was what I did. But it came to a point where I was just like, damn, dude, there's a third time this week you've done this. The second thing that made me really take a

Travis White (09:58)
Thank

you

Danny (10:25)
different look at myself was I was going to a

friend's house that lived three doors down from me. And we had plans to jam. We had started like this 90s alternative band that we were writing songs that sounded like that. And we were just having fun jamming. And so I was going to go over there at 7.30. We had a bottle of whiskey that we were going to drink. And I had gotten home at 6 o'clock. So I had like an hour and a half till I had to be there. And then I just remember.

Travis White (10:32)
Okay.

Danny (10:54)
I remember thinking, okay, how much booze do you have in the house right now so you can be drunk enough to go next door and drink that whiskey so when the whiskey is gone, you are at a amount of drunk that you want to be. And so I ended up drinking like four White Claws and this was right when White Claws came out. So, I mean, it was like the first thing on the market like that and they were fucking delicious. So I was like,

Travis White (10:56)
Okay.

Danny (11:25)
So I'm like,

really glad that I got out of that game before like all the twisted teas and like all that crazy. There's just so much variety now. It's just like they trap you with variety now, you know? But I remember drinking four white claws and like three glasses of wine in an hour and a half, dude. And I remember I was about to go and drinking the last glass of wine and like chugging it. And I put the glass down and like for the first time in my life, I had said out loud to myself like,

Travis White (11:26)
you

Thank you.

Thank

.

Danny (11:53)
I said, holy shit, dude, you have a problem. You need to assess this and you need to take stock in your priorities and what matters. And then the last thing that really solidified it was there was a night I was out on Broadway in Nashville and I had just rescued my dog, my dog Axel. And he,

Travis White (11:54)
you

Thank

Danny (12:22)
who just passed this past year. I got him seven years ago. He was about three

or four when I rescued him and he was an owner of Surrender. we didn't know where he came from. They didn't know anything about him at the shelter that I got him from, the foster home. And I remember bringing him home and putting him in his crate and I left. And I I was gone for hours.

And I was drunk on, I think I was on Broadway, like I said, and all of a sudden I remembered that he was home. And mind you, this is my first dog I'd ever had. I didn't have dogs growing up. You I had lived with a couple of dogs, but like, you know, they weren't my responsibility. It was hands off, like, hi, you know, pet. And I wanted a dog because I was so lonely and I needed a companion. And, you know, I was drinking so much and...

Travis White (13:07)
Mm-hmm.

Danny (13:21)
When I remember that he was home, I called an Uber and like was just like sick, dude. And not like, cause I drank too much, like sick to my stomach thinking that I was so selfish to leave this poor animal alone for any more amount of time than he would be comfortable with. And I got home and I looked through the window of the front door at him and he was just standing there with his ears poking out of the cage.

Travis White (13:32)
them.

Thank

Danny (13:51)
I walked in man and like I opened the cage and he just hugged me and like I broke down. Like I had a total breakdown and that was the moment was like, all right man, like this is it. Like you really need to reassess what you're doing. And I set a date and so this was in like late November, like right before Thanksgiving of 2017. And I set a date for myself of January 1st and

Travis White (13:58)
Thank

Thank

Danny (14:22)
not a New Year's resolution, but just like a date that like was easy to remember and I would stick to, I knew I would stick to, and it was close. And it was far enough away to where like I wasn't stopping in that moment. You I was kind of leading myself to this moment that I saw the finish line and I was like, right, man, you're almost there. It was kind of that mentality. And I remember, man, I was at a New Year's Eve party at one of my good buddy Johnny McGuire's house, who's also an incredible writer.

Travis White (14:34)
Thank

Mm-hmm.

Danny (14:52)
an artist in Nashville. And everybody was in the backyard at a fire. And I walked in the house by myself and I grabbed a beer from the fridge. I sat on the couch alone, I ordered an Uber and I drank that thing. And that was it. That was it. I was done. I went home, I woke up hungover as hell the next morning. And with Axl in my arms dude, and that was it. No more drinking dude. And I haven't had a sip since.

over seven years ago now.

Travis White (15:23)
That's really cool. And it's crazy like what a dog can do for those types of situations.

Danny (15:31)
Man, he... Go ahead.

Travis White (15:32)
I have a-

I have a rescue dog myself. We got him when he was probably about 16 weeks old. I don't know where he came from. But I was dealing with some bad anxiety issues and I started training him. He helped me overcome a lot of those. I never saw it like my wife did, but she's like, he helped you, hands down. He really helped you.

Danny (15:37)
Yeah.

Wow.

That's awesome, man. mean, I know the feeling. I get it. I mean, it's really cool to have something around you that is constantly just joyous. That is nothing but pure love. I feel like the first time I ever understood unconditional love and really actually got it was when I got Axel. And I remember a moment I was looking at him.

Travis White (16:14)
Mm-hmm.

