RACHAEL-O-RAMA 2

RACHAEL-O-RAMA # 2

Wes Geer and HU3M3N

September 28, 2020 by Rachael Contreras

You might previously know guitarist Wes Geer from (hed)pe or Korn.  But Wes’s musical genius does not stop there.  He is also the mastermind behind the successful Rock to Recovery and has a “new” (and absolutely amazing) band, HU3M3N.  This band is a *MUST* to check out.  Their samplier beats, the singing, the lyrics, their imaginative sound, they have it all. 

Here’s a little of what Wes had to tell me about HU3M3N and what they’ve been up to during these last months of social distancing:

“HU3M3N is myself partnering w Matthew Bartosch who I actually met through Rock to Recovery. He was working in a rehab at the time, and I’d be in there writing songs with the clients. Matt would offer to assist by singing.  I’d think to myself yah sure rehab worker guy, feel free to sing. Then he would start singing and I would be like WTF!! This guy’s voice is incredible.

He went on to say… “Fast forward and we finally decided to start writing music together. We loved so much how it was coming out we decided to form a band. We have Clinton Calton on bass, who is actually the guitarist for D.I. who I’ve known for decades and has this incredible feel on the bass, and we’ve been recording with Scott Thunderwood from Train who I actually met through my Rock to Recovery podcast.”

If you follow Wes on Instagram, you can see that he’s really taken quarantine by the horns and kept busy with HU3M3N during social distancing.  I asked him if having the isolation helped him funnel his energy into perfecting the singles and videos, they’ve been releasing the last few months?

“I’m kind of a workaholic. I’m really open about being a sober guy. I had a severe problem with drinking and drugs. So, I think a lot of us, replace addiction with staying busy on projects and chasing dreams. I mean with getting loaded out of the way, it’s no wonder there’s so many amazing stories even for artists about how their careers sore after addiction. Look at guys like Mike Ness, Trent Reznor, Robert Downey Jr., Slash, there’s a long list. Anyhow, yah so the love for wanting to do the work, go deeper, and fight against challenges really made me want to be able to say at the end of COVID, that I really took advantage of whatever opportunity it created. The reality is in every horrible situation, there is always opportunity. It’s up to the individual to find it.  And it’s definitely had a part in shaping our message.”

When I asked him, who writes the music and produces those expressive and vivid sampler beats he said:

“I’m doing most HU3M3N music right now.  Kind of like how I worked with the guys in (hed) P.E., I like to write with a whole sonic structure in mind and the beat is a huge part of that. Just writing a guitar part alone still feels still uncertain. To make it special I like to hear the whole musical soundbed. Any guitar riff is only as good as the music that accompanies it. But it becomes really special when you get everyone’s soul in there and these guys each have something special. I’m so lucky to have gotten to work with so many incredible musicians.”

I asked him when we could expect a HU3M3N album and he told me this:

“We haven’t released anything to streaming platform just yet. We’ve only taken these raw home recordings and paired them with videos that Matt (our singer) has edited (posted on their YouTube page). We figured if the music didn’t really feel studio release-worthy, we could at least put them out with some dope imagery and go deeper into defining who we are. So, we will do our first release of a cool old school style 7″ colored vinyl single, as our first release to all platforms. More details TBD!” 

“…Sometimes the Universe shows you things you don’t expect, you may not even realize you want it, and then it’s there right in front of your face saying ‘Hello!’ Those are the things that definitely feel meant to be.” 

Geer is also very open about his recovery and helping others deal with their mental health.  He shared this on Instagram on September 10th for Suicide Prevention Day.

“In honor of #SuicidePreventionDay I’ll share some of my personal truth. 

I had someone once ask me ‘How could Chester (Bennington) do that when he had it all?’

It’s a question that comes up a lot. I’ll try to explain my experience.

View this post on Instagram

In honor of #SuicidePreventionDay I’ll share some of my personal truth. I had someone once ask me ‘How could Chester (Bennington) do that when he had it all?’ It’s a question that comes up a lot. I’ll try to explain my experience. See this pic? It was around this time I was having some of the most depression I’d experienced as a person in recovery. I finally had it- I’d achieved rockstar getting the gig as guitarist for the legendary #Korn, and still so many days I’d wake up feel so dark, melancholy. Addiction centers in the mind. It’s much deeper than the things we get loaded on. And when you have all the *outside* things that are supposed to make you happy and you still aren’t, well then what? Then you really feel screwed. At least I did. I felt a shame attached to it saying ‘What’s wrong with you? How dare you feel this way with the life you have.’ bringing on extra layers of feeling shame and guilt. But why? For me, the opposite of addiction and depression is connection. But it takes courage. It takes contrary action. It takes being honest about how you feel when everything in your body tells you to isolate, you’re not worth it, don’t bother people. It took me being honest with the people around me, being open vulnerable. It took me getting a #therapist. Doing deeper dives into old traumas, looking at subtle behavioral patterns that resulted in hurt that cause #SuicidalIdeation. It took me learning to love myself more than the a bad relationship I thought would fix me, validate me. For those challenged with metal health issues, no amount of #success, money, property, prestige is going to fill that emptiness we feel. I heard somewhere ‘It’s not about searching for happiness, it’s about finding fulFILLment, that generates happiness from within.’ And this seems to be true. When I make my motives about what I can bring into the world, what I can do to serve others, making it about what I’m offering the world rather than what the world needs to give me, I find this fulfillment. This is where I came up with the phrase the @VortexOfRadness. On this path we meet people who cultivate energy in the same way. There’s nothing like it. #MentalHealth

A post shared by Wesley Geer (@wesgeer) on Sep 10, 2020 at 10:51pm PDT

See this pic? It was around this time I was having some of the most depression I’d experienced as a person in recovery.

I finally had it- I’d achieved rockstar (status) getting the gig as guitarist for the legendary #Korn, and still so many days I’d wake up feel so dark, melancholy.

Addiction centers in the mind. It’s much deeper than the things we get loaded on. And when you have all the *outside* things that are supposed to make you happy and you still aren’t, well then what? Then you really feel screwed. At least I did. I felt a shame attached to it saying ‘What’s wrong with you? How dare you feel this way with the life you have.’ bringing on extra layers of feeling shame and guilt. But why?

For me, the opposite of addiction and depression is connection. But it takes courage. It takes contrary action. It takes being honest about how you feel when everything in your body tells you to isolate, you’re not worth it, don’t bother people. 

It took me being honest with the people around me, being open vulnerable. It took me getting a #therapist. Doing deeper dives into old traumas, looking at subtle behavioral patterns that resulted in hurt that cause #SuicidalIdeation. It took me learning to love myself more than the a bad relationship I thought would fix me, validate me.

For those challenged with metal health issues, no amount of #success, money, property, prestige is going to fill that emptiness we feel.

I heard somewhere ‘It’s not about searching for happiness, it’s about finding fulFILLment, that generates happiness from within.’ And this seems to be true.

When I make my motives about what I can bring into the world, what I can do to serve others, making it about what I’m offering the world rather than what the world needs to give me, I find this fulfillment.

This is where I came up with the phrase the @VortexOfRadness. On this path we meet people who cultivate energy in the same way. There’s nothing like it.”

You can follow HU3M3N and Wes on all the usual platforms like Facebook and InstaGram.

To listen to their releases and watch the raw music videos, check out their YouTube channel

To check out Rock to Recovery

SID 200921 | JIMMY ALVAREZ, EDITOR