WARNING: This article contains sensitive topics. Those in need of support can contact the Mental Health Crisis Line: 613-722-6914 (within Ottawa) and 1-866-996-0991 (outside Ottawa), the Ottawa Distress Centre Crisis Line: 613-238-3311, the Youth Services Bureau 24/7 Crisis Line: 613-260-2360 or 1-877-377-7775 (toll) or Mental Health and Addiction Services of Ottawa: 613-225-7272.
Carleton University has introduced a new music scholarship honouring Riley Taylor, a Carleton community member who died in 2022.
This scholarship will be awarded annually to an undergraduate student studying guitar or percussion.
Taylor was a founding member of Ottawa punk band Twisted Limbs, whose remaining members performed a memorial concert in November 2023 at the House of Targ to raise funds for the new scholarship.
Kathy Armstrong, an undergraduate supervisor in Carleton’s music department, previously taught Taylor the drums and is a longtime family friend.
After his death, the family approached the music department to put a scholarship together in his memory. Taylor attended CKCU programming as a kid and worked at Carleton for a number of years, sharing his love for music often.
“An award like this is very welcome,” Armstrong said. “It’s an opportunity for our students to know [Taylor] and bring attention to some of the issues that are current in our time.”
Quinn Beneteau, a third-year music student at Carleton studying percussion, is the first recipient of the award. He said he hopes the scholarship continues to grow and thrive so musicians can get the support they need.
“It was shocking … knowing the history behind Riley Taylor. It was definitely an honour that I was the one to receive [the award],” Beneteau said.
Donavon O’Leary, Taylor’s cousin and a Twisted Limbs member, described the November concert as a part of his healing process and a space to share memories and stories about Taylor, who died from an opioid overdose at age 26.
“It felt natural,” O’Leary said. “A lot of people could feel that there was a presence missing, which was Riley.”
They dedicated a song, “Battery,” to Taylor, who left it unfinished shortly before he left the band due to his mental health. Following Taylor’s death, band members O’Leary and Adrian Harpelle united to finish the song and “put a good meaning to it.”
“The song was very dark, and you could really hear in his lyrics that [Riley] was hurting,” O’Leary said.
Harpelle and O’Leary said they wanted to change the song’s narrative and raise awareness about mental illness, letting listeners know there is a way out through community and support. They rewrote the last verse of the song to bring a more positive energy.
“We wanted this song to bring awareness to mental health and addiction [and] to take the taboo out of addiction being a choice,” O’Leary said. “ We just want to let this song go wherever it needs to go … and let people know that it’s okay to not be okay.”
Armstrong said that with the new scholarship, glimpses of Taylor’s passion for the arts will always be present.
“We get to see a little bit about who he is and remember him every year when this scholarship comes out.”
Featured image provided by Donovan O’Leary.
