Orphan Prodigy: Shades of Solace on Music and Mental Health Advocacy

Welcome to Why Not Me? Embracing Autism and Mental Health Worldwide?
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world one story at a time. Hi, I'm Tony Mantur.
Welcome to Why Not Me? Embracing Autism and Mental Health Worldwide?
Today I am joined by a powerful duo in both
music and advocacy. Ian Keller, once the frontman of an
alternative rock band, began shaping what would become his latest
creative project, Orphan Prodigy. Alongside him is his wife, Danielle Keller,
who shares in the journey as they talk about their music,
their upcoming shows, and their mission to shine a light
on mental health awareness. Together, they blend passion purpose and
artistry in a way that inspires conversation and connection. So
before we dive into our episode, we'll be back with
an uninterrupted show right after a word from our sponsors.
Thanks for coming on, Thank you, Yeah, thanks for having us. Man, Oh,
it's my pleasure. Glad to have you both on. If
you would give us a little background on Orphan Prodigy.
So, during the summer of twenty nineteen, my previous band
was going on hiatus. It was clear they didn't want
to do any more touring, anymore albums and things like.
That, and I needed an outlet. And then the pandemic hit.
Yeah, I actually went through my own bout of agoraphobia,
and during that time I got help. My family was
so great. They supported me and they found a great
therapy that was called exposure therapy on Long Island. Basically,
what it was was they would take me to like
crowded places like the mall or you know, just really big,
crowded places that I would have to basically just kind
of live out over and over again until I was
kind of getting until I got used to it basically,
and I don't know, three four months later, I guess
I was not cured, but better and better enough to
kind of reconsider my life and what I was doing.
I'd been touring for fifteen years at that point, and
I decided I was going to kind of take a
step back in music and do you know, approach it
from the production side, from this wonderful school in Arizona
called the Conservatory Recording Art and Sciences. And two weeks
into that program, I was back writing songs. So I
was being introduced to digital audio work stations like Logic
and pro Tools. So that was the beginnings of or
from Prodigy the music. How it started. Wow, that's a
great story. Now what about you two? Were you married
before this all started?
Interestingly enough, I got out of my agorapobic state and
we crossed paths very soon after that, within maybe a
week of my kind of coming out of therapy. And
it was it was always cosmic, you know, it was
just kind of meant to meant to be one of
those things where it just kind of hit it off
and I slowly, you know, you can tell it better
than I can. I guess I revealed layers of myself through,
you know, slowly, and yeah, we just kind of just
never stopped having that eternal sleepover that we refer to
all the time. Well, that's great that it worked out
that way. Now you say you're a psychologist, correct, I am, okay,
So how did that work between the two of you
in this kind of scenario.
I mean, when we met and was coming out of
his phase as he described, I knew exactly what type
of therapy he was doing, and I think that that
knowledge had helped his smooth transition from coming out of
agoraphobia where you're kind of stuck in your home and
now you're back to public spaces, writing on public transportation.
So for me knowing that, I think to speak to
the psychology piece, I think it was helpful because I
was able to not only help him along, but be
patient when there were some setbacks, because this isn't a
perfect system, right, I think. You know, Ian's also very
open about talking about panic disorder and the same thing.
I mean, I'm not without anxiety myself, but you know,
with having a partner with panic disorder, and it kind
of sets on or sets in rather very randomly.
It hits you when you least expect it.
And for me being in really a place of no
judgment and no knowing kind of how to talk to him,
help him out of it, and vice versa. You know,
I think we really help each other in that way.
And I hope that answers your question. I mean, I
could keep going on, but.
Yeah, absolutely does.
Now, can you describe to our listeners what you go through, because,
like she just said, it can come out of nowhere.
When it does come out of nowhere, what happens, what
goes through your mind?
Then?
How do you deal with it? Yeah, it just happened yesterday, right,
it's yesterday.
Yeah, I'm actually recorded it.
It's actually really bad yesterday, and I just said, you know,
I'm going through this. I want to see what it
looks like because I've never actually seen myself go through it.
And I told her to just record me, and yeah,
it's brutal looking. But you know, when it's happening, it's
kind of like a tunnel vision. You just kind of
dissociate and you really kind of it's almost like a
bad trip. You really feel like you've ingested something that
is just altering your perception of reality, and you kind
of feel like you're watching yourself in third person.