Danny (16:29)
in his eyes and just like I felt it, you know, I felt it. And it was like the first time that I got it. And then I think, and it's funny, tell my wife, the only other time that I felt that was looking at her, you know, and just I put those two things together because it was just so like pure and different feeling. And it was like an understanding, you know, and I credit him for like being, for,

Travis White (16:32)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Danny (16:57)
allowing me to be able to recognize that in somebody else.

Travis White (17:01)
That's awesome. Good stuff. And when you were like going through like your drinking and stuff, like did it affect your mental health at all?

Danny (17:12)
my God, yes, yes, absolutely. mean, how could it not? Right? I mean, the reason that you do it is because you're running from something, right? And it's not until you can kind of assess it and figure out what that is.

You know, that it's funny because I was, I like saw myself. knew what I was doing. I knew that I was like fucking up, man. Like I knew it. And I was able to like, I'm so lucky that I was able to like kind of almost get out of my own way and just be like, Hey man, you have an issue and you need to stop doing this. And so many people don't get that. I don't know what to call it a privilege, but

Travis White (17:44)
Mm-hmm.

Danny (18:03)
You know, I made the decision for myself and I was lucky to be able to do that where so many people get forced into it. And that's when, you know, my dog just came in. Our other boy, he must know that we're talking about dogs. Dude, what are you doing?

Travis White (18:14)
They

can sense it. They can sense it. I promise you. Yeah, you're totally good.

Danny (18:19)
Yeah, dude. He knows. Hold on, I'm gonna get him out of here real quick. Is that okay?

Give me one second. Get out of here, you goof. How'd you get in here?

Go on. Go on, go get your mom. Get out of here.

Okay. Sorry about that. Where was I? He's huge. He's a German Shepherd. like, if I let him in here, he would just destroy this whole thing. I'm sitting on.

Travis White (18:45)
No, no, you're good.

your kid.

Danny (18:54)
But yeah, I mean, I don't remember what exactly the point was, but I'm just glad that I was able to recognize the issue within myself. because, know, looking back on it, nobody in my life ever really sat me down and was like, hey man, you might wanna like think about what you're doing. And I don't know whether I'm grateful or I'm a little bit bitter about.

Travis White (19:13)
Thanks.

Danny (19:23)
that because like it really did make me choose and I had to be the one to make the decision for myself without any other outside opinion. It was just how I felt and what I felt.

Travis White (19:23)
Yeah.

Yeah, and I personally think though that's a really good thing because it wasn't until I admitted that I had a problem like with mental health issues that I actually was willing to go out and connect with the resources that I needed to get better. And I mean, and I've been struggling for years and that wasn't until the end of last year that I really got the therapy that I needed.

Danny (19:51)
Absolutely.

And it seems like it's, you know, I mean, you're doing a podcast on it now, so it must've like, you know, helped and changed your mind significantly.

Travis White (20:06)
It

gave me the motivation I think I needed to actually go on with the podcast. I've had that idea for a while and I've always wanted to do it.

Danny (20:14)
Really, I mean,

that's great, man. Probably six months after I got sober, maybe sooner, it might have been even like, it might have been like three months, but a relatively short time after I got sober, I sought out therapy as well. it was awesome. was through a therapist that only works with musicians in Nashville. She specializes in mental health for musicians.

she worked on a sliding scale, which was huge for me because you know, a musician, we're broke, dude. that's just the way it is. That's the life I've chose. So she, she's able to, you know, she would have a sliding scale. So I was able to get the therapy I needed for a price that I could actually afford because she was a musician herself that understood, you know, how we operate and like how hard it is on us. you know, talked about identity crisis and, you know, she...

Travis White (20:48)
You

Danny (21:12)
See you.

me realize that not everything was all my fault all the time. Because I always thought it was. And that kind of clicked for me and and I saw her for a number of months and then you know I graduated out of her program as she called it. And you know it's been it's been it really man it really helped me. It really did. And I implore anybody who needs somebody to talk to you to do it you know.

Travis White (21:21)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I totally agree. What do you think nowadays, what do you think is the biggest stigma in relationship to mental health?

Danny (21:56)
I think it's a giant projection. think people are just afraid to face themselves and they'll do and say anything that they can to deflect the attention and to break the mirror that they're looking into. Because it's hard, man. It's hard to admit that you fucked up or that maybe you're not this perfect image that you think you are. And I don't know, I think that...

I think that's a lot of the reason people don't like smoking weed too is because it really makes you sit with yourself and it really makes you kind of come to terms with things. And the anxiety that people feel is really just them thinking about themselves, you know, and it allows you to get into that space and like correct those things if you want to, you know, within. And I think that freaks people out. And I think that's why people also, you know, like I said, don't.

Travis White (22:30)
Mm hmm.

Bye.

Danny (22:54)
don't really love therapy because nobody likes talking about their shit, man. It's hard. It's hard to like admit to anybody that you're not, you know, this perfect person, you know, it's hard. It sucks, you know, cause we're, we're in a society that like, that rewards that the rewards, you know, being perfect and having money and, having status. And so of course,

Travis White (22:57)
Yeah.

