IF YOU'D told former Echuca-Moama musician Gareth Leach at the start of the year he would be cooped up in Melbourne, not able to make a living doing what he loved, he wouldn't have believed you.
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But for him and many other musicians around Australia, this is more than a reality.
After working his way through the local music scene during his younger years, Mr Leach never gave up on his dream.
“I'd always loved music,” he said.
“Once I got into high school I naturally wanted to rebel against that so I grew my hair long, started listening to Silverchair and started learning the drums.
“All the way through I played in local Echuca rock bands and in the early 2000's I think my band [Strathmore] was one of the biggest rock bands in the area.”
Even though studying music wasn't the done thing during his time at school, Mr Leach went on to do just that.
In 2002, he made the move to the big smoke and worked on his craft.
“I was playing in bands in Melbourne and really started honing in my skills as a songwriter,” Mr Leach said.
“That's when I decided to make the logical progression to playing guitar instead of being the drummer in the band.”
During this time, Mr Leach had also studied teaching and as a way of making money when the gigs may not have been coming his way as much, he taught students what he knew and loved.
“I's just finished my teaching degree and was teaching in Melbourne when I saw a job came up at Moama Anglican Grammar and I couldn't pass it up,” he said.
“It was a chance for me to take my young family back to spend time with my parents and work at the same time.
“I got to meet some amazing people through that job, some very talented kids and my guitarist in my band is actually the guitar teacher there so that was great timing.”
He thought he had finally made it in the music business, but 2020 had another thing coming.
“I felt like I was getting where I wanted to be with my music,” Mr Leach said.
“I was given so many amazing opportunities like headlining last year's Deni Ute Muster and I was invited to play in Tamworth for the first time early this year.”
What started off as a year of charity gigs to raise money for the bushfires became something a bit more difficult for the entertainment industry.
“While I loved supporting those who were affected by the bushfires, we were doing gigs for free and then COVID-19 came and just took everything to a whole other level,” Mr Leach said.
“I was lucky that I had released my first single at the start of the year so I was able to ride off the back of that for a while.”
And while he knew he was lucky to have a financial lifeline in his teaching, that didn't mean it was any less difficult.
“I'm one of the lucky ones as one of the musicians that has a job,” Mr Leach said.
“Don't get me wrong, I've been hit really, really hard, especially trying to put out a record and get that off the ground financially has been a struggle.
“The social side of being a musician has been taken away too. It's that personal gratification you get through that, but I've been lucky that I'm a musician with a fulltime job that allows me to keep talking about and playing music.”
And on top of that, Mr Leach had been starting to speak out about his struggles with mental health.
“With my album, I did have something I was working on that took up a lot of my time, and one of my singles reached number one on the country iTunes charts so I was happy with that so I could focus my energy into that,” he said.
“But at the same time, over the last couple of years I've started opening up about my depression and anxiety.
“I've never really dealt with it until now after I had a bit of a breakdown a few years ago, but I'm thankful that I've been gifted with an outlet like music and I can channel my emotions in that way.”
But thankfully, Mr Leach has found ways to manage his mental health.
“I don't really have a lot of time to relax,” he said.
“I have three little ones here and one that has just started school so apart from that I've been able to use running as a way of coping and I've been lucky to have access to therapy and getting help in that way.
“Practising gratitude has been a huge thing I've learnt to do.”
Like every musician around the country, Mr Leach is waiting for the day he can get back to his music at full capacity.
“Everyone in every industry is struggling and we're all in this together, but I really can't wait to be able to get back to doing what I love and celebrate my new album with as many people as I can,” he said.
Mr Leach's new album Trigger will be available for purchase and streaming from September 4.
You can pre-order the album online at garethleach.com/get-trigger