Meet Scott Von Heldt of Holistic Musician in Valley Village and Studio City

Today we’d like to introduce you to Scott Von Heldt.

Scott, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
From a young age, music was a big part of my life. I was raised in the Christian church, the son of a choir director and had a natural gift for musical expression. Alongside my passion for music I had also struggled with, what was then known as, hyperactivity and suffered from major allergy problems. After much research, hard work, and diligent effort, my Mom realized that food allergies, and additives in everyday household products, were triggering these outbursts of energy and causing all the allergic reactions that had been plaquing my ability to enjoy a normal life. She immediately got me off my “hyper” medicine and onto an organic diet and met with an allergy specialist at the Cleveland Clinic that helped me reverse my allergies and regain my childhood! From this point on the guitar became my outlet for the extra stored up energy and with a balanced body, mind, and spirit, I was ready to take on the world.

I originally broke out into the original metal scene of Northern Ohio at the age of 17 by releasing my first solo guitar record To Each His Own. Then I went on to join local metal giants Vatican (later renamed Marquis de Sade) and soon became known as kind of a “local guitar legend” with the release of my second solo record Cries of Silence. In 1994 I gave my full attention to the formation of a new band Theater of Madness. The group went on to dominate the local music scene, releasing our debut CD and opening for national acts ranging from Quiet Riot, Slaughter, and LA Guns, to metal masters more in our veins such as Suffocation, Anthrax, and Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson among many others.

After many years of digging through the trenches in search of a record company, I formed my own indie label Dead City Records and began work on Mantra, the debut from a new and improved version of my former band now named KURAI. It was during this time that, by way of my study in martial arts, I began to look at taking what is useful from all styles to create a formless, unique, style of my own, that is not constricted to one mold or ideology. Through this realization, I really began to also see and study the unity of all faiths and philosophies of religion and started my own personal journey towards awakening.

In 2002 I moved to Los Angeles and went on to join Ivan de Prume (White Zombie) and Martin St. Pierre (Cirque du Soliel) in the creation of HEALER, a band combining the elements of world music with modern metal!. Around this same time, I had discovered the Sufi message of Hazrat Inayat Khan and began studying these works feverishly until eventually meeting my spiritual guide Tasnim Hermilla Fernandez. I was initiated into the Inayati Sufi order in 2005. and was given the spiritual name Sikander, which stems from the Persian origins of Alexander the Great.

In the fall of 2008, I released my first book in a three-part series entitled, Mind Over Metal: The Musician’s Guide to Mental Mastery. Then in February of ’09, I was chosen as lead guitarist and backing vocalist for Brian “HEAD” Welch (KoRn, Love and Death). The group toured lightly throughout 2009 and spent most of 2010 touring the US and Europe. In 2011 I performed my last show with Head/Love and Death in New Zealand, then resumed work on my solo career, and Sufi studies while also attending courses in herbology, iridology, sound and vibrational therapy and other healing modalities.

In 2012, I started my first e-commerce venture selling herbs and supplements online and eventually branched out into meditation aids and yoga supplies also. This started as a way to make some extra money and share my passion for holistic health and natural healing that was instilled in me as a child, but I also still carried a sense of purpose to inspire and help ohers to open up to their deeper spiritual connection with their artistic expression. It was through this that I merged my love of mentoring and developing artists, my passion for health and wellness, and my desire to become a spiritual guide, into one centralized place which became Holistic Musician.

in 2014 I was given the title of Healing Conductor by the Sufi Healing Order and soonafter began teaching monthly classes in Los Angeles on sound, healing, meditation, and mysticism. I have since been doing private and group sound healing sessions, classes, lectures, retreats, and continuing to offer fair trade and humanely sourced products for my webstores. I also do artist development, voice and guitar lessons, and share my knowledge and expreience as a staff writer for several online and music publications.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I think the biggest challenges early on in my career stemmed from being in a small town in Ohio with little exposure to more opportunity. When I moved to Los Angeles I soon realized how tough it really is to be heard and seen as a musician with so many others here aiming at the same target, but I also saw that this is a land of opportunities and with the right amount of effort and allot of belief in yourself things will eventually open up.

