A Band Called PTSD
—Music That Heals

A veteran’s group on a mission

WEST HAVEN, CT, August 18, 2021—Some bands make good music and some have a mission. A band called PTSD does both: they perform music that rocks while, at the same time, heals themselves. They released their first ever studio-recorded album in the summer of 2021. The album is available on the Horizon Music Group Label, and can be purchased on the band’s website (www.ptsd-band.com), and at various retailers.

The group, originally the VA Homefront Band, has been popular in the world of Veteran’s Affairs for years. As part of The Creative Arts Therapies Program, which began at the West Haven VA in 1986, the group, under both its original and new name, has won a total of 12 gold, silver and bronze medals. At the prestigious National Creative Arts Competition, they garnered a first place, for their performance of “Let Them In”.

After headlining the Veteran’s Concert on the West Haven Green in 2019, where they experienced extending beyond themselves as individuals, they saw the positive effect they could have on the community at large. As a result, the band produced a CD of original songs, which in addition to expanding their songwriting and instrumental skills, will give their music a wider reach.

The band originated as part of the PTSD Music Therapy group at the West Haven, Connecticut VA Hospital in 1997. Over time the current roster of members fell into place, with Roberta, “Bobbi” Blake becoming their music therapist. PTSD Band is made up of five members: Lead singer Vanderbilt Thompson, Tom Blake, guitar and bass, Michael Ellsworth, guitar, Tim Johnson, bass and keyboards, and Mike Montecalvo, drums. All five members participate in the writing of the songs they play. All the members share a common bond by having lived through Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder from their time in the military and by joining Bobbi Blake’s program of healing through music.

Each of the members brings his unique personality to the group, each tempered by their individual times lived under stress. Tim Johnson, a Navy veteran, was part of the rescue efforts during a bombing in Beirut that killed 241 Marines and Sailors. For years, Michael Ellsworth lived with a helicopter ride he missed because the person who was supposed to wake him fell asleep. That flight was shot down and lost in the jungle for 26 years.

“When you listen to Vanderbilt Thompson sing you pick up a lot of his personal story,” says an Army Veteran Dutch Gibbs, a fan of the band. “By the sound of his voice I recognize that the guy’s been to hell and back. I know because I’ve been there too.” In “Chilly Winds of Love” written by band member Michael Ellsworth, Van’s voice evokes a wild ride through the perils of relationships.

Ellsworth joined the music program after the passing of his wife of twenty years. “At my first meeting with Bobbi Blake in 2014, she handed me a guitar and said, ‘why don’t you play something,’ so I played “Something” by George Harrison and it changed me. I felt better and have been with the program and the band ever since.”

Each member has his own story of joining the band. Tom Blake (no relation to Bobbi) is the longest charter member of the group, having started the music therapy program in 1997. Tom, who plays guitar and bass and is one of the band’s songwriters, says, “the band has been a positive shared learning experience for everyone.” He adds, “including Bobbi.”

Drummer Mike Montecalvo came to the group after captaining Connecticut’s VFW Color Guard and Drill team, comprised of fellow combat veterans, winner of 19 first place awards in National VFW field competitions. “It’s renewed my love of music and given me a purpose and a way to address my trauma.”

Tim Johnson is a gifted songwriter who also, plays bass, keyboard, and guitar. In one evocative song he sings, “I’ve swum the deepest ocean, the highest mountain I have climbed … now I stand here filled with love that saves me every time.”

The combined band member’s stories, past and present, are proof that the experience of trauma, no matter how great, can be alleviated—and perhaps even eliminated—by the healing chords of music.

The unsung hero of the PTSD band is the group’s guiding light, Music Therapist Bobbi Blake, who has been with the VA in West Haven since 1991. Bobbi received a Bachelor of Music from the University of Massachusetts. She became a Board-Certified Music Therapist in 1989 encompassing her knowledge of The Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music as well as Neurologic Music Therapy.

The Music Therapy group also recreates the military culture, having a team of veterans working together towards a mission to create music. Bobbi says, “The pride, bonding, sense of belonging, and group identification is similar to the military. Lead singer Van Thompson adds, “we started just as vets just playing music and grew into a family that looks out for each other through the good and the bad times.”

Bobbi’s caring and dedication to the collective mission contributes to the band’s underlying success. She shares, “I am profoundly grateful to have had the opportunity to work with veterans. It is an honor and privilege to accompany them on their journeys, and to be trusted as a witness to their struggles and victories. They have taught me about compassion, strength, the courage to overcome fears and the full experience of being a human being.”

The band’s hard work is paying off. Grammy-Award-Winning producer Vic Steffen’s Horizon Music Group is currently recording PTSD Band again at Vic’s West Haven studio. Vic calls them, “my pet project.” Original member Tom Blake, watching the band’s evolution over the years, says “it’s sad that music therapy and the creative arts programs are not found in all 152 V.A. Hospitals. It’s a total shame—look at what it’s done for us!”

Roger Phelan, a prized member of the band, tragically passed in 2019, but lives on thanks to the timelessness of music. The band is now recording a song Roger wrote called “Leap of Faith” backed up by New Haven’s esteemed Kevin Monroe & Devotion Gospel Choir.

Leap of Faith

If you step out into space,
breaking the fall, flat on your face
on what will you base
your leap of faith?

The collective leap of faith the band members have taken is joining with Bobbi Blake on their shared musical journey to healing past trauma. And, as Bobbi says, “living the full experience of being a human being.”

MORE INFO

Contact

Vic Steffens
Horizon Music Group
www.facebook.com/vsteffens1
Phone: 203.934.7186
Email: steffmo@aol.com

Website

www.ptsd-band.com