Music in Seattle.
It's part of our city’s soul, its heartbeat.
But what if that heart stopped beating?
You're getting teeth.
Yeah.
I'm going to remove one, but you're getting it back immediately.
Good.
Today, it's just a trip to the dentist for Lance Mercer.
It's just funny.
There's been a discussion, they’re like, there is a little bit of like what?
You're getting new front teeth?
But Mercer, a musician and the legendary photographer,
who captured the meteoric rise of grunge in Seattle in the early nineties,
was diagnosed in 2014 with stage four lymphoma,
a potentially fatal blood cancer.
One of the downsides of being self-employed
is not having access to proper health care.
You learn pretty quickly that the resources that are available to
you are limited.
Last year I just came to terms with the fact that that it's part of who I am.
Mercer eventually found the chemo and stem cell treatment he needed, but he wasn't
ready for the huge medical expenses that were out there waiting for him.
I ended up in this place where I had major health issues.
I mean, to date, my bills, I think have they've exceeded $1 million.
Local fundraisers, the nonprofit MusiCares
and the Affordable Care Act have helped Mercer pay down his debts.
But unfortunately, his health problems didn't stop,
as some post chemo symptoms began affecting his teeth and his mental health.
I started getting stressed out and worried, and it took up a whole day.
Like, I'm not able to do anything else except focus on what am I going to do
to take care of this.
And that's where a group called SMASH takes center stage.
Seattle Musicians Access to Sustainable Health Care.
Launched in 2015,
musicians fill out a form,
talk to SMASH administrators and get free help
navigating the health system, based on income qualifications.
Come on, flash.
They can also get free medical services
like those provided by Lance's dentist,
Dr. Chris Raforth.
There's no teeth there right now.
That's why it feels wierd.
Raforth, a musician himself grew up in the Seattle music scene of the night,
and, like many artists, remembers working two jobs
without medical or dental insurance simply to get by.
I was just living hour to hour, day to day and just enjoying rehearsal performance,
going to work, paying the rent.
But he started paying it forward.
After finding a career in dentistry and hearing about SMASH
five years ago.
Close and squeeze, I need a little bit of pressure there.
Now he and a growing group of other doctors across western Washington
donate their services to SMASH with SMASH paying for costs
like supplies or appliances.
Raforth sees it as helping
musicians who helped him and his colleagues beyond measure.
We're getting therapy from our artists, as well as giving that therapy to them.
I'm just providing that added bit of stability
to allow them to free themselves
of the stress or the drag that comes with the struggle
of not having the chance to be as healthy as they can do.
We fund services, we pay for services, we have amazing providers
that donate services.
Raforth and thousands of other screaming fans show their support each year.
At a star studded benefit concert where SMASH co-founder Ian Moore
isn't just reaching out to donors, but to fellow musicians
who've put their art first and their health second.
I’ll drive through a friggin blizzard with like, you know,
I could have an arm missing. I mean, I think I could play with one arm.
I don't you know, I'm, I hate canceling.
A focus on improving self care, led SMAH to launch a mental health campaign
in April of 2020 on KISW radio.
Music industry studies say half of musicians report dealing with depression
compared to less than 25% of people like you and me out there in the audience.
Anybody that thinks they don't need a therapist
just hasn't been to the therapist yet.
SMASH helps find therapy for musicians
or subsidizes payments to a therapist they already have.
And even helps them connect with telehealth therapy providers
to break down any barriers to treatment.
And I think that's the first thing,
is taking the stigma out of saying, I need help.
And that help is literally a lifesaver for musicians all around Seattle.
Research shows the average musician has a life span
that's 25 years shorter than the average person's, 25 years.
Just imagine how much music we're not hearing.
If I could show you how many benefits I played for people that had preventable
cancer, heart attacks because they didn't have the health care they needed
and so they didn't get the care.
And 20 years down the road, you have a major, you know, health care.
We don't need to have that stuff happen.
And helping musicians pay for health care
is a boost for the health of the entire music scene.
Just ask Mike McCready.
He played the
2022 SMASH benefit, but he's rocked the Moore Theater
for decades, even before he was lead guitarist for Pearl Jam.
Certainly I've had a lot of success and I'm very lucky and grateful for that.
And the first time I played at the Moore was 1983.
So I've been I've been in a metal band called Shadow,
and we, so I've been in Seattle since I was, forever, since I was four.
What he's noticed over the years, the rising overall
cost of living in Seattle, including medical care.
Unfortunately, you know, with with inflation
and how much it is to live here, and a lot of musicians,
a lot of artists have had to move away, down to Portland or wherever.
And that's sad because it used to not be that way.
That resonates
with Death Cab for Cutie, Ben Gibbard, who shares McCready's
concerns about the future of arts and culture in the Seattle area.
Reports from King County show a third of people
working in the arts are considering leaving it behind.
You know, the nineties were great. I love the nineties.
I lived through them,
but I don't want that to be the end of the story for Seattle music.
For him, SMASH is a shot in the arm
for Seattle musicians and the industry, they're a part of.
For artists of this era and for many years to come.
If we want to still have a music scene,
if we want have a thriving music scene, we have to kind of cultivate
young artists now.
And not just sit on our laurels and talk about the good old days.
SMASH is celebrating those good old days.
And working to ensure the beat goes on.
Not too perfect right? That's amazing.
It's something to smile about.
For artists like Lance Mercer, whose life and life's work,
thanks to SMASH, have plenty of encores still to come.
It's more than just having a doctor.
To me, SMASH has meant that I can
be comfortable and that I can know that if I,
if anything happens, that I have support.
Thanks everybody, thank you.