Hong Kong rock bands hope their suicide awareness benefit concert will smash stigma against talking about it

Last May, singer Chris Cornell – the frontman of Soundgarden and a member of Audioslave – was found dead in a Detroit hotel room. The 52-year-old had hanged himself. Three months later Chester Bennington, the lead singer of Linkin Park, met the same end at his home in Los Angeles.

The suicides shocked and saddened music fans around the world, and in Hong Kong, local rock band The Raptors was especially hard hit. Songs by both Cornell and Bennington were regularly on the group’s playlist, and lead singer Sky Suen is a big fan of Linkin Park.

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“Their deaths really affected us. Even at those high levels where seemingly they are living this wonderful life, there can be this dark secret that is eating away at them,” says Greg Sutcliffe, the band’s bassist.

Both he and Suen have lost someone close to them to suicide. In 2006, Sutcliffe’s brother, who had a history of depression, committed suicide. And in 2014, Suen’s boyfriend Aaron took his own life. They experienced not only the pain of losing someone they loved, but also the taboo surrounding suicide, and the reluctance of people to openly discuss their thoughts and feelings for fear of being stigmatised.

Sutcliffe had no idea his brother was at risk of suicide. “The thing about people with depression is they are very good at disguising it, partly because there is such a stigma attached to mental health so they are pressured into not speaking out,” he says.

“Being aware of people’s mental health issues is fundamental to suicide prevention. It’s incumbent on people who have survived suicide to talk about how terrible and how lasting it is. My family is still suffering 11 years on.”