Episode 519 Bronson Hetzer & Cody Doench Veteran Suicide Awareness Through Rock Transcript

This transcript is from episode 519 with guest Bronson Hetzer & Cody Doench.

Scott DeLuzio: [00:00:00] Have you ever heard a song that grabs you instantly speaking directly to your experiences and losses, especially those that you’ve struggled to put into words? Today’s guest, Bronson and Cody from the band, The Filthy Heathens, created just that with their song Cyril. It’s inspired by the memory of a close friend lost to suicide.

Cyril

Confronts the reality of PTSD, the heavy weight many veterans carry quietly, and the critical importance of looking out for one another. Make sure you stay through to the end of this episode though, because I’ll be sharing the full version of Cyril, to close out the show. Before we begin though, I want to take a moment to raise awareness for something deeply important to our community, the Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation.

This organization is working to build a permanent national memorial in Washington DC to honor the service members, families, and [00:01:00] civilians who are impacted by the global war on terrorism. This memorial serves as both a tribute to those who served and a way to ensure their sacrifices are recognized and remembered for generations to come.

If you want to learn more or find out how you can support the mission, visit GWOT memorial foundation.org. Now let’s jump into today’s conversation.

Scott DeLuzio: Bronson Cody welcome to the show. Really glad to have you here. Wanna chat a little bit more about the work that you guys are doing, the music that you guys are creating with The Filthy Heathens. But, uh, before we do, uh, just welcome to the show. Glad to have you here.

Bronson Hetzer & Cody Doench: Thanks for having us, brother. Yeah. Glad to be here.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, absolutely. Tell us a little bit about your, your yourselves, uh, a little bit about the background, kind of the, the, the type of music that [00:02:00] you guys are, are creating and you know, what it is that you hope to, to accomplish with, with the music.

Bronson Hetzer: Uh, yeah, we’re, uh, we’re based out of, uh, southern Ohio and, um, uh, we kind of fall into the southern rock category. Just that’s the easiest place to home it. But it’s, it’s really, it’s, it’s kind of a. It’s kind of a unique thing. The southern rock people seem to like it, you know, real good, but it’s, you know, we’ve got influence from everything from bluegrass to heavy metal and so it just kind of falls somewhere in between there.

And so that’s, we say southern rock ’cause that’s seems to be the catchall for it all.

Scott DeLuzio: Sure. Sure. And, and it’s, uh, the, I’ve listened to some of the music already. Uh, obviously I haven’t listened to everything you guys have have done, but I’ve listened to some of it and it’s pretty powerful, uh, pretty strong messaging. Tell us about the, the song. Well, actually, let’s take a step back.

There’s a song titled Cyril and, uh, it’s. It’s about somebody [00:03:00] and, uh, you know, tell us a little bit about Cyril and, uh, you know, who that, who that was and how that influenced the creation of the song.

Bronson Hetzer & Cody Doench: Yeah.

Scott DeLuzio: Oh, Cyril I apologize for the mispronunciation of that.

Bronson Hetzer: No worries.

Yeah, Cyril was a good

friend of mine. One of them Do anything in the world for you kind of guys? You know, we rowdy ass together a lot, you know, got into mischief if you will. And, uh, we had a lot of good times together. And just one of my, one of my best friends and, uh, he was a, uh, combat veteran himself.

Um. That, uh, struggled with PTSD and uh, he ended up, uh, taking his own life in 2015. And, um, yeah, that’s kind of the birth of the song that we’re, uh, we’re putting out on, uh, May 23rd. So.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, and, and you know, some of the, some of the lyrics are pretty powerful. As, as I was listening to it, like just kinda, [00:04:00] you know, I, I can’t obviously relate exactly to what. He was going through and what, you know, the song, but the song lyrics kind of painted a picture. And I think anyone who has served in combat, anyone who’s struggled with PTSD, anyone who’s known anybody in those positions could probably relate to a lot of the lyrics that were in this song.

Is that kind of what you guys were hoping for?

Bronson Hetzer: Yeah, absolutely. Um, you know, and, and not only just, you know, as, as a veteran, but people around our veterans that, you know, to give them a reminder to, you know, call and check on your folks and, you know, ask ’em how they’re doing. Ask ’em how they’re actually doing. You know, Cody can attest to, I mean, these veterans, man, they’re, they’re strong, you know, and they’re, they don’t like to put themselves first, but you know, they’ve, they’re also hurting as well.

And th this was a way for me to, uh. Kind of put a, [00:05:00] put a message out there to the people around them to, you know, keep an eye on ’em and, and be there for ’em, you know.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So, um. So Cody you know, as Bronson was just talking about, you know, like the, you probably could relate to a lot of this, uh, you know, how has, uh, you know, your experiences and everything, how has that impacted you and, uh, the type of music that you want to create, the type of messaging that you want to get out there?

