Goth alt-rock artist explores mental health struggles through music

Winston-Salem-based musician Lucy Oldham — otherwise known by her stage name, Lucy Mayhem —uses music as a sort of therapy.

Specifically, she dives into the complexities of her personal mental health struggles and transforms it into alternative rock with gothic imagery. 

"That's kind of the only place that I really talk about my mental health," Oldham said. "I don't really talk to people about it outside, in real life."

While based in Winston-Salem, Oldham is currently looking for band members in the Triangle area. She posted on the Chapel Hill subreddit looking for band members last October. 

"Mayhem" was Oldham's nickname when she was younger. Not only was she a ball of energy, Dianna Howard, her mother, said, but Oldham's middle name is "Mahan." Thus, "Mayhem" was both an accurate descriptor of her personality, and a variation of her actual name. 

Oldham’s music journey didn’t start young, however. She had no interest in music as a kid and was very shy — she sobbed during a mandatory audition for a play in fifth grade and never wanted to be on stage, Joe Oldham, her father, said. 

But things changed for Mayhem in eighth grade, when she discovered Black Veil Brides. Captivated by the band's guitar work, Oldman decided that she wanted to learn music. So, she started taking guitar lessons and eventually music production classes as well. 

“I was the kid that was like, I'm going to move to LA and I'm not going to go to college,” Oldham said. “I'm going to get signed by a record label by the time I'm 18 and it's going to look just like all these other bands.” 

Oldham dropped out of college after a year-and-a-half to concentrate on her music career. She released her first EP “Growing Pains” after dropping out. All of her music has a storytelling element. Although her first EP isn’t her favorite sound, it was a her proud — though nerve-wracking —first step into the world of music.

“For me, my first EP, I knew I wanted it to kind of be my introduction as me, myself, Lucy, stripping away the Lucy Mayhem part and just me, myself, that scared little kid that was just anxious and wanted to do this, but had no clue how to,” Oldham said. 

“Growing Pains” is about Oldham’s middle school experience. She struggled with her mental health and music was a place she could express and talk about her struggles. 

The process of making music is done herself. She writes her own lyrics and records her vocals in a vocal booth. Jamie King, her co-producer, helps with mixing and mastering, but all the other steps of making music are orchestrated by Oldham. She plays her guitar, keyboard and samples drums from Garageband, which she then edits to fit her songs. 

Oldham’s favorite part of making music is writing lyrics inspired from her personal experiences. 

“Lyrically, I think her themes seem pretty dark, but I find most of her songs actually kind of optimistic and hopeful talking about a dark place,” Joe Oldham said. 

Justin Bailey, Oldham’s boyfriend, plays a key role in creating album covers and promotional materials. Though he doesn’t consider himself musically inclined, he supports Oldham’s different ways of expressions and helps bring her creative ideas to life. 

“She's very, very shy, which doesn't usually come across in the music, but she is very quiet and reserved and it's really cool to see in her music that she opens up a lot and lets a lot of emotions out that you would never normally see just talking to her in a normal situation,” Bailey said. 

Oldham’s favorite EP, the one that she resonates to the most, is “Save Me.” It was the first EP that she thought sounded good, not just to her, but to the average listener, she said.

Oldham hopes to deliver the same lesson she got from music to all her listeners: 

“What I got out of music for myself, which was as cliche and cheesy as it sounds, and literally everyone says it, is that we're all human,” Oldham said. “I may not be able to relate to exactly what you're going through, but we're all going through something and no matter how dark life can feel or actually get, my thing that I've come up with is, internal death doesn't need to be permanent.”

@dthlifestyle | lifestyle@dailytarheel.com