Justin Furstenfeld is one rocker you won’t hear fretting about album sales or gloating about fan postings on his band’s Web site.
In a world full of poseurs, Furstenfeld is the real thing — both in his music and his causes. Want proof? Rather than hiding behind a wall of publicity when a mental illness briefly sidetracked his career, the rocker used the illness as a platform to make a stand for others.
“I want to raise awareness about issues that might drive someone to suicide. That’s something that should be addressed very publicly and very seriously,” he said. “I don’t care about how many albums I sell. I care about this cause.”
“Pick up the Phone Tour” — Blue October with Stars of Track and Field, Hurricane Bells
Where: 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW
When: 7 p.m. Sunday
Info: $25; 930.com
Ever since Furstenfeld co-founded the band in the mid-1990s, he’s accomplished the seemingly impossible. After the band was dropped from its label in 2002, he refigured its lineup, wrote new songs and won such strong popular appeal that the label re-signed Blue October. Since then, the band has consistently been on the charts and its songs have found popular and critical success.
The band is now touring behind “Approaching Normal,” its latest release produced by Grammy Award-winner Steve Lillywhite, who perhaps is best known for his work with U2.
Perhaps it’s not surprising that many of the songs on the latest album deal with “crap I had to get off my chest” about relationships, mental illness and ultimately empowerment. It’s just another way for Furstenfeld to let people know mental illness needs to be discussed and those who have it — or hint they do — need immediate help.
The album is the follow-up to the 2006 platinum release “Foiled” that included the hit “Hate Me.”
Just as the band was set to depart on last fall’s Pick Up the Phone Tour, Furstenfeld, who has openly spoken of his mental health, suffered what was called an “extreme mental anxiety attack” and doctors ordered him off the road.
“I had a lot of personal stress that didn’t have anything to do with work,” he said. “I missed my [three-year-old] daughter more than anything and I blacked out and just came to in a cab going to a mental hospital. I didn’t know what in the world had happened.”
After two months of treatment in Minneapolis-St. Paul and San Antonio, Furstenfeld was ready to “start completely over and tour.”
“When we go out on stage now I have a different purpose. For me it’s not like this will help this single or this album,” he said. “I sing and say what’s on my mind; it’s like I’m on a mission. I am proud to be able to do that. This isn’t about the rock star thing for us.”