Cody Doench: Yeah. So first of all, when it comes to the song Cy and How Bronson, I mean, it just goes to show first of all how well of a songwriter Bronson is, but as a group you know, it’s, that song was so well written for somebody that didn’t experience the actual going overseas and deploying and stuff, but. But living it through Cy and hearing his stories, I’m sure, and just being around him, I mean, he got it so right that, I mean, this song is just perfect.[00:06:00]

Um, and I remember the first time I heard it, I was sitting on a couch in his garage and just drinking some beer and he played it and I was like, dude, this is the most perfect song written about this. Of veteran suicide and, and, and PTSD and all that. So, yeah, when it comes to my experiences with like writing music like this and stuff, I, a lot of veterans like to keep things inside.

And talking about it is kind of hard for a lot of people. But music has definitely been my route of healing and fixing things, I guess. I mean, you’re never gonna forget about it. It’s always gonna be. A part of your life, but for a way to release that and music has been my outlet. Yeah, for

Bronson Hetzer: sure. Say music is therapy,

Cody Doench: you know?

Scott DeLuzio: It is, it, is, it, it’s therapy not only for the, the listener of the music, but also for the, the songwriters, the, the, the musicians [00:07:00] who are putting the music together. You know, it could be therapeutic for, for them as well. Hearing this, this message, getting out, hitting all those notes right at the right time.

And you know, it’s, you know, when, when everything just goes, just so, and it’s just right. Man, that’s. That’s, it is just a good feeling

Bronson Hetzer & Cody Doench: It’s

Cody Doench: great. Oh, yeah. It’s great to see a bunch of big, bad bearded biker men in a bar start crying over a song. You know, it’s, yeah. It’s, it’s touching stuff.

Scott DeLuzio: It’s, yeah, and you know, I felt it is not just music either. You know, I’ve talked to other artists in other mediums, you know, whether it’s sculpting or painting or you name it, like any number of different things. And. Like you were saying, Cody, that it’s not an easy thing necessarily to talk about, but if you can get it out there in a way that’s relatable to an audience

Bronson Hetzer & Cody Doench: Right, for sure.

Scott DeLuzio: you know, that that generates a conversation, maybe, maybe people start talking about it and then maybe that [00:08:00] helps you open up and start talking about it yourself.

You know. You’re singing a song or you know, playing the music, playing the notes, all that kinda stuff. It may not necessarily be about your experience directly, but it, it sparks that conversation

Bronson Hetzer & Cody Doench: A hundred percent right? Oh, yeah.

Scott DeLuzio: amongst other people. Like, and, and I know for sure when I listened to the song, like there were certain parts of the song where I’m just like, man, that really hit, and I, I totally understand where someone like.

The person that you’re talking about in this song, um.

Bronson Hetzer & Cody Doench: sure.

Scott DeLuzio: Where, where that person’s coming from. And it, it’s hard, it’s hard to, uh, to communicate that. But you guys did it in such a beautiful way that I, I’m, I’m really excited for this, this song to come out and, and for people to start listening to it. And,

Bronson Hetzer & Cody Doench: Sorry, we Oh yeah.

Scott DeLuzio: by the time this episode comes out, the song will already be out.

So, so folks can definitely go and, and check it out and we’ll, we’ll have

Bronson Hetzer & Cody Doench: go check it out then.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, absolutely. You know, all, all the, all the [00:09:00] links, all the, the platforms where, where they can get it will be in the show notes, so they, they can definitely find the song. But, um, you know, this, this, this topic, you know, we’re talking about here, veteran suicide, that’s a challenging topic because there’s, there’s so many things that go go through somebody’s mind before they get to that point.

You know, there’s, there’s a, uh, Bronson, I think you were just saying, uh, a few seconds ago that, um. You know, they, they’re strong and they don’t wanna be a burden to other people. And when they start feeling like maybe they, they are a burden, well sometimes that that devil on their shoulder is, is just whispering those things in their ear that’s saying, Hey, you know, maybe you’re better off just not being here.

And, you know, that couldn’t be further from the truth. But gosh, it happened so many times over and over day after day throughout this country. And, and it’s just, it’s too much, right?

Bronson Hetzer: Right. And that’s, that’s what I say. ’cause we, we try to play it every night. If I’ve, if I’ve got a microphone and a crowd of [00:10:00] people, I’m trying to spread this message because, I mean, to me it’s a, it’s a pandemic. You know what I mean? There’s 22 veterans a day that are taking their life every day.

I mean, that’s, that adds up. And, uh, you know, if we can put something out like this, that, that reminds one person, man, Otto. Calling check on my cousin, you know what I mean? And, and that gets that little devil off their shoulder. You know, that’s, that’s a powerful thing. And, uh, just, we really are trying to, bring awareness to that. Every time we go out and, uh, we, we kind of play a, a rowdy loud rock and roll show, and, you know, when we strip it down and go acoustic and play this, it, it quiets that room down, you know, and all of a sudden everybody’s listening and they’re hearing those words and they’re hearing the power in those words.

