Flyleaf So Sick

"When I sing, I belt notes and it's almost like yelling, but in a protected way," says the 20-year-old Winnipeg musician, who knows too well the pain and isolation of holding it all in.

Although he has struggled with emotional and behavioural issues -- uncontrollable rages, depression, impulsivity, self-harm -- since childhood, until recently, he mostly kept his suffering to himself.

"I had to hide it really well because my family didn't understand," recalls Demetrioff, who was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder about 18 months ago. It's not that they weren't supportive, he says, but somewhere along the way he adopted the belief that "anything less than normal wasn't acceptable," especially mental illness.

"Meanwhile, inside I was just rotting."

Today, Demetrioff not only wants to talk about mental illness, the frontman of the indie rock band Waterfront Drive wants to help other young people dealing with mood disorders discover the healing power of music and the sense of camaraderie that can come from co-creating it with people who "get" you.

Which bring us to St. Boniface College, where Demetrioff, along with bandmates Paul DeGurse and Andrew Olver, is leading the Let It Out Summer Rock Camp in collaboration with the Mood Disorders Association of Manitoba (MDAM).

"I think we're just going to jam a lot today," Demetrioff tells the 10 participants (five girls, five guys), who range in age from 13 to 17. They've split themselves into two bands: an alt-rock group by the name of One Night in Vegas and a posse of metal rockers called Last Night's Line.