Thank

Mm-hmm.

Danny (23:20)
when somebody is thinking like, I don't feel like that at all. I feel worse than that. It's gonna be hard for them to wanna talk about it with somebody else, but what else are you gonna do? You should.

Travis White (23:32)
Yeah,

we totally teach that we can go through life without having anxiety or being depressed. it's like, no, it's not true. We just need to learn how to cope with everything.

Danny (23:44)
Right.

We all feel it, dude. It's it's just what we label it or what we think it is and how we want to deal with it. You know, I, as I kind of said earlier, I was put on SSRIs and, or, and, and one SSRI and a, an anti-anxiety medication. the plan with my doctor at the time was to see if, because I was so depressed with, I was coming off alcohol and I was just like a wreck. And our plan was, all right, try this.

Travis White (24:11)
Mm-hmm.

Danny (24:16)
for a certain amount of time and see if that will kind of kick, see if that will kind of kickstart your brain back to like firing on all cylinders. And we tried it for a while and I tried to get off of it and it didn't really work. So I went back on it and then probably about, I want to say maybe a year ago or a little bit over a year ago, I talked with my doctor again and we had, came up with a plan to wean myself off and.

over the course of like the next six months, I was able to successfully get off of the SSRI and the anti-anxiety medication. And I'm just freewheeling now, man. I'm just out here with my looking at the sun, you know what I mean? But you know, that was just a decision that I made for myself. I think that because I wanted to see if I could and I don't

Travis White (24:58)
Nice.

Yeah. Nice.

Danny (25:14)
I think that mental health medications are wonderful. think they help so many people. They help me, man. So like, it's just my path with them was different than maybe somebody else's.

Travis White (25:34)
Yeah, I personally myself had to wean myself off just because my body for some reason, I always get like bad side effects with stuff. So, so I'm like, yeah, I don't want to do it long term, but I found some like supplements, like some like dietary supplements per se, like that helped like calm me down. but.

Danny (25:37)
You

Really?

That's Hey

man, whatever helps, None of it should be stigmatized. I may be sober off a booze, but I partake in cannabis heavily because first of all, we don't know what the hell is going on, man. You know what I mean? What the hell, what is this, right? So we gotta have a little bit of fun and

Travis White (26:01)
Yeah, exactly. That's where I'm at.

Mm-hmm.

Danny (26:26)
If it's something that isn't destroying my life and draining my bank account and putting me into debt and can actually like open my mind, I'm all for it, man. I'm all for natural ways of dealing with things. You know, I think psilocybin and mushrooms are great for mental health, but I haven't done the research myself, you know, and dug into it. But on all accounts that I've heard, it's been very helpful for people.

Travis White (26:39)
Yeah.

Danny (26:56)
so yeah, I mean that, that's where I stand with it. think whether it's, you know, a pill from big pharma or, or smoking weed, you know, whatever helps you. I think that's important. And some, you know, finding those things can be, can be difficult, you know, I've seen people that I care about deeply struggle trying to find the right thing that works for them. And it becomes a frustrating thing where like, they just kind of just end up getting

in their own way and just being like, what the fuck is wrong with me? Like, why, why can't I figure this out? And, and, that's the, you know, that's so tough to see. and, but, you know, maybe there is a, maybe that they'll find the thing that'll work for them eventually and then it'll be, I'll be good, you know.

Travis White (27:44)
Yeah, and I have a buddy, a good friend that has some mental health issues and he swears by like gummies and smoke a weed and he says it like it's the one time when he does it like it's one time that he actually feels calm and happy and like stress free.

Danny (27:52)
Really?

Yeah, yeah, it has a funny way

of doing that. It's funny though, it's a natural thing that makes our bodies feel better. But it's true, man. If not for that, first of all, life would be pretty boring. It opens you up, man, and it makes you things that maybe you wouldn't, and makes you hear things.

Travis White (28:10)
Don't know.

Danny (28:27)
that you just have a more critical awareness, I think, a lot of times when you're smoking or eating edibles. And I enjoy that. think it's, be safe with it, but have fun. And you don't have to get as high as you can every time, but if it helps you to take a hit of your dab pen before you go do something.

Hit that kind dude, you know, that's gonna help yourself.

Travis White (28:59)
Yeah.

Isn't there like different mixes of like it though to like one specifically for calming and then there's other stuff you can put into like making more high. I mean.

Danny (29:13)
they, they,

they, they claim that, but I think that's a lot of, I think that's a lot of marketing. I'll tell you this. I've, I've, I've smoked for a long time and it either gets me high or it gets me less high. I've never had, I've never, I'm like, if you, if you gave a blind me a blind test of marijuana and I smoked all of it, I would feel no different from either. I would just feel more or less of like.

Travis White (29:39)
Yeah.

