The Sit-Down: Brian & Jennea Welch

what's up everybody welcome to sit down I'm DJ sick Smith we got a great time here today with hanging out with Brian Willis janae was how are you guys good yeah we're New York City man so it's it's all good it's great to have you here and the documentary is coming out crazy love and had the privilege of seeing it just blew me away honestly unbelievable so let's let's jump into it I mean we were talking off-camera this is a long time coming for you and what people will see is that there's a lot of home video in here so just just take me through the process and you know what was the most difficult part of everything in terms of making this thing happen oh my gosh it was like the whole thing was just because people you know documentaries are a labor of love right you're not gonna make a ton of money and so the meaning behind the film was very important and it was about you know this kid being born into the crazy rock world and all the damage that that can do with the partying and everything and then you know divorce and addiction and everything you know and but the restoration also and so it was a it was a process of just you know the creators of the film or they loved it but at the same time they had lives and they have a business and family so it was like you know work for a month and then stop and they're not gonna go do this project and then we're going on vacation with the family and then okay I got two weeks slaughtered for this month so but we got through it man and you know we're pleased we're so pleased with the finished product yeah you definitely should be and I think one of the coolest things is just the raw honesty in there because you're hitting on all those different things and today especially for you I mean you have your memories as a baby and obviously your memories are not typical of other young children out there so what was it like for you going back and reliving this stuff but also doing it an extremely public way oh gosh well for me honestly I wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't if it wasn't to help other people you know cuz believe it or not there's so many kids who relate even if they're not in the public eye or you know just family struggles and so that's all that's the only reason I'm doing it you know and so it was hard but that kept me driven really just to help kids and you know bring hope yourself definitely she was like I told her you saw the footage of her like when she was a teenager and she's doing counseling sessions yes camera and there's it's emotional there's tears so I told her back then I was like look this is the idea are you comfortable with cameras I basically told her she can own the footage and like if she doesn't like it she didn't know we'd have to use nothing so there's no brassiere pressure so she was just brave and said all right well let's just do it I think that it can help some some kids you know even though she was in the thick of it and the emotional just depth of it now then even in thick of it she was like I think you know as I get through this it'll help someone later it's amazing how both are you yeah how both of you guys were able to just look outside of your own situations and realize that this can really have an impact because other people would just want to keep it private but I think we live in a world where people want to connect with others on their struggles yeah I need to because there's a lot of these issues whether it's addiction or mental health especially in teenagers and even after you hit the peak of your powers with something you know it's important to really talk about things not being okay you know and then five years ago it's not the same conversation yeah what level you're at you know rich or poor there's mental health and you know all that whatever it is yeah it's real it's real and and money doesn't solve everything no definitely not so one of the ones you had in the doc was you're living the American dream but it's an American Nightmare and that really stuck out to me so just just take me back to you know the peak of corn and you know on the outside everything looks great but you're struggling with addiction you have a new daughter just take me through that time and what it was actually like for you living day-in day-out riding this crazy crazy wave it was crazy because every single band member and the other bands that we toured with were like that too everybody was doing it yeah everyone struggling with addiction everyone was starting families at home and everyone was trying to juggle wait Who am I yeah my this Rockstar or my this dad and can I be both and you notice what happens on the road stay on the road and and when you grow older you start to know that the human heart and those things you can't hide anything you know you cannot hide anything so it was just crazy I mean we were we had anything we wanted you know they're the people with drug drug dealers want to hang out with us every night the girls want to hang out with us every night it was just like temptation you know a lot of temptation and so you know and when you get with your boys it's like it's hard not to just you know boys will be boys ripe a thing it's like at this party and let's you know eat bad let's drink all night and let's whatever and so but when we went home we loved our kids very much we loved our wives even you know and it's just but we are a mess we didn't we went from high school drinking and partying and music and garages to getting a job doing that so we didn't have any skills on how to be a parent or even a husband or whatever we just got everything thrown to us here what do you guys want whatever you want you can have basically you know anything you want and so we wanted we wanted some destructive things and so but you know thank God we made it out I know we lost a lot of peers you know in the rock-and-roll world but you know our band is uh stronger now than ever and our family or a family is stronger than ever - definitely and today you mentioned in the film just your concept of family wasn't what other people had but even still your dad comes and takes you on tour and you know there's a lot of people that were there for you which is cool and like watching the footage of just other people helping out while dad's onstage mm-hmm what do you remember about those early days when you first go from you know being without your dad to now this crazy lifestyle being on the road doing homework it you know two o'clock in the morning man okay so of course there's like exciting moments about that because it's different from the norm but I think when you're especially when you're little you need connection with people you know like the same person and a lot of people were in and out in it now I don't know and so I think that was difficult there was some like skills that I didn't quite learn but when he when he quit corn for a little bit we kind of stayed at home for a while and that was really good for me I feel like because we really bonded and I met some like lifelong friends really I'm just normal school stuff and then we went back on tour with solo stuff and I don't know it was it was difficult but fun I guess I don't know it's a strange mixture it's so yeah it's okay it's kind of like you know the carny families the carnival thing yeah they go on the road I like that yeah just like you