The names stuck in Hyde’s head, however, and found a new meaning when he was given his diagnosis. The rest of the band – not entirely keen on making their sixth album a vampire musical – rejected the idea. ![]() The title of the album combines the names of two characters in a “kind of musical” Hyde had been working on for the Futureheads – a story of two sisters, Melody and Malady, one an evil vampire and the other superhuman. On many of the tracks on Malody, Hyde is found grappling with an alternate being - violently wrestling with or quietly questioning his actions. He had assumed the traits were simply indicators of a creative mind. These traits – erratic behaviour, excessive restlessness, racing thoughts – lead to this eventual diagnosis of bipolar, which he had by that point been living with for a decade. If the group had a gig, Hyde would travel separately, play the show and then disappear, arriving at the next venue in time for the next gig, merely orbiting the group rather than operating within them.ĭuring the summer of 2011 he became so manic that he was unable to exercise, too frantic to sit still and meditate, or to write down his ritual self-analysis. His bandmates – brother David, Ross Millard and David “Jaff” Craig – were bewildered by the transformation, and often found themselves unable to communicate with him. I’d either be the most fun person you would ever meet, or the most unbearable, bigoted, arrogant man ever.” ![]() Now my goal was to enlighten everyone in Sunderland. I was convinced that I had managed, in the space of seven days, to go on holiday and come back an enlightened being. He arrived back home strong and lean from the hours of endless yoga, but had been filled with a sense of self-righteousness. Hyde was first diagnosed with bipolar shortly after his trip to the desert. “I had seemingly managed to survive and come out with an album which I am very much in love with,” says Hyde. The process of writing Malody - a candid collection of stately, theatrical songs - was a hugely cathartic experience for the performer, who now reflects on this period as if he were describing a stranger. He was in and out of hospitals, his marriage ended, and his work with the Futureheads was put on hold. From 2010 to 2013 the multi instrumentalist experienced a severe breakdown, which manifested in many different forms. Today, Hyde has found balance and stability, helped, in part by the creation of his debut solo album, which documents his life with bipolar disorder. He was now dedicated to the teachings of mystic leader and philosopher George Gurdjieff – a man so feared during the Russian revolution, because of his alleged ability to hypnotise people from the other side of a room, that even Rasputin wouldn’t look him in the eye. Long gone were the days of NME tours and backstage riders filled with crisps and breadsticks. It was the beginning of three emotionally anarchic years, during which Hyde experienced a journey of extremes believing that he was reborn and, at one point, convinced that he was dead. ![]() In the period leading up to this week-long retreat, Hyde had become increasingly fixated with the “ fourth way”, a form of philosophical thinking, not to mention conspiracy theories about the cure for cancer. This wasn’t the only unusual thing going on in Hyde’s life at the time. Waking at 5am, he would fill his days with blindfolded yoga and transcendental meditation. I n the first flourishes of spring 2011, Barry Hyde of Sunderland art-pop group the Futureheads found himself living in the depths of the Arizonan desert, in the middle of tarantula season.
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