The Prodigy’s Leeroy Thornhill on mental health and life after Keith Flint: “I reached that point once myself”
The Prodigy’s Leeroy Thornhill has opened up about life after Keith Flint, and discussed how he has overcome his own battles with mental health.
The musician, who was a part of the band between 1990 and 2000, spoke to The Guardian following the release of his new book, Wildfire. The memoir recalls what it was like to be part of the group during their first decade, and comes with previously unseen photography from their earliest raves up until the peak of their fame.
In the new interview, Thornhill recalled the impact that the loss of the frontman had on him, as well as his future with the band.
The legendary singer died on March 4, 2019 after taking his own life at the age of 49.
“I love him and I always will. We’ve been to 70 countries, met royalty, seen the coolest things on the planet. So of course we’re sad and heartbroken,” he began, going on to recall how he and some of his friends have also battled with mental health in the past.
“A lot of my friends have said, ‘Oh, I thought about killing myself’ and, you know, I kind of reached that point once myself,” he explained. “I don’t think that anyone prepares men for middle age. When they get to their 40s or 50s and they’ve got families, people don’t explain to them about the pressures, about how everything will crumble if anything happens to them.”
He continued: “A lot of the world rests on men’s shoulders but we don’t hear about that. It’s an age where people think they should be getting ready to retire and enjoy themselves, but instead they’re having to get an extra job on Saturday and working from 5am.
“There’s the old English stereotype of the man being the rock and you don’t talk about your problems – but you have to communicate.”
The news of Thornhill’s memoir arrived back in May, just weeks after The Prodigy paid tribute to the late frontman on the fifth anniversary of his death.
At the time, the band’s Liam Howlett and Maxim remembered their “unfadeable” bandmate with a series of posts on social media. “It’s been five years. We miss u so much brother,” they wrote on X/Twitter, alongside a selection of pictures of the ‘Firestarter’ vocalist. “U are always with us, right by our side, every time the energy burns, every time the beat drop, unfadeable.”
In his time away from the line-up, Thornhill has gone on to become an independent electronic artist, and has performed at the likes of the Messy Weekender Festival. Later in the interview, he said that he is still in touch with Howlett and Maxim, and remained close with Flint up until his death.
Despite still being in touch with his past bandmates, he confirmed that there was no hopes of him ever rejoining the line-up.
“You really want to see a 56-year-old man going around the stage like a grandpa at half speed?” he said. “That ain’t happening!”
Back in 2022 The Prodigy played their first live shows since Flint’s passing, where they paid tribute to the late vocalist. “He’s still-fucking-with us right now,” Maxim told the crowd towards the end of ‘Firestarter’ as they headlined London’s Brixton Academy. “He’s still here! Mr Flint fucking lives on in here!”
The band later opened up to NME about life on the road with The Prodigy after the frontman’s death. “We wanted to honour our brother Keef but do it in the right way. The whole tour was epic for us. It was so emotionally charged, uplifting, sonically violent… Everything we love,” Howlett said.
As for the future, he promised that The Prodigy “is bigger than just the band: it stands for something, the people know this, we know this …. even more after playing live again. I’m energised by that and we are back in the studio writing new tunes. The prodigy will continue to ignite, uplift and destroy just as we always did.”
In more recent Prodigy news, the band were recently confirmed as the headliners for the 2025 edition of Snowbombing, and announced details of their 2024 UK ‘Distrupra’ tour.
They also performed a huge set at this year’s Reading festival. The show scored a four-star review by NME which read: “This is a glossily produced and sensationally life-affirming gig. In Flint’s absence, Maxim carries the show almost entirely himself.”
Around that same time, Howlett opened up to NME earlier this year about what it was like to return to Reading and Leeds without late bandmate Keith Flint. “After losing Keith we couldn’t even think or talk about the band. I think it was two years after his death that me and Maxim started bringing it up. ‘Could we play live again? Did we even want to? Why? How?’ All that shit.
“We realised the only possible real way to know how we would feel was to do it: get back on stage and do a bunch of gigs. It was so hard to walk onto that stage without our brother, but we really felt the crowd with us. Those gigs were highly emotionally-charged but we came out the other end with our answer.”
He went on to say: “That was summer 2022 and here we fucking are: loud and proud!”
For further help and advice on mental health:
- “Am I depressed?” – Help and advice on mental health and what to do next
- MITC – A collective of musician industry therapists
- TONIC Rider – Bespoke training and support for music industry professionals
- Help Musicians UK – Around the clock mental health support and advice for musicians
- Music Support Org – Help and support for musicians struggling with alcoholism, addiction, or mental health issues
- YOUNG MINDS – The voice for young people’s health and wellbeing
- CALM – The Campaign Against Living Miserably
- The Samaritans – Confidential support 24 hours a day
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Liberty Dunworth
NME