You're not really connecting to yourself.
So everything kind of feels like if you're sort of
like the like it's a puppeteer kind of thing. It's
very just insane and just scary. It's terrifying.
You know.
The feeling, the visceral feeling is terror, sheer terror, and
you don't really know when it's going to end. And
I think that's part of why, you know, the cycle
just keeps perpetuating itself, and it really takes sometimes it's different.
You know, the way I come down from it is
through understanding, as Daniel mentioned, and you know, empathy, just listening,
me being able to express myself. You know, she asked
me how I'm feeling, what are the symptoms. She asked
me to kind of go through this five four three
two one technique where I kind of pick five things
in the room describe them.
That's accompanied by breathing.
So you know, it's pretty it's pretty scary, and you know,
for fifteen years, my managers and my previous band were
sort of monetizing that. You know, I was having panic
attacks on stage because the base was too much or something.
It would make me kind of you know, destroy the
equipment or whatever. But it was really just me not
being able to handle the lights or the sound. It's
very it's very interesting how that works. It's very different.
Now we run a very tight ship.
What about the people around you if they didn't understand
or understand what you was going through, how did they
react to it? And then how did you react to
their reaction.
Yeah, a lot of times no one could relate to me.
And you know, being surrounded by people in the music business,
you know, depending on what level you're at, there's all
types of people that you're surrounded by. And a lot
of the times I was surrounded by people who were
kind of under the influence, and so they're like, just
have a drink, you know, just you know, take the
edge off, or smoke, you know whatever, just do whatever.
And I really got to a point where I couldn't
do that. Stuff doesn't agree with me. It just makes
it worse. In fact, perpetuates the problem. You know, short
term solutions and that. But I'm at a point in
my life where I'm surrounded by people and a great
team that does understand that I have I need certain accommodations,
if you want to call it that.
You know, when we do a show, it has to
be very strict schedule.
We leave and we're I've at a very specific time
and I kind of go in with my posse and
they're surrounding me and it's comfortable, it's not too much,
and you know, we have a drummer and a bass
player and sometimes it's just Danielle and I walking into
the venue and we'll meet up with them like kind
of during the soundcheck. It just has to be done
in a very I guess, a very agreeable way.
Structured, and if I can piggyback off of that.
I've noticed also that it's very hard when you're trying
to hide something, right. And what I've noticed in the
years that we've been together, you know, we met right
before the pandemic hit, so our relationship was kind of
born during this pandemic, which is why we call it
this eternal sleepover. But what I've noticed is that when
Ian can open up and talk about and say out loud,
I'm in a panic or this is what's going on,
I help facilitate conversation. I see him unwind faster and
easier than if he's white knuckling something that he's hiding
behind and no one else.
Knows about it.
It's so much harder to go through it, I think alone,
and I think that can resonate with a lot of people.
Absolutely, I believe a lot of people can relate to that. Now,
you mentioned you went from frontman to behind the scenes,
so I get that. I've done that. I've been a
frontman on a band. Then I moved here to Nashville
doing production work behind the scenes.
How did you handle that?
It's a complete different mindset from being on stage to
being in the studio behind the scenes. Was that a
smooth transition with everything that you was going through or
were there a few rough edges that you had to
tweak to get everything completely under control for yourself?
I think the biggest thing, you know, as a musician,
you're always demoing and you're always kind of working with
hardware or software anyway. So there was kind of just
the kind of refining it at the school experience for me.
But when I started writing the or from Prodigy stuff,
I had already been composing digitally since I was twelve,
So it was a very easy transition. It was more about,
again just kind of refining how to communicate the vision,
you know, getting balances right, finding certain frequencies that fit
building around those frequencies and just painting an overall better picture.
I think I liked the control of it.
I liked finally being able to not have a vision
that was diluted by a producer, label, other bandmates.
Even Yeah, I get that completely.
So Orphan Prodigy is you know, one hundred and thirty
percent you know me, And I'm very proud of that record.
I think we did a really great job with it,
and team that we have now that we're working with
just everybody has been fantastic.
So that's great. Everyone has to feel proud of what
they do. Now, do you play an instrument as well?