So through persistence and patience, I worked hard to find that perfect gig, so when the guitarist from one of my favorite bands (KoRn) called and offered me a gig I just assumed I was well on my way to the top. But the reality is a hired gun in a side project you are not the one signing the big deals and earning the big paychecks even though you’re traveling the world and playing big shows. So I would have to say for me having grown up with a certain starry-eyed view of my life as a famous musician, `I struggled to face the realities of life on the road and it was so hard to survive financially out there that I eventually had to step away and find another way to pursue my passions.

I had spent my whole life wanting to be a “rockstar” and never really gave myself anything to fall back on so I was always “chasing the dream” and waiting for that “big break” but in a place like LA, you often have to make your own breaks. That’s when I decided to turn my experience and knowledge into a business that would allow me to inspire and help others to discover their highest potential to freely express their own vision.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Holistic Musician – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Well, I think my business is unique in that it merges real soul expression with health and well-being. You know musicians generally don’t take the best care of themselves because we are always so willing to suffer for our art. The majority of touring bands these days live in a small van or bus with 6-8 people for months on end with a staple diet of soda, beer, pizza, and fast food and this makes it tough to fuel the machine to get up and perform your best every night. Not to mention the rigors of the road (grueling travel schedules, lack of sleep, being pulled away from loved ones etc.) which can all really reek havoc on someones emotional and mental well-being aside from the physical strain. So I think offering tips and solutions that can help people stay at their optimum level of health and happiness will ultimately lead to better music, better performances, and longer lasting careers!

Since I really specialize in a mind, body, and spiritual approach to artistic expression, it’s really an “all in” kind of thing and many musicians might only work at developing one or maybe two of these faculties. But to get up and pound the drums or scream through a 1-2 hr set 5 nights a week, one really has to be physically capable, mentally prepared, and spiritually invested, So I think giving artists new perspectives and angles to view their career through has really inspired them to go beyond what they thought they were capable of.

I often share this quote by Bruce Lee that says “I fear not the man who has practices 10,000 kicks but I fear the man who has practiced 1 kick 10,000 times”! I think when you have that kind of lazerlike focus and intention behind your music (or life for that matter) you can’t help but end up much farther than you would just “waiting for the big break”.

So I’m really proud of the fact that I’ve been able to work with so many great professional musicians that have taught me through there experience and in turn, I’m even more grateful that I am blessed enough to be someone that others draw inspiration and guidance from as well.

A few of the specific things we specialize in at Holistic Musician are artist development, career coaching, music lessons, health and wellness consultation, esoteric healing/retreats, private and group sound healing sessions. sound bath and sound healing events, lectures, classes, and spiritual guidance, as well as offering many meditation aids, herbs, yoga supplies, oils, and incense via our webstores (Amazon and eBay).

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Well, I have lots of things in the works. On the music side, I have a few projets going on, one of which is my long-time metal band Kurai and I am working on another world/sacred music inspired a project that I hope to launch in the next few years. Kind of like the Trans-Siberian Orchestra of sacred and cultural music so to speak, so that’s a pretty lofty goal I’ve been aiming at for awhile now.

I am also involved in many leadership training on my spiritual path that will eventually lead to greater opportunities to teach and share my love for spirituality and healing, which has always been at the core of my work. I have a new monthly class I am starting up in January as well as lots of live streaming events, lectures, and clinics happening throughout the year, so I really see lots of new doors opening up every day.

On the business end, I really would love to see the service side of it grow as it has been primarily sustained through the webstores and e-commerce side of things. So part of that goal is to reach out to some of my peers and fellow artists in the music community to help further establish myself as LA’s Music Guru, but also to continue to create content, art, and services that will inspire others to ultimately find their highest potential and fully express it!

Pricing:

• Sound Healing Sessions $60 Per Hour
• Vocal/Guitar Lessons $60 Per Hour
• Consulting (Sliding Scale Per Project)

Contact Info:

• Address: 5319 Radford Ave. Valley Village CA 91607
• Website: www.holisticmusician.com
• Phone: 310-901-4746
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesvh/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/holisticmusician/
• Twitter: @svhholistic
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/holistic-musician-los-angeles
• Other: www.soundcloud.com/thesvh