Watch: Missed the Last
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEm8PLs-7-o
An Opioid-related suicide and healing through music.
There is usually an event or series of events in ones life that gets us to reflect and make major changes in our lives. An event that makes us question, “why am I here, what do I have to offer, and what really brings me joy in my life” After the opioid-related suicide of my brother, Shawn Seisler, and the death of both my parents from cancer soon after, I was left asking myself these questions as my center of gravity, my entire immediate family, was gone.
Besides grieving and experiencing the guilt, sadness and anger that accompanies when someone close to us dies by suicide, I was left with an empty space to fill. I could have gone one of two ways. I could have tried to fill that void with things that would only have masked the pain I was in and sunk into a deep depression, or I could fill that empty space with actions that made me feel whole again. And this is how my journey brought me to music.
I had always wanted to be in a band. Many of us have at least one time or another fantasized about it, and then it goes away. But for me, it always stayed. It was the one dream that bit at my heels, gnawed at me, saying “I’m still here waiting.” With my brother gone, it just seemed natural that I would turn to this dream for the sake of mental survival. I sought this out and started writing and drumming for a band called Black Rooster. Every performance we had, I would come out from behind the drums and sing the one song I wrote, the song about my brother’s death and the call I missed, appropriately titled, Missed The Last. Though it was a sad song within a sexy rock and roll set, it resonated with people across audiences, catching people in their gut and appealing to them across genre lines.
After my drumming with Black Rooster, I decided that the one song that I got to sing, gave me enough of an itch to do more; write more, sing more, perform more, and so I started the Scott Seisler Band. We included a different version of the titled track, Missed The Last and released the album this past spring. We decided to create a video for Missed The Last, and shot it in 5 locations in 4 days, pulling together all of our resources and calling all favors to tell the story about my brother’s suicide. Our lead actor who was set to portray my brother, couldn’t make our production times, so we recast our bass player John Rehfuss in the role. During the shoot, we notice how eerily John looked like my brother Shawn. So much so that we didn’t think the audience would question the vintage footage with my actual brother with the actor who portrayed him. Not only that, but it was revealed that they were born on the same day! Coincidence or not, we thought this was a sign we were on the right path and doing the right thing in getting the word out about the opioid crisis, suicide, addiction and the mental health issues that encompasses all of those afflictions.
I hope you enjoy the video and thank you in advance for watching. We will be reading all comments on our YouTube and Facebook, so please engage if you feel so inclined. I know a lot of people unfortunately can relate to this experience, but hopefully, if we share our stories, it will help us feel heard.
The album is available on our site, and all the various music platform. 20% of all proceeds will go the support Bring Change To Mind and their efforts to fight the stigma that surrounds mental illness.