My main instrument is guitar and I sing. But for
the record I composed, it was a hybrid of you know,
kind of electric guitar and electronic drum parts composed. But
then I'd also take over and play them myself depending
on what needed to be played, or keyboard synths up too,
so it's all over the place.
Yeah, that's perfect. Now, Danielle, what is your focus? What
do you oversee in the band?
So I've always been a part of it behind the scenes.
Whether it's in regards to like merch or marketing or
even artistic creativity. I was involved in some of the
music videos that we made and the editing process. I
was very hands on in coming to the forefront, which
was really funny and kind of just like a conversation
one day that we were like, hey, like, you're so involved,
why don't we just like bring you on stage?
And I was like, yeah, that sounds great. I don't
think I.
Have singing skills, but what I end up doing on
stage is some sampling as well as some backing tracks
and backing vocals.
So it's been a fun learning experience.
Yeah, that's great. As long as you loving what you're doing,
that's the main thing. Now, are you touring or are
you still getting ready to tour?
The band's been on tour for we've been so we've
been hybrid touring since the pandemic. It started with me
just an acoustic guitar and some backing tracks, and it
was in her cottage during the pandemic, so it was
just like a laptop, really janky setup. No SM seven
b's by sure. But the last year, uh twenty twenty four, specifically,
as I was writing the record, we really turned and
we moved to Connecticut. By the way, from New York.
We really turned the basement into a full production and soundstage,
so if you go downstairs, it's just like you know,
there's just a bunch of cameras and a bunch of
band equipment and like. So we run our streams with
e tickets and people, you know, pay a fee to
watch the performances.
That's one part of it. That's great.
Have you done any live shows from city to city?
Yes, yeah, so we've done. We've done some East coast states,
some West coast states, and right now we're taking a
bit of a break, but we're doing some pop up
shows around kind of local do us but kind of
just one of those things where it's like we're going
to show up and you'll see us or you won't,
and that's kind of the draw right now. In the meantime,
behind the scenes, we are still keeping the schedule of
performing virtually and streaming virtually, interacting with our fans through
gaming and mental health talks.
Yeah, that's great. Sounds like a great plan. Now that
you're out there, people are saying you getting to know you,
understanding what you've been through. What kind of feedback are
you getting from this? Have you been overwhelmed with the
people that will reach out to you. So how has
the feedback been for you?
Yeah, it's been It's been really overwhelming actually and validating.
It's crazy how many people are willing to be honest,
share their own stories kind of you know, be able
to relate to me and vice versa.
You know, everybody's got something.
I think that's one thing that my parents have always
said to me that ever really hit until later in life,
but right now it does.
You know, everybody has something. Nobody's perfect.
You know that favorite class made of, that favorite idol
you look up to every day. You know, everybody has
something that they're dealing with, and it's just an amazing
way to connect with people.
Yeah.
Absolutely, Now, Danielle, when people reach out, you hear the
stories that people will tell, and then of course with
him interacting, what's your part? How do you help tie
all the loose ends together to make a complete package
for the I.
Think with the mental health background, I love how our
album is really speaks to advocacy for mental well being overall,
and so having our fans connect with us not only
for our artistic you know, abilities and what they love
about us artistically, but also with that message and the
brand that we're trying to portray that. You know, I
was talking with Ian the other day and saying, you know,
if our fans are connecting with us and we're helping
them feel more authentic and more in their body and
in their shoes and they can start to show up.
For who they really feel that they are.
Then then we're doing something right, you know, not only
creating it, you know, an awesome album that people love
to listen to, but also helping them feel more themselves.
You know, we both grew up in a generation where
mental health was just becoming destigmatized, and I think, you know,
not only do we both have our anxieties, as everybody
has anxiety, right just you know, now what level of
anxiety are you dealing with? I think it speaks really
just very home to us because again of growing up
in the generation that we did, seeing it desigmatize, you know,
and now how it's a huge conversation piece is just awesome.
Yeah, I totally agree. The more conversation we can have,
the better it's going to be. I've had a chance
to listen to some of your music. I really like it.
Tell me a little bit about the song Trader. Everyone
can have a different take on lyrics. I'm interested to
hear what your message is on this because it seems
to have a pretty good one.
Yeah.