And they’re thinking about the fact that, you know, this is, this is somebody’s child. This is somebody’s. Mom or [00:11:00] dad, you know, this is somebody’s brother or sister and in my case, somebody’s best friend. And Cody’s uh, been through this with many of his brothers as well. And you know, we’re just trying to get it out there that, you know, this is, this is going on for real.

Scott DeLuzio: you know. I remember years ago my, my brother, uh, he, he also was in the Army and we, we got tickets to a Toby Keith concert. So we went to go see, see Toby Keith, and

Bronson Hetzer & Cody Doench: with legend.

Scott DeLuzio: I know I absolutely, uh, you know, my brother though, he, he wasn’t a huge country music fan. He was into other, other kind of music and stuff, but you know, we had tickets.

And so he is like, ah, what the hell? We’ll go. And so, so we went and. Towards the end of the show, he played, uh, American Soldier, and my brother was in tears, right? And so, and here he’s, he was this, you know, big, kind of rough and tough kind of guy. Like, he, he played hockey, like he, and he [00:12:00] would whoop some ass on the, on the, on the ice.

Like he, he, he could handle himself. Like he, he deployed to Iraq at that point. And you know, he had seen some stuff. That song just. Just moved into tears and, and so it like, music is powerful. It is super, super powerful. And anyone says otherwise, is

Cody Doench: Well, and

Scott DeLuzio: you know?

Cody Doench: even in just that, you know, it’s like the, the words think, I mean, the words of that song, it brought a hardened veteran to tears. You know, it’s like we see some crazy stuff,

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.

Cody Doench: but when you hear something and like a song, or for example, if a buddy calls you, like Bronson says, like, you all right. We don’t really get those phone calls all the time, so when you do it, that could be the words that that person needed to hear at that moment was, are you all right?

Are you really all right? Yeah. So sometimes it’s not always acts, it’s just words, and I mean

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, and that’s a, that’s a great point [00:13:00] too, because you know, the words of the, the lyrics from the song were the thing that it wasn’t necessarily the guitar and the drums and the, you know, all the things in the, the background. It was the words that, that were moving, you know, in my brother’s case, right.

But. Again, to your point, if you pick up that phone and you call, you know, a friend or you know somebody and, and say, Hey, how, how you doing? Just checking in, you know, making sure that you’re okay. You know what, you know, what, what’s going on with you, you know, that that could be enough to be like, you know, actually someone, someone actually gives a shit about me.

You know, it’s not, it’s not, uh, you know, all hopeless here, you know?

Bronson Hetzer: Toby Keith kinda hit the other side of that man. It’s like everybody, like when Toby Keith says, we’ll put a boot in your ass, it’s the American way. It’s like every red-blooded American’s, like, I could ride a bald eagle to the top of the Statue of Liberty right now. You kidding me?

And it’s just like, that’s like very Ah, yes. Yeah. But, uh,

Scott DeLuzio: That’s right.

Bronson Hetzer: definitely, I mean, it’s definitely different messaging, but the same kinda, you know, [00:14:00] feel good about. Patriotism.

Bronson Hetzer & Cody Doench: Yeah.

Scott DeLuzio: And you know, I think when that, that song came out, that was, that was what we needed in, in this country. We, we had gotten, gotten a big, you know, boot in our ass and we, we got knocked down pretty hard. And we, we needed to get up and dust ourselves off and go, go with some ass. And, and that’s what we did.

You know, and, and we did, we, we, we were able to, you know, kind of dust ourselves off and, and. Take the fight over there so that the fight wasn’t over here anymore. And that, that’s something for any, any veteran who who fought during that time period who might be, you know, disappointed at the, the outcome of, you know, how we left Afghanistan and, you know, all, all these things.

Like we took the fight over there so that the fight wasn’t over here on our streets. Main street, USA, right? So. You know, that’s something you could be proud of, you know, no, no matter what politicians do or don’t do or whatever, hell with that. Like, you did your job. You, you kept the, the fight, you brought the fight [00:15:00] to the enemy.

And that’s, that’s what, what matters, right? And so, again, that’s, that’s just messaging too. You know, people, people need to hear these things, right?

Bronson Hetzer: when, that’s what I always say is like this, this isn’t a political song by any means. You know,

Scott DeLuzio: absolutely not.

Bronson Hetzer: you know, Cody’s one of my best friends in the world now, you know what I mean? And, and it’s like this guy had boots on the ground over there and there’s nothing that’s not. Politics involved in that, that that is just, you know, supporting your people.