Danny (29:43)
the high, the THC, depending on the content of that. like, and I've read up on it, like theories about that, like that Sativa and Indica are the two where Indica is the downer, Sativa is the upper, but because everything's been cross-spread and hybrid for so long that there's no true Indica or Sativa. So it's just all, it's all just a hybrid at this point. You know, there's nothing, it's just all a mix. it's,

Travis White (30:05)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Danny (30:10)
But like flavor profiles are different in a lot of it, you know, and like the way they smoke are different. So there are different characteristics to it. But like as far as how it makes you feel, personally, I've never, I've never felt that, but that's not to say that I'm right. You know, I'm not, I'm not going to discredit somebody who, who feels the difference, you know, just because I don't, but yeah, personally, I've just, I've never felt that.

Travis White (30:25)
Yeah, yeah, makes sense.

Yeah,

and I personally can't anything about it. I've never, I've never smoked, so I can't say a word. I'm just curious, to be honest.

Danny (30:40)
Yeah, well.

Yeah, I mean, it's something that's definitely helped me. And yeah, it's definitely not for everybody. It's just like anything else. It's not for everybody, but for those of us that it helps, hell yeah. That's what I think.

Travis White (31:04)
So like, stance like recovering from.

alcoholism and stuff, how has your life changed? Have you felt like, just in general, how have things changed for you?

Danny (31:18)
I really feel like a different person. feel like my pre-sobriety, so in my drunk days, it almost feels like a different person and that it is a movie that I know really well, but I can't really remember all the parts to that I hate. A movie that I don't like.

So I think everything's different. My whole lifestyle changed, you know? I got married, you know? We live in Pagrum, Tennessee on this big hill with nothing but nature surrounding us. Like we've found this peaceful little life that like my wife and I just love. And without me going through all of that craziness,

Cause like, just feels like craziness. It's just confusion and like, like your brain is always on fire. And you know, with that out of the way, I was able to start thinking clearly about things, just about life in general. And I started appreciating things more. you know, when my wife and I first met, it was during COVID and I had gone home to be with my parents.

and we met on a dating app and like two weeks later we were hanging out and we were but before that we you know we would call each other every night and I remember looking up at the stars one night and we're both from Detroit and I'm on the phone and it might have been right before I called her I think I might have been smoking outside of my parents house and then I went called her but like I specifically remember looking up at the stars and just like listening and I'd never really like I never really done that.

And I just listened to all these different bugs that I heard. And I counted like 10 different noises that I heard in this.

Travis White (33:15)
Mm.

Danny (33:26)
connection of sound that felt to me like the earth's brain's synapses firing. And just stuff like that, was able to kind of just like, I felt like when I was drinking, was trying to perpetually move forward and go to the next thing and what's next and where can I go next and who can I see next and what can I drink next? And it was always

And when I was able to finally slow down.

and just taking these mundane kind of like things that we just take for granted, I guess. I don't know, it kind of just opened me up, man. It really, got to see the, for the first time, I was seeing a world in this different perspective that I wanted to explore more. And without the haziness of alcohol, I was able to, you know? And like, I never would have even had that thought.

had it not been to make the decision to give up the booze, you know? So I think, you know, kind of to answer your question again, everything changed, dude, everything. Because I would not be where I am without that decision. I wouldn't have the music I have now because I got sober. And that's when I decided, hey, I'm going to give this another chance. you know, and I'm sure a lot of my drinking had to do with, I mean, I know it did, with like the band and

how that went and how it ended. And it really like, like I said, man, identity crisis, it was real. And I didn't know what I was doing. But when I got sober, dude, was so confident again. I always felt like an imposter when I was in my band. And I no longer did. And I don't anymore. And I think that's kind of the best feeling, you know?

Travis White (35:27)
That's really cool. Hey, you're making music again. I'm personally grateful for that, so.

Danny (35:32)
Yeah,

Thank you, man. I'm grateful for it too, honestly, man. never had any plans on going out on my own or doing a solo record or like, but I mean, why not, man? I had it in me, you know, I have it in me. So why would I deprive myself of like something that I'm able to do still? And, you know, my opinion do it well and people like it. So

Travis White (35:37)
You

Yeah.

Danny (36:00)
It would be stupid for me not to do it. You know, and it brings me happiness. It brings me joy, you know, like my wife and I, connect our music on such a deep level. just from like, we grew up in the same music scene and being able to like share this with her now all these years later is like such a joy, you know? So, you know, without, without like the sobriety, man, I wouldn't have shit, dude. I'd probably be living with

roommates on a fucking air mattress, know, drinking still dude and it would not be good. It would not be good.

Travis White (36:36)
It's

crazy to me that one life decision can just turn things, like just change everything so drastically.

Danny (36:47)
180 duty I hit the brakes and And it just it just made sense for me to do it at that time and like I knew that I had a bigger responsibility with axle I knew I owed it to myself. I didn't and you know as most families do I think there's a long line of addiction in my family and I see I was able to see where that led and That was not a place that I wanted to end up and I mean it was right there for me to see I was looking at it I knew

And I just did it, man. I had to get out of it. And that path is different for everybody. I was lucky to not have to go to a rehabilitation center. I really just kind of rived in pain alone in my bed for six months every day until I started feeling like a human again. And I just kind of picked myself up and continued to.

