What initially attracted me to this group was its name. Worry Club is genius. It’s disarming, sarcastic, and serious all at once, just like the support group you want to join.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Chase Walsh, lead singer and creative force behind Worries Club. I wanted to understand the psychology behind the name and the person who chose it. What is revealed is vulnerability, masculinity, a joke as armor, what it means to push the body aside and create an identity before the public.
“I was wearing a hoodie that said ‘No Worries,'” Chase told me. laughing. “I thought it was kind of boring… and a colleague of mine said, ‘You should take the no sign and make it a angst club.’ And I was like, that’s cool. It’s very emo, but it’s also community driven.”
Going from worry-free to concern is about more than smart branding. Instead of rejecting worryrestructures and collectivizes it. It will be more tolerable.
Identity: Boy with a guitar
Coming from a musical family, Chase started playing instruments at a very young age.
“I was always an instrument kid growing up. It was my identity.”
Illustrated by Eric Erickson adolescence as a period of identity and role confusion, where people learn who they are and how they fit into the world (Erikson, 1968). For Chase, music became a stabilizing force self awareness it offered continuity and meaning. He played sports, but music was the place where he felt the strongest, the most himself, and where he could express the parts of his inner world that were difficult to express.
The studio itself and the stage itself
Reflecting on his solo writing and live performance personality, he said:
“The part where I write songs alone and my live personality is completely different… when I write songs, I think people I know will hear them. And I think that’s where the humor comes in. Like, when I’m vulnerable, I feel like I need to be funny.”
Humor can be powerful defense mechanism. This allows people to metabolize painful feelings without completely denying them. This creates enough distance to communicate spontaneously without feeling exposed.
“If I’m going to write a really sad song, I’ve got to have a fun side to it…so no one asks too many questions.”
Humor also works borderAllowing Chase to share his vulnerability while controlling how much access others have to his inner landscape.
Flow is a state of deep immersion in which self-awareness diminishes and disrupts time (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). For many performers, live music creates a high-risk, high-reward state of flux, emotionally regulated through rhythm and communication.
Chase says he rewrites songs during live shows, often improvising on the fly.
“I can speed up a song when I feel it…or slow down depending on the mood of the crowd,” he said.
In many ways, it is several nervous systems that control the same space together in real time. The group reads the room. The room reads the group. Energy circles.
“I want everyone to have a good time at the shows, including me.”
This “including me” is very important. Thus, many performers become lost in the demand for pleasure and lose their presence in the experience.
Pushing the limits
Currently on the I’m Freaking Out Tour, Worry Club takes their high-energy live shows across the country as Chase navigates the physical and mental demands of performing.
“I tried to be as healthy as possible on this tour,” he said. “Taking time to stretch and warm up is huge stress and injuries.”
Between long travel days, inconsistent sleep, and adrenaline, it’s important to maintain even small routines to regulate the body, which is constantly thrown out of its natural rhythm.
“I think I push my body’s limits every time,” she says. “To see if I can.”
“Sometimes I get sick and we still have to go through the show,” Chase explained. “That’s the hardest part, especially as a singer. If you push it too far, you can damage your voice.”
In a performance-based industry, the body becomes both a tool and a commodity. Efforts to overcome past fatigue are often reinforced and rewarded, even at physiological and psychological costs.
Male body
Visibility reshaped her relationship with her body and presentation. Stage costumes allow for more daring choices.
“I have a separate section in my closet for stage costumes,” she said, “things that I probably wouldn’t wear in my everyday life. Like a little dress or something.”
While traditional masculinity often emphasizes being emotionally guarded, tough, and courageous, music culture, especially in alternative spaces, allows for greater mobility and expression.
“That’s why I’m not a member sportsman “I’m a musician instead, you know,” he says.
“I’m a very skinny guy. I’ve never been able to put on weight or build muscle. So wearing this little dress, in a way, makes me look real … it’s very liberating.”
Relatability and the 24/7 creative brain
Chase is very transparent with fans.
“I’m a barista at home like you,” she says. “I have to work to pay the bills.”
In an age of hyper-curated personalities, reciprocity humanizes the performer and reduces the psychological distance between artist and audience.
Still, the cost of constant visibility can be draining.
“I work 24/7 during Worry Club,” he admitted. “It’s 11:30 at night and I feel like I need to be productive and start checking myself out.”
The mental burden of creative work in the age of algorithms can be exhausting. There is constant pressure to produce, track engagement and stay relevant. There is no clear boundary between identification and exit, and there is no real off switch.
“Being fully immersed in my passion is not about putting food on the table,” he said. “Trying to survive and keep making music … it’s been tough.”
This conflict is familiar to many artists and drives the debate between creatives authenticity and between financial survival, staying true to oneself, and adapting to societal demands.
The club we all belong to
We perform not only on stages, but also across social networksrelationships, work and everyday life. The pressure to see, evaluate, and understand in real time can intensify internal experiences that are once again personal. For many, anxiety is a process that they live and share out loud through the reels memes.
As severe as this effect is, it can also open the door to hookup. Through open conversations, naming mental health issues, singing about it, joking about it, and sweating it out, it’s possible to create a community around it.
Worry Club does not cure anxiety. This brings it into contact.