And, and I always say, you know, that’s the most selfless thing you can do is go over there and risk it all to provide protection for millions of people you don’t even know. And, you know, that’s what guys like Cody was doing. So, I mean, I, I, we owe all of them a, you know, a lot of

Bronson Hetzer & Cody Doench: gratitude.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, absolutely. And, and I, you know, Cody, you, you probably could attest to this too, but you know, when you’re, you’re deployed over there in, in your platoon or whatever, uh, you know, uh, element that you had, you probably had, uh, Democrats [00:16:00] and Republicans, you’ve probably had blacks and B whites and Asian and Hispanic and all the different. You know, masses of people that make up America

Bronson Hetzer & Cody Doench: Oh yeah.

Scott DeLuzio: all in one group, one small group. But when boats started flying, it didn’t matter. None of that stuff

Cody Doench: Well, you know, it’s, it’s what we always said, you know, it’s, it’s not black or white or all that you’re, you’re all green

Scott DeLuzio: green, right?

Cody Doench: you know, you’re all green. So, yeah. And I mean, you know, you make some lifelong friendships. I, I come from a small town where we don’t really have a mix of people and I didn’t really meet like a different culture until I joined the Army.

And it’s like, holy crap, I never met nobody from Minnesota before. And when I went to basic training, this guy’s like, I’m from Minnesota, I’m like. First time meeting somebody from, you know, outside of Ohio or Indiana or something like that. So, like, I thought y’all was all Eskimos

Bronson Hetzer: up

Cody Doench: there.

Scott DeLuzio: They kind of are, but.

Bronson Hetzer: yeah.

Ro Rocky. Actually, that’s one thing that stuck in my, my mind as well, is Rocky

actually [00:17:00] told me Cyril we all

called him Rocky. He, uh, he told me that one time, he’s like, man, ’cause we was just looking at old pictures and stuff. He was showing me pictures from being overseas. And he’s like, man, over there, he’s like, it’s just.

You know, you’ve got brothers, you know, all your differences are put aside. He’s like, when you’re in the, in the fight, he’s like, you gotta be able to count on everybody around you. And he said, you know, there’s, there’s no race over there. There’s no, uh, background differences. He said, it’s just all your brothers.

And I actually, uh. After Rocky passed away I actually wrote an another song. It was called My Little Brother. It was kind of a, a story about that where, you know, it was a white guy and a black guy and they were, you know, became good friends and, you know, it was like, my little brother don’t look like me.

And, uh, you know, it’s just, and because that just always stuck out to me that it’s like. You know, these are, this is how the world should work is [00:18:00] in a way is how it works there. Where it’s like, man, you just rely on the, the man next to you or the woman next to you, regardless of anything.

Cody Doench: Yeah.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, that’s, that’s absolutely, absolutely true. And you know, my experiences are, are the same. I mean, when I was in Afghanistan you know, one of my, one of my good friends like we were like opposites as far as our, our personalities. Like he was a little more hotheaded. I was kinda a little more cool and even, and stuff like that.

Somehow the two of us, like yin and yang, we kinda like, came together and we kind of balanced each other out and. Some of his hot headedness rubbed off on me and some of my, my coolness rubbed off on him and we kinda like leveled each other out a little bit. And, and we, we helped each other out in, in that respect.

’cause I needed a little more aggressive hot headedness than what I was bringing to the table, especially in a, you know, combat zone. And so I, you know, I, I attribute that to, to him and, and his, uh, his outlook on life. And, [00:19:00] and you know, how he, how he. You know, brought things to the table. So it was, it was just a, a great experience.

But you’re right. I think that’s what we should do, is we should be looking at each other and, and helping each other out, balance each other out and, and, you know, where, where you might be weak. I might be strong and let, let’s see how I can help you. And then, you know, you might be strong in an area that I’m weak in and then, you know, vice versa, we can help each other out.

But. Going back to the, to the music you know, this is obviously an area that you guys are strong in. You know, I, I don’t, I’m not very musically inclined. I, my kids are, I don’t know where they get it from, but it, my, my wife is, is my wife’s also very, uh, musically inclined. So I, I do know where they get it from.

They get it from her, but it’s not coming from me. Uh, I did play instruments when I was younger, but not well. So.

Bronson Hetzer & Cody Doench: take credit for it. Yeah,

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, no, I’m not gonna take any credit for it. That’s all my wife. I, I’m gonna give it all to her. And she’s amazing with them too, as far as the, the music goes, but they’ve taken it to a whole nother level.

They, they’re, they’re writing songs and they’re doing all sorts of crazy stuff, and it’s amazing to see them, them growing like that. But, you know, [00:20:00] as a matter of fact, some of the, the, when you listen to this episode, if you go back and listen to the beginning, the intro music my son wrote for me, and, uh, and yeah,

Bronson Hetzer & Cody Doench: awesome. How old is he?

Scott DeLuzio: he, he’s, uh, 15.

Cody Doench: Wow. That is cool. Got its first cut.