Travis White (37:25)
you

Danny (37:47)
try my best to better my situation and myself.

Travis White (37:50)
And

it sounds like you just set that goal and you're like, I'm doing this no matter what. Like this is going to be me now.

Danny (37:57)
Yeah, and I didn't know who that me would be, but I knew it was gonna be a better version than the one I was at the time. You know, I had to be. I just was so, I was so like sick of myself, you know, and just.

It just needed to happen, you know?

Travis White (38:18)
So what do you think, like looking back or I guess think to the present day, what do you think society can do better to help people that are suffering with addiction?

Danny (38:29)
Number one, stop shoving it in our fucking faces all day long. Pardon my French, I know I cursed, You know, dude, how many alcohol, and I'll talk alcohol specifically, like how many alcohol commercials can they throw at us every day? Why is that legal? And I always make mention of my wife. Every time we're watching television, I mean, if we're watching a 30 minute show and there's three blocks of commercials,

Travis White (38:35)
Nope, you're jaded.

All over.

Danny (38:58)
There's at least six commercials about some type of medication. Dude, it's fucking outrageous, dude. And all these alcohol brands are just shoved down our throat. And like I said before, there's just so much variety that there's a drink for everybody now, for everybody. Where it wasn't like that before. It was either disgusting beer. When we were growing up, it was either disgusting beer or like,

disgusting whiskey or vodka. know, there wasn't high noons and truleys and all these like fancy barrel whiskies and all this. So I think like, I think it's just, I think as Americans, just, we're just, it's capitalism, man. So we're just trapped, you know, and it's on us to decide whether or not we want to partake in what's being advertised to us because it's all an addiction.

Travis White (39:29)
Thank

Danny (39:54)
consumerism is an addiction in this country and alcoholism is just, you know, really at the core of a consumerism buying what you think is best for you, you know, or like what you like the most. And I mean, it's hard to escape it. So like, what do you do? I mean, I don't know. I know that's your question, but the fact that like you can't advertise for cigarettes or vapes.

Travis White (40:02)
Thanks.

Mm-hmm.

The clip.

Danny (40:23)
or marijuana, but you can advertise for alcohol wherever you want is mind blowing to me. It makes no sense.

Travis White (40:31)
Yeah, yeah, I agree. I'm on the same page with you. I was actually talking to a guy from another country a couple of weeks ago, and he was kind of brought the same thing up, dealing with pharmaceuticals and how like he's like in my country, it's illegal to advertise for pharmaceuticals on the TV, but you see it all over the United States.

Danny (40:45)
Yep.

Dude, I say that to my wife all the time. I'm like, how is this legal? How is this legal? Like, what are they advertising to us? They're advertising a pill for me to go ask my doctor about. What the hell? That's not a product. What is that? Like, what kind of advertising is that? That makes no sense to me. It's just almost like a reminder that...

Travis White (41:13)
Yeah.

Danny (41:21)
It does the context of the subject matter is irrelevant. It's them in our faces all day long saying, Hey, we're here because you know, what's what is something that like that, you know, government has tried to wrangle in for years is big pharma and they just keep pushing the pedal down on us and they're just and you know, back to like SSRIs and stuff like, yeah, they are helpful. But you know, I'm sure there's plenty of doctors out there that just prescribe shit just to prescribe shit and

Travis White (41:39)
Mm-hmm.

Danny (41:51)
are not qualified, maybe you're not, I don't wanna speak outside my range, but you know, there's pay to play doctors out there, you know, and it's just a, it's tough when it's such a corrupt system and there's so much money involved and they will just do whatever they want. I mean, that's really what it boils down to. They'll just do whatever they want for as long as they want until somebody stops them and it's gonna be harder every single day because they gain more power and more money day over day.

Travis White (42:00)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yep,

dude, this is a whole other topic I could just go rant on for probably hours and hours. Because to me, it's like a legally organized cartel. That's how they run.

Danny (42:22)
So what do do?

Same, same dude.

Yeah, absolutely. And

those doctors, get paid to prescribe certain drugs. Like that is insane. So like you may not even need something and they're gonna prescribe it for you just because maybe it'll work for something that you have.

Travis White (42:45)
Yeah.

Yep. Nope. It's like,

here's a bandaid. Slap. And then here's like, here's another pill because you have a side fix. Slap.

Danny (42:52)
Yeah.

my god, yeah, dude, like I saw a commercial yesterday for, is your antidepressant not working how you'd like it to? Well, here, have this ad on, an antidepressant booster. It's like, my god, maybe that, maybe just that antidepressant isn't working for you. Maybe you need to try something else and not add some other thing.

Travis White (43:10)
Yeah.

and not add to it, yeah. It goes

back to what you said though. Sometimes it takes a little while to find the right antidepressant that works for you. So, like, I would not recommend slapping on another one.

Danny (43:30)
Mm-hmm.

