Pioneers: Hyphen (Aadarsh Gautam)

What does your work involve? 

When I was 20, I graduated from university with a degree in Philosophy and Economics. I was working at an investment bank, which is quite standard for Asians. But for the past six to eight years I have been making music – I rap and, at the moment, I make punk music.

I was a BBC Asian Network Future Sounds artist in 2020 and played at Reading and Leeds Festival. I guess I’ve been doing both [working in finance and making music] at the same time for a while.

I also do these mental health features, which talk about some of the experiences I went through losing friends to suicide and being suicidal myself, and coming through the other side of those experiences.

What inspires you? 

When I was at university, a really close friend of mine – a guy I grew up with – died by suicide and I had my own mental health problems at the time. I was depressed and those experiences made me reflect on my own life.

I was really conscious of my own mortality and it made me think, ‘Do I want to be on my deathbed and regret what I could have done with my life?’ The answer is obviously no and the outcome was that I started trying to pursue things I really loved and making something of them. And what I really love doing is music and making things that are performance-based.

What message would you give to the next generation? 

The reason I do the mental health events with schools and universities is that I was lucky enough to survive and I hope that it’s useful for people, especially young people, who might be experiencing something like that and who can see that there is a version of themselves that could be happy in the future. It’s kind of a sad story but I’m doing the things I love. Something beautiful and positive came out of those experiences.