Scott DeLuzio: he does, yeah, yeah, yeah. He got his first gig, you know, paying gig and everything. I even paid him.

Bronson Hetzer & Cody Doench: doubt. That’s.

Scott DeLuzio: um, you know, it, it was, it was, uh, you know, just awesome that, that they’re able to do that. But, you know, you guys are able to do this and, and you’re sending a message out there. You know, and I, I think you know, whether it’s, you know, suicidal thoughts or PTSD transition from the, the military into civilian life this.

Music is there to, to kind of help and heal people. You know, I remember like as a kid I would be listening to certain albums or, or certain type of music that that was, you know, popular at the time when I was younger and now I hear some of those songs and, and that. That song will take me back to being a teenager, listening to, you know, whatever album it was, you know?

And so music is [00:21:00] super powerful and you can tie it to memories, emotions, and, and all that kind of stuff. And you know, if you can do that, then, then it can also be used to, to help heal people too, I think.

Bronson Hetzer & Cody Doench: sure. For short, absolutely.

Scott DeLuzio: Outside of the, the, the songs that we were just talking about here are there any other, you know, projects or songs in the works that kind of address any similar issues that are affecting the, the veteran community?

You know, outside of, you know, kinda what we are already talking about? Or, or is this kind of like, is, you know, this is like the main focus right now.

Cody Doench: Yeah, we don’t like, as of right now, the music that we have already written that’s gonna be on either this EP coming out or a future record that we do have in the plans pretty soon. Nothing yet, but again, we’re always riding. Uh, we’re always, I mean, this is. This is a part of our life. You know, like, just the veteran thing and, and all that will always be a part of our life.

It’s not like a one song and done type thing. Like, so that’s not to say that [00:22:00] there might not be one or two or, you know, I, I, who

Scott DeLuzio: I, and I totally was not asking that question because I, I thought like, Hey, this isn’t enough or anything. ’cause this is totally, like, this is super, like, a important thing that you’re doing. It’s just, well, I wanna have you guys on the show and, and kind of highlight it and let people know about it.

Because I. You gotta, you gotta get this, this out there. And, and just like, you know, a lot of the other things that I do on this show, it’s, it’s raising awareness of the things that folks just may not be aware of. You know, whether it’s a nonprofit or it’s, you know, just sharing somebody’s story who might have gone through hell and came out the other side.

Okay. And, you know, that, that could just be enough to give somebody hope. And, and so when, you know, you hear this how you’re, you’re using music to not only. Help, help those other folks, but also help yourselves. I, I think that, that, that kind of provides a little bit of motivation maybe for someone who, you know, maybe haven’t picked up the guitar in a few years and, you know,

Bronson Hetzer & Cody Doench: Yeah, that’d be great. Oh yeah.

Scott DeLuzio: up.

You know, pick it up, start, start playing it. It could be helpful, right?

Bronson Hetzer: [00:23:00] Well, like Cody said, we, uh, you know, we write based off of life experience and stuff and you know, this is, this is something that we’ve lived through me losing a buddy and, you know, Cody obviously serving. So, I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised if, if, you know, topics like this didn’t make their way into or writing more like I was saying earlier.

There’s another song that I wrote that was kind of veteran driven. That I’ve never released or anything. But, you know, we have, uh, we have this stuff in our, in our minds a lot. So, uh, I’m, I’m sure it’ll make its way into other songs and other, other kind of, uh, storytelling ventures and, yeah.

Scott DeLuzio: Sure. Yeah. And, and this topic is something that’s obviously with the topic of my podcast. This is obviously something that’s on top of my mind. And when I, when I hear folks like you guys who are putting out music or doing, just doing something different, something that [00:24:00] you know, maybe isn’t done all the time that. Other, other people. Might be get some benefit from by hearing, hearing the music, or, you know, seeing the artwork or doing the outdoor challenge or, you know, whatever it is that, that we, we can talk about on this show. That just helps raise awareness of these other things that, that, that are out there for people to help them heal, help them, move forward and literally this is where the name of the show comes from. Just to drive on. Yeah, you might be going through some suck right now, but drive on you tomorrow could

Bronson Hetzer & Cody Doench: love that. Oh, yeah,

I love that.

Scott DeLuzio: And that’s, that’s really the, the whole gist of it. I mean, and, and if we, just, like you were talking about, if, if we can help each other out, just like we did in combat, like it didn’t matter, you were all green.

You know, let, let’s, you know, maybe we change it now, now we’re, we’re back on the civilian side. We’re all red, right and blue right now. Let’s let, let’s just look at that. We’re all Americans. We are all here. If we can help [00:25:00] each other out and, and propel each other forward, whether you’re a civilian, whether you’re a veteran, whether you’re still serving, doesn’t matter.

If we can help lift each other up and do better things, greater things with the resources we have available to us. I mean, gosh, we are unstoppable. When

Bronson Hetzer & Cody Doench: Yeah.