No, definitely

not, dude. And it also really helps to trust your doctor because I trusted my doctor. I had been seeing her for years. I really trusted her word with the plan that we had. And it just so happened that she had my best interest in mind and what we planned out happened to work for me, which I feel fortunate, man, because not a lot of people...

Travis White (43:39)
Mm-hmm.

Danny (44:03)
are able to have that guidance and have those resources at their disposal. that within itself is a depressing thing that could lead somebody down a path that maybe otherwise they wouldn't.

Travis White (44:04)
Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, it's very, very, very true. it's, and I, feel fortunate to like have a good people surrounding me to push me forward and keep me moving in the direction that I need to.

Danny (44:34)
Yeah, support systems are huge, You know, if you, and it doesn't need to be a big one. It just needs to be, it needs to be real.

Travis White (44:39)
Mmm.

Yeah, one or two people that I think you can talk to and you have it.

Danny (44:47)
Absolutely. And then from there it grows, you know, if you let it.

Travis White (44:54)
So what advice would you give like somebody that's struggling with mental health?

Danny (45:02)
I would, I think if you realize that you are, that's already half the battle. And the other half is figuring out what to do about it. I think the thing that helps most people is finding someone to talk to. And that goes kind of back to the conversation about finding the right medications.

You know, not every therapist that you see is gonna be the right one. know, therapists are regular people too, and they're just as fucked up as we are, man. And you know, that doesn't mean that the first one you see is gonna be the right one. You could not vibe with that person at all. And it can be discouraging, but if you recognize it within yourself and you're willing to...

Travis White (45:34)
Mm-hmm.

Danny (45:58)
want to feel better, really, then it's worth it to commit yourself to that journey, as they said, you know, and not just give up because life can be very rewarding on the other side of

depression and anxiety and things that block you from that other side. And once that veil is lifted, if you ask anybody that's gone through any type of, for lack of a better term, enlightenment, they'll tell you the same thing. It's all the same story on the other side. It's all the same story on both sides, It's down and out, and then it's better than ever.

Travis White (46:40)
Mm-hmm.

Danny (46:44)
There is no middle ground. And those folks that can drink that way, or, you know, I don't want to relay it back to drinking, but just from my personal experience, that have the privilege of like only having a few drinks, they're the lucky ones. You know, they're the ones that like, don't need help. like most, I know, I just see a lot of people that really need help and don't really know it.

And, but they do, you know, but they do.

Travis White (47:17)
Yeah. Yeah, and it's like, I see that too. It's like, what do you say to those people? Like, how do you let them know? Because sometimes I feel like it's not necessarily on me to let them know. But at the same time, I, yeah.

Danny (47:30)
I think it depends on the relationship.

Depending on the relationship you have with that person, you definitely don't want to be like some holy-even-bow kind of like, you need to do what I say because that's what worked for me. words of encouragement are huge for people going through tough times. I think just being understanding and listening, kind of the touchback on what we were talking about at the beginning.

Travis White (47:39)
Mm-hmm.

Danny (48:00)
my first year of sobriety, like would have people reach out to me and I had a few people that come over and hang out with me all day because they didn't want to drink that day. you know, I'm giving them, excuse me, I'm giving them advice and kind of like how I'm going through this process and they're asking me questions and, you know, that whole, you know, charade lasted about 24 hours for them. And then it's back to the old way because, well, maybe they weren't ready for it yet. And maybe my...

advice will stick with them and maybe if they ever do get sober that's the thing that you know one of the things that will help them kind of come to that conclusion but you know all all we can do is just listen and maybe not try to fix it all the time but just offer your best advice.

Travis White (48:48)
Yeah, and I think that's the important thing is that you offered you the advice that you could give to try to get them out of that situation. But in the end, it's up to them whether they choose to take it or not, like choose to act upon it.

Danny (49:01)
Yeah, and you can't, like the old saying, can't lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. Kind of the opposite of what we're talking about here, but. yeah, mean, no shame to them, man. That's just their path. And if they're happy, great. And if they're not, they know the answer. Why?

Travis White (49:18)
Mm-hmm.

Exactly.

Danny (49:27)
We all know the answer. Like I said, sometimes it's just hard to admit it.

Travis White (49:32)
And like I said before, I think that's just like the first step. It's just one of the things to get you going. And once you admit it, it's easier to do things.

Danny (49:44)
And I think once you can admit it to other people, that's really when it starts to.

settle in and like, damn, can, okay, I got this. I feel good about this now. And you know, going through like journeys like that mental health or alcoholism or addiction, when you do get to the other side of it, it's like the best. It's the best.

Travis White (49:54)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah,

I can speak from experience. Like once I learned some of these techniques to like, you know, I have three young kids. Like, let me back up a little bit. I'm getting ahead of myself. So once I figured out something, heard some of the techniques like help with my anxiety or my depression, I get really anxious at night, especially putting three young kids to bed. It's just part of me and I'm like, tired and fed up and they're not listening.