You know, so when I wrote that song, I was
kind of always under the impression that it was about
you know, a really bad, toxic relationship or whatever. You know,
everybody can relate to that at some level, I think,
But I really in the last couple of months I
realized it wasn't about It wasn't about that on the surface. Yeah, sure, fine,
But for me personally, and you know again, songs are
meant to be interpreted however you need them to be interpreted.
But for me, my intation of it is rejection as
a whole. Whether that's on a personal level or in
the workplace, or just in a more worldly sense. It's
just about rejection and you know, sitting in that, feeling
it and accepting it and moving forward.
Yeah. Absolutely, that's a tough situation.
Now. You just mentioned the word stigma. I try to
use a different word now, and it's perception. I try
as much as I can to use that word instead
of the other one. In reality, that's really what it is.
It's perception. Because most people have this idea of what
it is. In reality, they're not even close. I think
we have to get them away from that idea because
if we keep using the word, they will never ever
try and change. But if we tell them it's their perception,
then hopefully they'll want to learn more so they understand
and use their critical thinking instead of just living with
what they thought it was. So, how do you approach
that you put your life out there for people to see.
You tell them your story, actually the both of you
are telling your stories. How do you put it out
there in such a way so it takes on a
completely different perception then they can look at the reality
of it all and hopefully learn.
You know, I think it all goes back to just
being honest. It's not really writing for anybody. It's not
supposed to be any singular message. It's supposed to just
be what I'm spitting out. For lack of a better term,
it's just me. It's just me inventing, it's me creating,
it's me releasing and just opening up.
Without any armor. You know.
I don't go in writing a song or an album
with a concept for that matter, with any sort of
armor on it's a I have an idea, and I
just tell a story through each song as a chapter,
and you know, the vulnerability comes out in the creativity,
I think, and for me that's the most important thing
is to keep things authentic and genuine and never limit
yourself creatively. You know, there's some arrangements on that record
that are just totally atypical and don't follow the rules
of traditional songwriting, and I'm not there to. I think
as indie artists we have a responsibility, especially in music,
to kind of break the rules and push things forward
a little bit, especially when we're not bound by you know,
labels or producers or expectations of sales and things like that.
You know.
So that's what I try to do with this record
is really just be the best songwriter, the most vulnerable
songwriter that I could be.
Yeah, that's a great attitude. That's a great way to be.
I have no issues with that whatsoever. I'm interested. Has
there ever been any lyrical or musical collaboration. Maybe he's
working on some lyrics. You have an idea, then all
of a sudden, that's a great idea. I never thought
of it that way, anything like that ever.
Happened lyrically is all Ian that I don't touch.
It's a very I think special way that Ian writes
and how it should be. Ian has always said that
one of his heroes, I think from Wheezer, wrote three
songs a day, and to this day he still writes
three songs and I'll see him throughout the day jot
down lines that just spoke to him of inspiration, and
as we go through the day, the song's coming together
with all these different lines. I think where I've come
in the most is in the post production side. So
when the song has finally come together and he's like, Okay,
I listened to it like a hundred times, I need
your ears now.
To listen to it.
So I come in and I'll give my suggestions, and
I again love it.
I think it's fun.
It's a fun process to be involved in it like
that is awesome as well.
And I guess I've given some good feedback.
Yeah, and you also mentioned, you know, you're part of
the editing process with the videos and the branding and
all that stuff in the background too, you know, which
is equally important.
I think absolutely fresh ears, fresh eyes can change the
project completely.
H the music videos are also so very fun to
be able to say, you know, you should turn here,
look here, do this, do that, and then see it
come together on screen.
It's like a very cool process.
Yes, it is.
Being behind the scenes and being behind the editing is
a very cool process because it's part of that creativity
that actually puts it all together to make it what
it is. So when you finally get one done, each piece,
each song is your baby. I understand that from the
production side because that's what I do now. I listen
to these songs it's going to go out to radio,
and before they go out, I put them under the microscope.
So what's your feel How do you react? What goes
through your mind when you finally put all the polish on,
You've got the song done, it's ready to go out.
What's your mindset when you finally say, okay, here it
is world, it's going out tomorrow.
Really anxious because you know, for me, like a mix
is never done. A song can be done, but a
mix is never ever going to be done.
So it's just like I was going to say, for you,
like Ian can continue to tinker and tinker and tinker
with it, and so I think he does bring me in.
