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Music in Seattle.

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It's part of our city’s soul,
its heartbeat.

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But what if that heart stopped beating?

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You're getting teeth.

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Yeah.

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I'm going to remove one,
but you're getting it back immediately.

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Good.

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Today, it's just a trip to the dentist
for Lance Mercer.

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It's just funny.

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There's been a discussion, they’re like, there is a
little bit of like what?

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 You're getting new front teeth?

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But Mercer, a musician
and the legendary photographer,

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who captured the meteoric rise of grunge
in Seattle in the early nineties,

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was diagnosed in 2014
with stage four lymphoma,

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a potentially fatal blood cancer.

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One of the downsides
of being self-employed

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is not having access
to proper health care.

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You learn pretty quickly
that the resources that are available to

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you are limited.

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Last year I just came to terms with
the fact that that it's part of who I am.

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Mercer eventually found the chemo and stem
cell treatment he needed, but he wasn't

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ready for the huge medical expenses
that were out there waiting for him.

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I ended up in this place
where I had major health issues.

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I mean, to date, my bills,
I think have they've exceeded $1 million.

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Local fundraisers, the nonprofit MusiCares

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and the Affordable Care Act
have helped Mercer pay down his debts.

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But unfortunately, his health problems
didn't stop,

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as some post chemo symptoms began
affecting his teeth and his mental health.

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I started getting stressed out
and worried, and it took up a whole day.

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Like, I'm not able to do anything else
except focus on what am I going to do

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to take care of this.

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And that's where a group called
SMASH takes center stage.

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Seattle Musicians Access
to Sustainable Health Care.

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Launched in 2015,

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musicians fill out a form,

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talk to SMASH administrators
and get free help

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navigating the health system,
based on income qualifications.

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Come on, flash.

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They can also get free medical services

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like those provided by Lance's
dentist, 

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Dr. Chris Raforth.

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There's no teeth there right now.

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That's why it feels wierd.

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Raforth, a musician himself grew up in the Seattle
music scene of the night,

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and, like many artists, remembers
working two jobs

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without medical or dental insurance
simply to get by.

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I was just living hour to hour, day to day
and just enjoying rehearsal performance,

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going to work, paying the rent.

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But he started paying it forward.

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After finding a career in dentistry
and hearing about SMASH

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five years ago. 

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Close and squeeze, I need a little bit of pressure there.

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Now he and a growing group
of other doctors across western Washington

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donate their services
to SMASH with SMASH paying for costs

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like supplies or appliances.

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Raforth sees it as helping

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musicians who helped him
and his colleagues beyond measure.

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We're getting therapy from our artists,
as well as giving that therapy to them.

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I'm just providing
that added bit of stability

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to allow them to free themselves

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of the stress
or the drag that comes with the struggle

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of not having the chance
to be as healthy as they can do.

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We fund services, we pay for services,
we have amazing providers

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that donate services.

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Raforth and thousands of other screaming
fans show their support each year.

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At a star studded benefit concert where
SMASH co-founder Ian Moore

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isn't just reaching out to donors,
but to fellow musicians

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who've put their art first
and their health second.

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I’ll drive through a friggin blizzard
with like, you know,

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I could have an arm missing.
I mean, I think I could play with one arm.

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I don't you know, I'm, I hate canceling. 

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A focus on improving self care, led SMAH to launch 
a mental health campaign 

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in April of 2020 on KISW radio.

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Music industry studies say half of
musicians report dealing with depression

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compared to less than 25% of people
like you and me out there in the audience.

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Anybody that thinks they don't need
a therapist

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just hasn't been to the therapist yet.

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SMASH helps find therapy for musicians

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or subsidizes payments to a therapist
they already have.

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And even helps them connect
with telehealth therapy providers

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to break down any barriers to treatment.

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And I think that's the first thing,

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is taking the stigma out of saying,
I need help.

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And that help is literally a lifesaver
for musicians all around Seattle.

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Research shows
the average musician has a life span

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that's 25 years shorter
than the average person's, 25 years.

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Just imagine how much music
we're not hearing.

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If I could show you how many benefits
I played for people that had preventable

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cancer, heart attacks because they didn't
have the health care they needed

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and so they didn't get the care.

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And 20 years down the road,
you have a major, you know, health care.

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We don't need to have that stuff happen.

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And helping musicians pay for health care

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is a boost
for the health of the entire music scene.

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Just ask Mike McCready.

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He played the

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2022 SMASH benefit,
but he's rocked the Moore Theater

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for decades, even before he was lead
guitarist for Pearl Jam.

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Certainly I've had a lot of success
and I'm very lucky and grateful for that.

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And the first time I played at
the Moore was 1983.

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So I've been I've been in a metal band
called Shadow,

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and we, so I've been in Seattle since I was, forever, since I was four.

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What he's noticed over the years,
the rising overall

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cost of living in Seattle,
including medical care.

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Unfortunately,
you know, with with inflation

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and how much it is to live here,
and a lot of musicians,

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a lot of artists have had to move away, down
to Portland or wherever.

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And that's sad
because it used to not be that way.

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That resonates

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with Death Cab for Cutie, Ben Gibbard,
who shares McCready's

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concerns about the future of arts
and culture in the Seattle area.

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Reports from King County show
a third of people

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working in the arts are considering
leaving it behind.

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You know, the nineties were great.
I love the nineties.

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I lived through them,

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but I don't want that to be
the end of the story for Seattle music.

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For him, SMASH is a shot in the arm

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for Seattle musicians and the industry,
they're a part of.

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For artists of this era
and for many years to come.

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If we want to still have a music scene,

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if we want have a thriving music scene,
we have to kind of cultivate

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young artists now. 

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And not just sit on our laurels
and talk about the good old days.

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SMASH is celebrating
those good old days.

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And working
to ensure the beat goes on.

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Not too perfect right? That's amazing.

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It's something to smile about.

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For artists like Lance Mercer,
whose life and life's work,

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thanks to SMASH,
have plenty of encores still to come. 

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It's more than just having a doctor.

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To me, SMASH has meant that I can

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be comfortable
and that I can know that if I,

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if anything happens, that I have support.

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Thanks everybody, thank you.