P.H.F. Shares Single 'COMMS' Dedicated To Adison Whitley Of David Adison

Auckland artist P.H.F. (the recording project of Joe Locke) has released a powerful single 'COMMS' in dedication to musician Adison Whitley, who was reported by his family to have died by suicide over the past weekend. A popular member of Auckland's musical community, Whitley recorded solo under the name David Adison and was a member of NIISA, Heroes For Sale, milk and CHEATS. Locke opened up about the song and his friendship with Whitley, listen to 'COMMS' and read his words below...

Content warning - Suicide / Depression / Mental health:

"This song is pretty much about the day to day minutia of life with depression and suicidal thoughts. Me and Adison would constantly talk about our struggles with how hard it was a lot of the time to just wake up and give a shit about anything. We would constantly joke about suicide too, which I thought about a lot when I went to see him the Friday after he died, it was extremely surreal and totally fucking heartbreaking, but its a huge coping mechanism for me and would say the same for him. Every Thursday almost that we lived together, we would go to the liquor store and get some barrels then head home for hours and hours of listening to music, watching movies but mostly just talking. I think about how many people around him loved Adison so deeply and how heartbroken everyone is now, and I guess the main sentiment of this song is exactly how I feel about all of this which is why I wanted to dedicate it to him. The verse's lyrical content deal with exactly the same things we talked about and the chorus is a response to that.

It's hard to love when love ain't enough to keep you to hold you down. I don't even know if this makes sense or if anyone of my or his friends now will relate to this. It's hard to explain I guess, I just feel like we all loved Adison so much and we knew what he was going through with his mental health, a lot of us have the same issues. But at the end of the day it wasn't enough, because if you don't love yourself its almost irrelevant. I will always remember Adison as this extremely complex, loving, talented, creative, funny and beautiful person. Everyone that knew him would say the exact same shit. I love you Swan, I'm gonna fucking miss you so much. Rest in peace angel."

Image of Adison Whitley provided by Joe Locke. If you are concerned about yourself or a friend please reach out to Lifeline at 0800 543 354.