Cody Doench: Oh yeah, for sure. You know, and there’s, there’s many outlets that you can, you know, I mean, you could just Google any sort of veteran help,

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.

Cody Doench: you know, and, but we are glad that this song, I. I mean, we, we’ve already experienced it. I mean, you know, it’s like, uh, a couple weekends ago we played down in Kentucky and there was a veteran sitting right in front of us and it was a small venue.

You had nowhere to go. So, yeah. And, uh, man, I, I told him, ’cause usually Bronson does so alone, acoustically, and it, because we just came from, I mean, we’re southern rock band, you know, we’re loud guitars, loud amps, drums. We’re jumping all over the place, doing everything. And so was like that one song where.

The band just kind of steps away. And then [00:26:00] Bronson sings the song and gets the point across. And I, as I was walking off stage, I saw that veteran, I was like, you might wanna grab a tissue for this one. And so I, I walked off stage and, and then after he gets done playing, we come back up and then we finish the night with a bunch of more upbeat, crazy rock and roll songs.

And, and he was like, you weren’t lying, dude. He’s like, I felt every word in that song. And I was like, dude, this, it is every show, every time we play this song, which it. We try to do it every show, but you know, it’s like we want to be that outlet. You know, it’s like my, my buddies, they listen to this type of music, so hopefully other veterans also like.

Our type of music and

Bronson Hetzer: yeah, find a place, Mo most of our show is, is more about, you know, enjoying the show. It’s more, you know, it’s, it’s not that heavy, you know, we’re, we’re rocking out. I mean, it’s, it’s visual. Like Cody said, we’re jumping all over the place. We’re having a good time. And, uh, you know, it’s more upbeat, it’s more fun.

It’s kind of a. You know, set your [00:27:00] phone down, forget about what’s going on in the world, and, and just enjoy being here in this moment, kind of deal. But yeah, we definitely do. We, uh, we strip it down for that one moment. Just, you know, it’s a serious subject and, and it’s something that we wanna drive the point home on.

So,

Scott DeLuzio: Absolutely.

Bronson Hetzer: outside of that, yeah, I mean the rest of the show’s it is a whole lot of fun.

Scott DeLuzio: Well, and, and it’s, it that’s important too because, like you said, setting the phone down. Forget about what’s going on in the world. Forget about what’s, you know, the crazy stuff going on in the news or whatever is happening to be happening today because you can get lost in that a thousand different ways and.

Be anxious about what’s going on in the world and you know, depress that it didn’t go a different way. You can have all sorts of kind of things, but when you, when you can just set your phone down, forget about all that stuff, and just be in the moment, listen to some good music, and have some fun, let your guard down a little bit.

There’s some healing power in that too. So, you know, e everything, everything you guys are doing, [00:28:00] I think is, is along the right track. You know, and I definitely encourage folks, you know, if you’re. Not torn out in, you know, an area where, where people can easily get, get in touch with you or, you know, um, you know, see you in person.

You know, definitely check out the music and, and listen to it you know,

Bronson Hetzer: Yeah. Come, come see us live if you can. We are, uh, we’re in 17 states this year, and, uh, we’re gonna be all over the country. And, uh, like I said, usually we’re we’re a lot of fun. So, I mean, we, and we don’t take for granted that people are paying their hard earned money to come see us. You know, when we get up there and plug in, when we hit that first note, we’re 130%, you know, we’re, we’re trying to make sure that.

If we’re having this much fun, we’re making sure y’all are having this much fun as as well. We’re ice knees afterwards in the back of the band, and man, hey, we played over the weekend and the stage was real, like springy and uh, man, we woke up the next day and we’re all like, why are our knees hurting? It is like, I’m like, my [00:29:00] knees never hurt.

And it was that springy stage, man. It was like, it was like every time you stepped it, like sent like a shock wave back up into your leg.

Scott DeLuzio: really? Wow. But, but you’re, but you still put on the show, you still enjoyed it? The, the,

Bronson Hetzer: yeah. Oh yeah.

Scott DeLuzio: crowd still had a good time, you know,

Bronson Hetzer: you throw a couple of Miller lights in you. Yeah. And all of a sudden them knees are fine until you gotta like

Scott DeLuzio: you, you don’t, you don’t feel any kind of pain at that point.

Bronson Hetzer: Yeah. You get, you get about three hours removed from it though. All of a sudden it’s like, boy, them tightened up. Yeah.

Cody Doench: Did it? Ibuprofen for breakfast.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. Right, right. Well, you know, change your socks, you’ll be okay.