To say, like pump the brakes.
Yeah, like we are we good here?
Yes, I totally get that. I completely understand that mindset.
I had a CD completely done, duplicated. Then a promoter said,
we're going to take this one song to radio.
It's great.
Even though it was complete, it wasn't complete enough for me.
It was good for a CD cut, but not for
a radio single. I went back into the studio and
gave it a complete remix. So you are so right.
A song is never done. Yeah, So if you would
tell the listeners what you think is really important that
they need to hear about what you're doing and what
you're planning on doing and where you see your project
and future projects going, so you can continue to help
people that need help as well.
I think what we're trying to do the most is
to convey a message that you are not alone in
this modern world that we're living in, where there are
thousands upon thousands of medications to take to suppress feelings
and treat conditions and things, and just you know the
world is on fire and all that whatever. You know,
like in this world that we're living in, there's still
inner peace to be found and there are still people
that are there for you and with you.
And not against you, and for us.
Our way of you know, pushing that messages to you
know one through the album and Medication from Our World
and all the songs on it. The other avenue that
we have is the gaming that we do. We actively
engage with our fans and we really try to build
relationships with them that are real. And the other avenue,
the third avenue, is the mental health avenue where she
daniel speaks about psychology as a whole and I teak
about my experiences with panic disorder and being adopted and
how they intertwine.
I think that's great. By getting out there and connecting,
you really are helping a lot of people. Danielle, you
mentioned you're a psychologist. Is that something you actively practice
or have you set it aside to focus on your
work with the band?
I do that's my day job or from Prodigy by day? No,
I am.
So.
I'm a clinical psychologist and I do individual family therapy,
couple therapy. I promote evidence based treatment so cognitive behavioral
therapy DBT, and I love it. It's what I've wanted
to do since I was really young. Actually, I really
love that we are now merging or from Prodigy with
mental Health, because it really is we're both sides of
the coin. But the fact that we can bring this
advocacy work to our creative side as well is really
cool and it's really unique, I think, and makes us
stand out. And we're also living and breathing exactly what
we're preaching. I was going to say a phrase, but
I can't think of the phrase. But we're authentic, you know,
we are partnering with brands that are part of our
own lifestyle, so nothing about us is just staged.
Staged. Yeah, good word for it. Right.
We're one hundred percent us even maybe one hundred and
fifty percent and maybe we I had times, probably have
to dial it back. Uh, But I love that about us,
and I hope that's, you know, also another reason why
people love us.
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, being authentic is the very best thing you
can do. When people see you for who you are,
then when they accept you for who you are, that's
a huge win. By doing that, you've made yourself relatable.
When people can relate to you, that's when they will
follow you, and then you're going to help a lot
of people Now in closing, can you give our listeners
all the information they need to know on how to
meet you, how they can contact you, all the information
they need so they can reach out and connect with you.
Yeah, so just google Orphan Prodigy at this point. Now
we have a website orphan prodigy dot com. That's where
that's like the hub, the central help where you can
find the shows, the tour dates, the merge, all that stuff.
Social media at Orphan Prodigy for everything.
We have Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, which discord just coward, Yeah,
all the stuff.
The biggest thing is that, Yeah, if you want to
connect with us, we are willing to do an equally
shared experience with you or you know, have that shared
experience with you, and I guarantee you find something special
and unique in what we do.
Yeah, we have two shows coming up as well, in
person live and our November twenty first show is the
release of our Patreon as well, so you can look
forward to that.
Oh it's also this hasn't even been announce yet, so
this is an exclusive. We're also releasing our next single
that same day called Deep Base, which is the only
collaboration on the album. And so yeah, that's happening on
November and twenty first in Brooklyn at First Live, so
you can catch us there at ten pm.
Yeah, that's awesome. Well, this has been great, great conversation,
great information. I really love what you're doing with your band,
focusing on helping people.
That's really really good.
I really appreciate you taking the time to join us today.
Absolutely, thank you for having us.
Thanks so much. It was really fun. Oh it's been
my pleasure. Thanks again.
Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to
listen to our show today. We hope you enjoyed it
as much as we enjoyed bringing it to you. If
you know someone who has a story to share, tell
them to contact us at why notom dot world. One
last thing, spread the word about why not me. Our
converse statians are inspiring guests that show you are not
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