So like just little things that like, you know, like you look around the room, they call the five, four, three, two, one method. You look around the room, you look at like, think of five things that you can see, uh, four things you can touch three things. What was it? I get that it's all done with the five senses. I forget the order, but it's like, I had started doing that and subconsciously realize like, you know what, like, um, I'm about to lose my shit. Like I need to calm down.

Danny (51:00)
Sure.

Travis White (51:11)
so I can be the best dad that I can be. My wife's caught me looking at things, doing all this stuff. She's like, you're trying to, you're catching it at least. was like, yeah, I'm trying. I'm not trying to make it obvious, but it's like you do what you have to do. Sometimes that means I have to walk out of the room. I will say that once you, my point being, once you learn these techniques, you can overcome anything that you're dealing with.

Danny (51:20)
Yeah

Yeah?

Yeah, I have a technique that's very similar to that. I used to have the hardest time falling asleep, man. Like I would just lay in bed and just, just lay there, dude. I'd be exhausted. But you know, when you're coming off the alcohol and like your body's just getting rid of all that and detoxing, like your mind for whatever reason, just won't shut off. And it's just, you're running through every bad decision you've ever made and you just, and it's just horrible. And what my therapist taught me, very similar to what you're talking about. And I use this to this day, this technique.

and this is seven years later, is I go through my senses. So what do I, like, and I just run through them. What do I see? What do I smell? What do I taste? What do I hear? What do I feel? What do I see? What do I smell? What do taste? What do hear? What do feel? And I usually have a sleep mask on and I say, I see nothing but black. I smell nothing but the air. You know, I taste nothing but toothpaste. I hear nothing but the noise machine and I feel cozy. Whatever that is. And then I run that back and run it back and do it.

Travis White (52:16)
Thank

Mm-hmm.

Danny (52:38)
Usually like two and a half times through and I'm out. I'm down to sleep and it works. It's awesome. I actually, I actually told, I told my dad to do that and he started doing it and it worked for him too.

Travis White (52:42)
Yeah, yeah this is it.

It's amazing, like little things like that, because before I went to therapy, wouldn't say I could, I don't know, part of me didn't believe in it, but I did. Like, does that make any sense at all? Like, I was like half there and half, like I didn't know what to think of it. Yeah. And then I started doing the stuff and I was like, this is really working. Like, I can.

Danny (52:59)
Sure, yeah. I think it's normal to be skeptical. Yeah, I think it's normal to be skeptical.

Well, it's like

they say, like you got to put the work in to make it work. And it's true, man. That's what anything in life, dude. Like if you want, you want to be successful at something, you got to put the work in, dude. can't just, you can't, music and especially like, you can't just rely on your talents and like your music to get you out anymore. Like you have to, you have to really work at it and really dedicate your life to it. You know, just, just like sobriety and just like mental health, like you dedicate part of your life to it.

Travis White (53:14)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, exactly. Is there anything that we have not talked about that you want to bring up?

Danny (53:51)
Man, I don't think so, aside from the fact that my new album comes out March 26th. Better Than You Left Me, Danny Stevens, yeah. It's coming out, man.

Travis White (53:56)
Yeah, perfect. was just, I was just going to ask

that you've read my mind.

Danny (54:03)
I it right here, I had CDs printed, how about that? When was the last time you saw one of these?

Travis White (54:06)
Okay.

I have not seen one for a while, but I really actually missed the physical copy.

Danny (54:16)
Dude, I have like a thank you section right here. I've got all the lyrics on the sheet. like, I went old school with it, man. But yeah, it comes out March 26th, man. It'll be out on all those streaming platforms. My music is up there now, but it'll finally all be out and sequenced the way it was meant to be listened to.

Travis White (54:28)
Nice, I love it.

Yeah. And how can people find you?

Danny (54:44)
I just searched my name, Danny Stevens, and I'm everywhere that the internet allows me to be, which is everywhere. So anyway you can find somebody on the internet, man, I'm there. So Danny Stevens, Spotify, Instagram, all the handles, just Danny Stevens, you'll find me.

Travis White (54:53)
Yeah.

A few little like just kind of fun questions here. What's what's what music is rotating on your playlist right now?

Danny (55:08)
I love this band called the Teske Brothers. They're a duo of brothers from Australia. They are, I'm a huge fan of Motown. They are like the second coming of Otis Redding. And I mean, they're incredible. there's somebody that I throw on quite often. I've got a friend in town in Sean Kennedy that just released his first full length album that is absolutely incredible. It's like 80s.

inspired indie rock, very, very cool stuff. And then I listened to a lot of music marketing podcasts. So those are like my, that's my rotation. And I listened to the local Nashville WNRP. It's like our local radio station. It's a NPR radio station. So it's a publicly funded radio station and it's all like, like up and coming indie artists that are on the verge of

Travis White (55:46)
That's your thing,

Danny (56:07)
whatever genre they're in, but they do all sorts of really cool shows and nights and it's just, it's always a cool listen to that too.