Bronson Hetzer & Cody Doench: Yeah,

Scott DeLuzio: Um, yeah, exactly. Um, so. I, I want to give you guys a chance. I know, I know we, we talked a little bit about the music and, and you know, all that kinda stuff. Where can people go to find out more about you guys as a band? You know, any, any resources that you guys have available or, you know, websites, that type of thing

Bronson Hetzer & Cody Doench: Yeah, we’ve got

Bronson Hetzer: a we’ve [00:30:00] got all the socials. We’ve got a website. It’s uh, the filthy heathens.com. And we’ve got, uh, bands in town where you can go and see where we’re playing. You can go and request a show in your area and, uh. You know, like I said, any, uh, any social media that you use, we have, we have, uh, Facebook, Instagram TikTok try not to be hard to find.

Cody Doench: Yeah. We, we want to

Scott DeLuzio: you go. Yeah, for sure. Right? Yeah. So yeah, I will definitely direct those, those, uh, links on the show notes for, for people so that they can get in touch with you guys, find out where, where you’re gonna be, if you’re gonna be in their area or I. Like you said, request for you guys to, to come out to that area.

And that’s, that’s a cool feature to, to have

Bronson Hetzer & Cody Doench: Oh, yeah.

Scott DeLuzio: You know, if you’re, if you’re not in my area, well dammit, you’re gonna be,

Bronson Hetzer: Well, and that’s the thing, I mean, we’ve, uh, we’ve been kind of grouped up here for about a year and obviously we’ve all been doing, I. Music stuff before that. We’ve all taken it very seriously. I [00:31:00] mean, but, uh, as, as a group of us here, uh, we’ve been together for about a year and that’s what we’re doing right now is just going into new areas and, and building, you know, and it’s, we’re kind of in a weird spot now because we’ve been to a couple places a couple of times, and you go there and it’s like.

This place is packed. And then you go to a place that’s brand new and it’s like, now there’s 40 people here. And, uh, but then the next time you go there, it’s like you’ll have double the amount of people, you know, like, like I was saying, you know, we, we give it our all, whether there’s 10 people or there’s 10,000 and, you know, that’s, that’s all you can do is give ’em a good show.

And, you know, the, the 10 people that was there, uh, next time you’re in town, they’re going to tell. Everyone they know, Hey, you gotta see this. This was fun. And uh, and so that’s, that’s kind of where we’re at right now is just going into new areas. So there’s really nothing too big or too small for us to sneak into.

So you can [00:32:00] request, you can request us in your backyard if you want to. I don’t know if we’ll show up, but you, you can send in the request. Yeah.

Scott DeLuzio: Well, if we’ve got enough friends, we might, we might make it worth your while.

Bronson Hetzer & Cody Doench: Chip in.

Scott DeLuzio: yeah, everyone chip in and we’ll, we’ll, we’ll make it, we’ll get you out here. But you guys, you know, based on the, the messaging here that, that we’re talking about, um, you guys. Are putting in that 130% you know, not, not just in making it fun, but.

Also making it impactful. Making it important. Yeah. The, the fun is a huge piece of it. You gotta have some fun. If you’re not having fun, you’re not gonna keep doing it. Right. You’re, you’re not gonna enjoy it. You’re not gonna keep going. And, and the people aren’t gonna keep coming to the shows, not watching it, and not, not listening to the music on, you know, whatever streaming platform that you, they, they might be listening on.

They’re not gonna listen to it if it’s not enjoyable, obviously. Right. But, but when.

Bronson Hetzer & Cody Doench: I don’t, yeah,

Scott DeLuzio: No, exactly. No. I mean, nobody will. Right? And, and for if it’s, if it’s not good, it’s, I’m, I’m, I’m hitting next. I’m skipping and I’m, I’m [00:33:00] onto the next thing. But you know, when you’re, you’re pouring your heart and soul into the music like this I.

It, it shows. And you know, just from this conversation here, I mean, obviously I’ve listened to some of the music already, so I, I kind of have a little bias ’cause I, I like it and, and it’s, it’s good stuff. And, and I encourage people again, go check this stuff out. But you know, after hearing you guys, I can hear the passion just coming out of you guys and your voice and your, and your stories and your attitude about this.

And. Yeah, I mean, if we can, if we can help even just one person, whether they’re in the audience or they’re, they’re sitting at home listening to it on their, you know, you know, on their computer, on their phone, whatever. Hey man, that, that’s the job well done as far as I’m concerned. And so, you know, I’m, I’m sure you guys are helping a hell of a lot more than one person.

So, so I, I do want to thank, thank y’all for what you guys are doing. Yeah, it, it’s, it’s really meaningful, really impactful. And like I said, I want to, I want to help shine a light [00:34:00] on, on what you guys are doing to you know, help out as many people as as we can, because this is, this is enough’s enough at this point.

You know, we,

Cody Doench: Yeah. Well, we thank you for giving us a platform to also spread the word as well. Yeah.

Scott DeLuzio: you bet. You bet.

Bronson Hetzer: And

Scott DeLuzio: yeah, go ahead.

