A playwright who shares his name with the lead singer of rock band Bring Me The Horizon has been thanked by his famous namesake for replying to more than 1,000 emails meant for him. Oli Sykes set an the email account under his own name when he was 16.
But just a couple of years later, while in his second year of a theatre studies degree at Lancaster University, that same email would bring 'absolute chaos' into his life. Within a week of the release of BMTH's second album Suicide Season, avid fans of the multi-million selling alternative metal act began bombarding Oli's inbox with messages for their hero.
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"My inbox started piling up with messages – predominantly from teenage girls – desperately trying to contact Oli Sykes," he said. "I had about 30 or 40 people telling me how much they loved 'me' and 'my album'. I just remember thinking, ‘what am I going to do?"
But due to the nature of some of the messages Oli felt like he couldn't just ignore them. Many of the young people who mistakenly contacted him wanted to share their struggles with mental health or explain intimate parts of their lives.
Oli, now 34, had experienced his own struggles with depression and anxiety so vowed to respond to each and every one. "I was a student and completely unequipped to help or do anything about it, but I couldn't just leave them unread – not when they were baring so much of themselves," he said.
"Initially, I started sending responses to each person saying, 'Thank you for your message. I'm not actually the Oli Sykes that you want to contact, but I'm really sorry to hear about what you're going through and I wish you all the best. Here's a link to the charity, Mind'.
"I'm not the sort of person that could just pop them in the junk folder and go about my day. My conscience wouldn't allow me to do that."
But the emails kept coming - sometimes up to 50 a day. Oli, who grew up in Chapel-en-le-Frith in the Peak District before moving to Chorlton, sought help from student services, who helped him set up a standardised response, including links to singer Oli's website and more places where the fans could seek help.
And while that helped, it didn't stop the torrent of messages. Oli contacted the band's record label, but didn't receive a reply and says he eventually spent more time replying to the emails than he did studying for his degree.
Luckily for him, by the time BMTH - who dueted with Ed Sheeran on Bad Habits - released their third album album in 2010, they were much better equipped to correspond with their fans, so the emails eventually stopped.
Looking back now Oli, who spent 10 years as a producer at Manchester's Contact theatre, where he worked with the likes of Sophie Willan, creator and star of Bolton-based, Bafta Award winning sitcom Alma's Not Normal, says the experience 'gave me a flavour of what it’s like to be truly famous and I realised I didn’t want it'.
"Whenever I tell friends the story of my time at university, they laugh about how I could never be actually mistaken for Oli Sykes," he added. "Some of my friends are fans of the band and have said things like, 'you're a knock off version of him'.
"I'm short and stocky and he's tall and skinny. He's got quite a specific look (including literal fangs) but he's just a bit of a heart throb, isn’t he?"
After Oli the playwright wrote about the experience for the Metro newspaper, Oli the singer messaged him on Instagram to thank him for everything he'd done. "Hi man – my drummer just showed me the Metro article," the message read.
"That's an incredibly sweet and selfless thing to do, thank you. You will of helped so many people looking for some kind of answer or connection in a dark time, in a time where I was really struggling myself & tbh I wouldn't of equipped myself to deal with. So thank you. Xxx"
Oli's one man show, Alfie's First Fight is currently touring theatres, libraries and boxing clubs across the country, including several dates in Greater Manchester. For more details visit oliver-sykes.com.
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