Travis White (56:17)
Awesome. Really cool. And I'm still like stuff that you put you you have the physical copy to that you're sending to people.

Danny (56:26)
yeah, dude. Yeah, Yeah?

Yeah, yeah.

Travis White (56:30)
All right, well, let's see. I'm trying to think if I had anything else. One question, and this is just because I'm curious. Coming from kind of an emo, like, you know, the pop punk scene. Do you like listen to that type of music at all? or for you just kind of part of the scene? Like, I'm honestly just really curious because like I've heard I've heard like different like I've heard like different.

Danny (56:50)
That's a good question.

Travis White (56:55)
varieties of that of an answer some people like no, I don't listen to it and others like yeah, I indulge you in once in a while, but

Danny (57:03)
What do you think? I'll leave it up to you. What do you think? I'll tell you the answer.

Travis White (57:08)
I'd say yes to some degree.

Danny (57:10)
Okay. I think...

So I was introduced to the genre in like 2000. And from 2000 to 2004, it was all I listened to. Everything that I could get my hands on, I had. I had rare bands from California, demos on CD. I don't even know how I had them. And the local scene in Detroit was so incredible that everybody was putting out all this great music.

Shit, sorry, I totally, I the door opened again. I totally lost my train of thought. What was it? do I listen to the genre? So up until I started touring with, really joined the audition and we started writing for the first record is when I really stopped, like a hard stop on the genre. And I let it influence me substantially on the first record. But I think by the time the second album came out,

I hadn't listened to literally anything that came out really past 2004. Even like Mifanglory's, Mifanglory's one of my favorite bands, but even like their Catalyst album, which I believe was released in 2004, I wasn't really even fucking with that. Like it was, I was already kind of getting into, back into like Motown roots and I was finding country music again. And I was really loving R &B.

Travis White (58:32)
Thank you.

Danny (58:46)
There's a bunch of R &B artists that I was introduced to on the road. And so I really started digging into all these different musics that I had never been exposed to because, you know, I'm touring with all these people and they all have different iPods and I'm going through their iTunes and like I'm taking stuff from them and, you know, all these different artists and singers and I'm just like collecting all this music on my iPad or on my iPod. And I think you can hear that in Champion. I think you can really...

Travis White (59:00)
Mm-hmm.

Danny (59:15)
hear a distinct difference in my writing and my vocal stylings from the first two records. And I really think that's when I found my voice was that stint of touring. And I learned the singer that I was and I was listening to all this different music. But to answer your question fully, I still go back and will listen to the starting line and Under Oath and

Travis White (59:38)
Thank

Danny (59:44)
Newfound glory and some of the old Alcali on trio stuff. Cause it's just nostalgic for me at this point, you know, and kind of just like everybody else. But when I was active in the band, I was not listening to that. The only bands that I would, I was probably listening to still were like Jimmy eat world who were not really in part of our scene. They were kind of, they were outside of it. They were popular. They were a big band. I listened to them. I loved head automatica.

Travis White (59:51)
Yeah, yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Danny (1:00:14)
I loved, I really liked Jack's Mannequin, but that was kind of after we toured with them that I really gained an appreciation for them. But that would happen too, where I'd be on the road with somebody and be like, wow, I really like this artist who I'd never really even heard of. And then I'll watch them every night and then start listening to them after we toured with them. Dangerous Summer was one of those bands where like, I never really listened to them and then I saw them play every night and I was just blown away. And then immediately I was

Travis White (1:00:30)
Yeah.

Danny (1:00:44)
of man after that. So, and nowadays, I kind of it's just a mix of everything, you know, anything, it's because it's so easily accessible with Spotify that it's almost it almost is discouraging. Like there's so many options. It's just like

Travis White (1:00:51)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, it really

is. It really gets to that point where there's so many options that I don't even know what to listen to. For me, it depends on my mood. I've never stopped looking up new music. I love it. I'll listen to a little bit of everything. From country to metalcore to a little... Yeah.

Danny (1:01:08)
Right, and it's like.

Yeah, for sure. Same.

Yeah, same. That's, If it's good, it's good, right?

Travis White (1:01:28)
Exactly. Awesome. Well, thank you. Thank you for humoring me with that. I was just totally curious. That's all the questions I have. everybody, thanks for coming. Everybody go put March 26th up on your calendar so you can go to Apple iTunes or anywhere that he can and buy Danny's album.

Danny (1:01:39)
Thank you so much for having me on, man.

Anyway,

Danny Stevens better than he left me.

Travis White (1:01:58)
I've

heard every single song and I'm totally impressed. And that's not just me being a little fangirl, that's me being sincere. And to all those that listen, thanks for listening to Overcome, a mental health podcast. You can find us on Instagram and YouTube, OvercomePod. The best thing you can do for us right now is...

Danny (1:02:04)
Thank you, man, I appreciate that. Thank you, that means a lot. Thank you, for real.

Travis White (1:02:24)
Follow, share, like, get our content out there as best you can. It would be really helpful. Thanks again for listening. Until next time.