#47 - From Korn to Compassion: Wesley Geer on Music as Medicine, Getting Sober in the Music Industry, and Founding Rock to Recovery

Mike Diamond sits down with Wesley Geer — guitarist for Head P.E., touring guitarist for Korn (replacing the late Shane Gibson), founder of Rock to Recovery, and co-author (with Dr. Constance Scharf) of the book Rock to Recovery — for one of the most honest conversations on this feed about how a music career and sobriety can coexist.Wes traces his arc from a 14-year-old in Fullerton, California obsessed with Eddie Van Halen and East Bay Ray, to becoming the first rock band signed to Jive Records (which had Tribe Called Quest and almost no rock acts), to flying to New York "high as hell on meth" to close that record deal, to walking away from Head P.E. after three records and ten years of touring, to working at his brother's pro-audio company, getting fired, getting into prayer and meditation — and getting a text from Korn ten days later.The conversation pivots to Rock to Recovery, the nonprofit Wes founded on 12/12/12. Now in its tenth year with 15 staff and roughly 600 sessions per month inside treatment centers, Rock to Recovery is the opposite of MusiCares — instead of helping musicians get treatment, they bring music into treatment. They have a contract with the Department of Defense and have been flown to Ramstein, Germany to write songs with wounded veterans and their caregivers. The annual fundraiser at the Fonda Theater in LA puts about 1,300 people in the room — half from active treatment centers — with past performers including Stone Temple Pilots, Dave Navarro, Moby, Mike Ness of Social Distortion, and Katey Sagal.Wes also opens up about his late friend and former business partner Scott Weiland, the Joshua Tree Airbnb he renovated last year, and his new band Human.About Wesley GeerWesley Geer is the founding guitarist of Head P.E., the former touring guitarist for Korn, and the founder of Rock to Recovery, a nonprofit that brings songwriting sessions into treatment centers, VA programs, and Department of Defense facilities. Co-author of Rock to Recovery (with Dr. Constance Scharf). New band: Human. Find him on Instagram @wesgeer.About Mike DiamondMike Diamond is Director of Engagement and Intervention Services at American Addiction Centers, a featured Interventionist on A&E's Intervention, and the bestselling author of A Dose of Positivity (BenBella / Matt Holt Books) and 7 Steps to an Unbreakable Mindset. Sober since April 16, 2006. themikediamond.com · IG @themike_diamondResources mentionedRock to Recovery (book) — Wesley Geer with Dr. Constance Scharf — available on AmazonWayne Dyer — I Can See Clearly Now / "awe meditation for manifestation"Robert Greene — Mastery (Mike references this concept of "inclination" multiple times across the feed)Rock to Recovery annual fundraiser — The Fonda Theater, Los AngelesWes's new band — Human