Welcome to our first Artists’ Ink! Its very fitting that our first artist in the spotlight, is our friend Wes Geer from Hed and Korn, who is now doing great things as a producer, and a record label Chanl Records with artists Death on Wednesday and Divinia. He also started a non-profit called ‘Rock to Recovery’ that brings music into treatment centers.
We met Wes by accident on Twitter back in 2012 and were spellbound by his tour photos – mostly scenic and travel shots, some gear shots, and a few great crowd shots we have used in our Rise of Rock and Roll series. Wes also has some incredible tattoos and we asked him to share his story about his favourite tattoo. Here’s Wes’ story.
I had always been a fan of Sanskrit. It is such a beautifully artistic language visually. So I was on tour with Korn in India -not many bands play friggin INDIA! And it is such a spiritual place. The people, the vibe, the history, the culture, just amazing. And to me, touring and playing music around the world is a spiritual experience, especially since I only got to come back to music after I got sober and then got the gig with Korn.
So, having to depart my own band (Hed) early under bad terms, I always felt ripped off in a sense. It was hard for me to go to shows! I would just think ‘Why am I not playing, that’s what I am meant to do!’ …and so I somehow got lucky and got a call to go play with Korn. I had to hustle my ass off to make it all happen in the end, but it happened, thank God.
So while I was in india I decided to tat my foot, (I mean feet are pretty ugly anyhow) with some Sanskrit. but what would it say? Well I started looking up mantras etc and find one I kind of iiked and I changed it to be more to my liking. Honestly I can’t remember the original version, but mine is “Our spirit is love, we are unending’ And that’s what I believe.
Everything in life is frequency, energy. Love is energy and I believe the purest form of our spirit. I think when we die our energy goes to rejoin the giant ocean of energy we came from, never ending, maybe even reborn, who knows. That is what I think though.
So now when I shower and look down at my foot, I always remember the time I was on tour with Korn, in India, and what a spiritual experience I was blessed to have. Thanks to Sam De in Delhi for coming out to the hotel with some clean needles and doing excellent work!
Oh and by the way, that HURT like a mofo right there! hahaha -but totally worth it.
Many thanks to Wes for sharing his story and you can watch a short cool video clip below!