In a new tell-all interview, Flume has opened up on intense subjects including his previous reliance on alcohol to perform live and the moment he got “the opposite of cancelled” for eating ass at Burning Man. The Aussie joined his girlfriend Paige Elkington on the latest episode of her My Friend Podcast to chat candidly about his career to date.
During the 35-minute chat, Flume spoke about getting to a point where he hated his job because public speaking is his “worst nightmare” because he’s not a natural performer. Over time he eventually “pushed through” his anxiety and alcohol dependence, but the patterns began to get worse.
““When performing, I would drink to calm nerves – to make it bearable,” he said. “I’m just not a performer and I’ve definitely used alcohol to feel comfortable on stage in front of a bunch of people… It was a pattern and it was getting pretty bad.”
“I got to a point where I was like ‘I don’t want to do this anymore. I’m not having fun doing this, I think I want to quit.
“I am genuinely having a great time on stage, but getting me on stage… the second I enter the festival… I’m riddled with anxiety.”
The multiple Grammy and ARIA winner then brought up the death of Avicii, one of his contemporaries who didn’t manage to pull himself out of the spiral of substance abuse.
“I think people like Avicii are literally the same as me. And he died because he was medicating himself just like I was, with alcohol, drugs, whatever. He wasn’t happy.”
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Watch ‘Rushing Back’ by Flume ft. Vera Blue:
Deciding to go and speak to a professional about his mental health turned out to be a fork in the road for Flume.
” I went to a therapist and was like ‘I hate my job’… feel like a bad person for saying that, but it’s true. I love making music but I hate touring. I’m not cut out for this…
“I did actually start taking some anti-depressants,” he revealed. “It has worked incredibly well with the anxiety. I used to get anxious going to get a coffee and going up to the barista. Just general interactions like that, I’d get neurotic and overthink… I was like ‘Fuck it, I’ll give it a go and if I don’t like it I can quit in like a month’. So I did, and it’s been like a silver bullet.”
He then addressed the now-infamous, ass eating moment at Burning Man in 2019. A moment where he feels like he was “uncancelled” by the internet.
“I was concerned. I had an untarnished image and I was very worried about tarnishing it, and the repercussions. Thankfully, the repercussions were minor and, if anything, it made me happier.
“I used to always feel the pressure of tarnishing my reputation, and now I feel like it’s tarnished… I feel liberated, I can do what I want now and not have to worry so much,” he explained. “I got the opposite of cancelled.”
The full episode of Flume’s chat with Paige Elkington can be heard below.
Listen to Paige Elkington’s My Friend Podcast:
