NEIL HILBORN // Slam Poet

Though not a musician, the art of Neil Hilborn hasn’t prevented him from amassing a huge international following. A slam poet, Hilborn came to the forefront of the zeitgeist with his poem OCD, verses that deal with the trials and tribulations of dating and relationships when you suffer with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Covering a variety of issues, Hilborn’s primary focus in his work is that of mental health issues, and he continues to work to spread the discussion to the masses with an Australian tour next month.

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Though the veil of stigma surrounding mental illness is slowly lifting, particularly within the arts, Hilborn, being at the frontline of the mental health discussion through his poetry, says that social stance on these issues could be going either direction at this point–more light is being shed, but we’re taking steps backwards at the same time. “I don’t want anybody to feel like I’m discounting their stories,” Hilborn begins, “But I’ve definitely noticed a few times, where people have almost seen mental illness as being this trendy thing, and so because some people think, ‘Oh you might just be faking it for attention’, or things like that, so I definitely worry about that.

“At the same time, I think that, that’s all a function of people being more willing to talk about their mental health, and just like have frank discussions about what’s going on in their heads. I think that so much [about] getting rid of stigmas about mental health, or making it just a more acceptable thing, is just allowing people to really humanise their struggles. You know what I mean? I think that it’s important. I think it’s getting better, even if there’s signs that it’s getting worse–because people are more willing to talk.”

 I really think I’m lucky that I was writing … I was trying to write about mental health, at a time that people were ready to start hearing about it.
[ Neil Hilborn ]

For Hilborn, as the world became more accepting toward these topics so he began his approach, breaking a seal and letting conversation flow after he took to the stage with pensive prose. His poetic performances have, if his more than seventy-five million views on YouTube are anything to go by, certainly sparked a deeper awareness and activism toward the issues surrounding mental health. “I really think people were ready,” he says, “I think that, despite a lot of the terrible things that are happening, I think that the world really is getting more progressive and accepting. So, I think that people were ready to start having hard conversations about mental health, and start being more accepting. And, I think that I just, I was there at the right place, the right time.

“I had written this poem [OCD] because, I was just trying to talk about what was going on in my head. I was just trying to be as honest and open about it as I could. I got very lucky. I really think I’m lucky that I was writing … I was trying to write about mental health, at a time that people were ready to start hearing about it.”

Much has changed in the world since OCD first saw the light of day in 2013 and indeed, since many were first turned onto mental health as a global epidemic in a more direct way, those seventy-five million viewers, a number greater than the total population of Australia, are moved to the edge of their seats because of Hilborn’s human, real and artistic method of relation on this subject. It’s fact that actually gets Hilborn stumped. “Before all this notoriety, before people knew who I was, I never wrote with an audience in mind. I just wrote of whatever was exciting to me, and whatever seemed like fun, because I could. Nobody was listening if I said something stupid, nobody was gonna hear it.

Listen to Neil Hilborn here on Hysteria Radio.

“Now, I think I’m much more cognizant of what I’m saying, of what message I’m putting out there, I want to make sure that people are not misinterpreting me. I mean, you can always misinterpret anything, I just want to make sure that I’m not getting me or anybody else in trouble with what I’m saying. I try to store that in my sort of critical editing brain.

“Where I’m writing first drafts, or when I’m just like, trying to be genuinely creative,  I don’t try to think about any of that crap, I just try to compartmentalise and put all that stuff just like out of my head, so that I can just be weird and allow myself to take risks, and make mistakes.”

Catch Neil Hilborn touring Australia this December thanks to Destroy All Lines.

Thu December 7, The Zoo, Brisbane QLD (18+)
Fri December 8, Bald Faced Stag, Sydney NSW (18+)
Sat December 9, Howler, Melbourne VIC (18+) SOLD OUT
Sun December 10, Howler, Melbourne VIC (18+)

Tickets available here.