Submitted photo Victor Tirabassi, left, and Jason Murphy reunited their band, 45 Thieves, for a show this weekend at The Big Stomp, a music festival in Louisville, Ky, that aims to erase the stigma of mental illness.

HUBBARD — Jason Murphy of Youngstown knows all too well what it’s like to live with the darkness.

It’s why he was eager to be part of this weekend’s The Big Stomp in Louisville, Ky. The two-day music festival’s mission is to encourage the community to advocate for mental health so people no longer have to silently suffer.

Murphy’s mental illness symptoms started showing up while he was living decades ago in Louisville, Ky., where he was performing as a DJ in clubs and as a musician in the band Imperial Sound System.

“At the time, I was self-medicating and indulging in things that I knew I shouldn’t be indulging in,” he said. “I didn’t treat myself very well.

“I carried that behavior over to my band, 45 Thieves (after moving back to Hubbard), and it came to a head when I was repeatedly hospitalized for what I thought was a heart attack or a stroke.

“I did not know what was wrong with me. They gave me every CT scan and I still did not know what was wrong with me.

“Then my diagnosis ended up being generalized anxiety disorder and dyslexia,” Murphy said.

“I found a doctor who cared and wanted to address the problem. Today, I am on the right medication to treat these symptoms, so it is not necessary to self-medicate.”

Murphy is the band director at The Purple Cat, ISLE (Iron and String Life Enhancement Inc.) and Golden String Inc., a local workshop program for adults with disabilities. Murphy’s music program includes the band The Feral Cats, comprised of Purple Cat clients.

45 THIEVES

While still under the pressure of anxiety, Murphy moved back to his hometown of Hubbard. His childhood friend Victor Tirabassi of Hubbard, CEO of his own record label, Conquest Records, and an audio engineer, came to the rescue. The two formed the local jungle drum and bass duo, 45 Thieves, in early 2000.

Tirabassi writes and records all of the act’s singles and also plays saxophone, bass and keyboards, while Murphy scratches records.

The duo dropped out of the scene as Murphy began his work at The Purple Cat and Tirabassi moved to Bangkok, Thailand, for 20 years.

Inspiration for the 45 Thieves reunion was the Grimy Grooves Records Re-Launch at Westside Bowl earlier this year.

Grimy Grooves Records is a record label owned and operated by local musician Brandon Martin, who performs and writes music under the pseudonym, DrGoo.

“The show was wonderful ,and I knew Victor would be at the show. He and I haven’t seen each other in 20 years.”

Tirabassi said, “Murphy and I saw each other at the Grimey Grooves Re-Launch event and decided to start back up on the local scene.”

The 45 Thieves will play at the festival The Big Stomp on Friday and Saturday at Jones Fields in Louisville, Ky. The festival was created in 2017 in honor of Louisville native Pete Jones, who suffered from mental health issues and committed suicide in December 2016. The festival originally was called “PeteFest.”

“The stigma around mental health is toxic. It’s nonsense to think that society, especially today, isn’t suffering from mental illness in one way or another,” Murphy said.

“It’s a big deal that Tirabassi and I got back together to play music. He encourages me to be the best that I can be. When I was younger, he was someone I looked up to, but now I am grateful that I am able to perform with him with a clearer head on the world stage,” Murphy said.

GETTING BACK TOGETHER

Murphy and Tirabassi are grateful to be taking the stage Saturday to help stomp out the stigma of mental health issues.

“I reached out to Jason Clark, founding partner of Transmit Productions, and told him that 45 Thieves is going back on the road and that if there was anything we would fit into showwise in the Louisville area, we will appreciate it.

“We were humbled and blown away that they were able to find us a spot on The Big Stomp,” Murphy said.

“Having a music festival centered around mental health awareness is the perfect alignment of mission and entertainment,” Clark said. “It speaks to a younger audience that has either already, or will soon, come upon these challenges, either personally or with loved ones. Encouraging people that are social and outgoing to normalize and discuss mental health challenges encourages people to have open discussions.

“I personally went through an episode of panic attacks that lasted three to four years when I was in my 20s,” Clark said.

Murphy said, “Playing this event isn’t so much the music helping to cure the condition, it’s me facing the condition and being able to perform sober. It’s the proposal to be able to play live again with a clear head and to be fully present and not under the influence,” Murphy said.

Tirabassi said 45 Thieves has been working on new music. The band’s music can be found on Discogs.com, Beatport.com, Juno Download and Soundcloud. Also, Tirabassi’s label, Conquest Recordings, has its own Soundcloud page. The Conquest Recordings webpage is under construction.

“We have a track called ‘Crazy’ coming out on the local label Grimey Grooves this coming August.

“Also, late August, we have the remix of ‘Right Now’ coming out on Conquest Records and about 20 tunes in the mastering stage of production. Also, many new visuals and graphics have all played a major role in our release and events,” Tirabassi said.

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