Bronson Hetzer: yeah, and, and just, uh, to piggyback off what you were saying there about, uh, you know, if, if we’re helping one person at least, but I mean, just to reiterate you know. After something like this happens. I mean, it, it, there’s a lot of people hurt and you know, just to let you know, like you are loved by a lot of people and a lot of people want you here and, you know, if you’re struggling with something, you know, you’s, it’s no shame in reaching out, you know, to get help.

So just to drive that home. Yeah,

Scott DeLuzio: absolutely. Yeah, I think too many people try to just go it alone. I [00:35:00] mean, and,

Bronson Hetzer & Cody Doench: Yeah, they do.

Scott DeLuzio: and that’s not an easy thing to do. And then when that burden gets to be too much for any one person to carry, I. That, that’s when you start seeing people go the wrong direction and you’re absolutely right. Reach out you know, ask

Cody Doench: Yeah. The scary thing is, is a lot of these guys don’t know when it’s too much. Right. The burn is too much until it’s too late. So yeah, for sure. That’s reach out.

Bronson Hetzer: My, my buddy Rocky man, he was, he was like the happiest guy I knew. I. And I always say I’ve, I, you know, talk to the crowd

before I play Cyril And I tell

him, you know, there’s not a lot of warning signs with this stuff, you know, um, my buddy Rocky come visit me in Nashville.

We went out drinking had a good time. He went up to Ohio, hung out with some friends up there, and, uh, had a good time. And, you know, it’s like everything was fine. And, uh. You know, then he went back home to California and you know, it, it wasn’t long after that. And it’s like, [00:36:00] man, everything was just fine.

Like what? So

Cody Doench: it’s, that’s, that’s, that is a very common trend in that type of stuff, you know?

Scott DeLuzio: I, I’ve heard that story before too. That, that’s just not, I mean. You know, and you, you can’t carry it for forever. And Cody, like you were saying, sometimes we just don’t know when it’s been too long or that we’ve been carried too much. I mean, ’cause we’re, we’re conditioned. Just keep going man. Yeah, this sucks.

But just keep going. The ruck march that you’re on with the, the heavy pack and the long distance your feet are, are, are burning your legs and your knees and your hips and your back and everything is, is hurting, but you’re told just to keep going. And so, yeah, why, why the hell wouldn’t you just keep going?

When, when you’re mentally, when you’re, you’re hurting or your marriage is falling apart, or you’re, you know, your whole life is, seems like it’s fallen apart. Why wouldn’t you just keep going because that’s what you’ve been trained to do? Why

Bronson Hetzer & Cody Doench: Yeah, well,

Cody Doench: you know, like a rug match, you know, you have, there’s a, there’s an end point to that. [00:37:00] But in this life, you know, you don’t, you just go, you go and you go and you go and you go. And that’s, yeah, I mean, it’s, it’s a good thing to think about too. It’s like, man, you just don’t, you don’t know until it’s too late.

And that’s why you just, it’s hard to see the signs. ’cause just like he was saying it like. My buddies did the same thing, man. I mean, we were, they were having a great time. We were talking about family stuff and we was out road tripping and stuff. And then the next day, and you’re like, what the hell, dude?

Like, I literally just talked to you last night and you was fine. Or I thought, well, you were fine, but you, you didn’t ask the question so

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. Well, you guys are doing some great work. Uh, the music is incredible. Folks definitely go check it out, check those links in the show notes, go see ’em in concert, go, go get the music, uh, you know, wherever it’s streaming. Get, get that music and, uh, really sit there and. Let’s do it a few times.

As a matter of fact, listen, keep listen to it on repeat if, if you have to. But let that, let that music sink in. I, I really, [00:38:00] I really do enjoy that, that type of music. So, you know, guys, I, I, again, thank you so much for everything that you’re doing and, uh, I’m, I’m glad to help spread the word.

So, so thanks for coming

Bronson Hetzer & Cody Doench: We appreciate you for having us. For real. Yeah. Thank you for helping spread the word as well.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, you bet. Anytime.

The Filthy Heathens: Damn. It’s good to be back home.

But a part of me, he still to be with my brothers in a fight. So if you could spare your [00:39:00] judgment, I.

But no one wins the fights against a ball strapped to a kid.

Everything here feels so different. Still ain’t found where I fit in.

I guess a can do that to you. So maybe I’m the one who’s changed from the, the,

so don’t be mad at me. I try. Drink a [00:40:00] beer. Don’t cry. Hold your loved ones Close.

As much.

Just because I came home don’t mean I.[00:41:00]

I climb.

Oh, this garage I never cleaned, and I take one last look around before I set me free and I pray Jesus forgives me for a life that God.

I mean, I.

So don’t be mad at me. I tried. Drink a beer from me. Don’t cry. Hold your loved ones close to night and speak of empathy. See, the don’t mean as much as [00:42:00] I.