set up your show and you do your dance even the top-notch musicians out there it starts to feel like that cuz you're doing the same thing with the same crew at the same stage and the same songs just a different place every day yeah you know and that can kind of drive you insane if you're not throwing different things in there to change things up yep even if you're who's huge right now ed Sheeran he's doing stadiums you know even if you're at that level it's just it's the same it's just it's the tour life you know and you're thankful for it you're grateful and you get it touched so many people in live people's lives but in your own mind you're like I'm doing the same thing yeah it's just new people and it's funny because when people talk about the struggles of their life at that point people say you're ungrateful but that's just being honest about the situation like you said you can have everything but you can still have nothing and you can still have issues with it and so I mean the most powerful there's many powerful parts of this story in this documentary but walking away from corn at that point in 2005 to be with your daughter and provide stability I mean that was challenging for a number of different reasons and to just take care of your own health so when you were making that decision were you conscious of all the different factors involved with it you know what was it like at that point for you I wasn't thinking like all I knew is that I loved my kid and I I found faith and I was just like I want I want to find out like how to really be happy you know without the drugs and alcohol and just be a good dad you know and it was a struggle because when you're when you get all that stuff take from you and you rely on it for so many years it's like okay what do I do when this resistance in life you know something happens and you're like you usually run to alcohol or something no it's not there they can't numb the pain yeah yeah well now I'm punching holes in the walls because I don't know to do with that inner rage or whatever right so so it was it was hard but it was uh you know i justed you know I had to get rid of my Rockstar cars because I wanted to be normal at the school you know I got complaints from some of the parents sometimes they're like to the principal there's a weird guy in the principal's like my friend already and she's like did you have long black hair tattoos that's Brian he's a sweet dad that's all yeah yeah I had that stuff happen but uh so but I transitioned pretty well into a suburban dad you know from after I left corner yeah definitely and for both you guys you mentioned obviously faith is a huge part of this story so how has God changed your lives and how have your hearts been transformed do you want to give you first it was yeah it was me first and and I think she's still figuring her her stuff out and with with faith and everything and I am too it's just but it I found out that a lot of the religious stuff that we see in the media like whatever it is like the Catholic faith these are problems with the priests and all these different things where Christians can be judgmental I found out that that's not who God is and and it's about personal relationship and so my heart got totally healed emotionally I'm stable now I got bad days like everybody else everybody does yeah but I'm but I have a connection with with God I love to meditate on him and his love in it and His goodness and everything and so I got a great balance and if my faith is everything to me and you know I came out pretty strong freaked some of the rock bands out a little bit but I think a lot of them that know me respect me now and they they're like wow he's really balanced and happy and uh you know I like to tell people all about the spiritual life that it's not what those judgmental hypocritical prick it just mean-spirited people say it do you know yeah and your what your one band member was sitting on that you know saying Brian heads not preachy you know there's just that a preachy M effort yeah and and for me honestly like growing up it was obviously like a radical change for him and so I was just kind of like okay I'm sick she was old like going with it and but he he partnered with a lot of Christian businessmen I guess who were had passion projects but they just fell through it or that whatever and so I like me seeing all that and seeing him getting you know kind of destroyed financially and emotionally and stuff by those things I was like okay so this is for God and God's doing this and he left all this for God and me but God I'm like okay so what's God then like destruction and greedy businessmen and I was like okay I don't want none of that so but I think now I'm I'm definitely open and stuff and I I feel like I have a relationship with God I'm just trying to find out like like kids don't kids need more than just you know God's real and God's gonna come in your life and whatever kids need like authenticity so like my my personal goal is to be authentic in that way and be like you know life's hard and being a kids hard and being a young adult hard and but there's um there's hope and security and satisfaction yeah and I think what's great is that you're figuring out what you want to believe in what's important to you in that for sure you know I think that that part of the story is interesting too because you're starting this new life but you're going through a really difficult time yeah you know it was filled with depression and cutting yourself and just you know very tough things so when you think about your life then compared to you life now what are some of the differences and how you were able to just get out of that dark time well for me the number one thing was like family connection number one thing like because he's all he's all I had really and so I think so in 2013 I went to a boarding school called awakening youth and I had everything taken away my phone ID Green Harrods diet and all my clothes and stuff and I I started fresh and that's what I needed because I didn't quite know myself here's just what I clung to to like find some kind of like identity and so I wiped it all clean and I was like okay so Who am I who is really sticking around for me who is you know what do I like what do I want to do with my life and so I learned that he loves me like unconditionally and he's always there for me and so that really gave me some like confidence and like security like okay so I'm not alone and then I think also finding some things that I'm really passionate about like I love music I love art I love writing and stuff I love people and so I think learning those things also gave me confidence and I guess like like a point to living you know what I mean yeah sure so I'm her favorite Oh potty-trained immediately how long have you had the pack um I've had her for like a year in half she's almost two but she's like my daughters she like she like curls up in my lap there's learning responsibilities I like it is it crazy for you to have a 20 year old daughter so we're 21 in July I'm proud I love it I love to see life evolve I'm not I'm not afraid to get old I'm not no because it's all about evolving and growing as we go along right yep yep so we're on this journey we're living learning to love and hopefully everybody out there you know and so when we get to the end of our then we'll be good for them for the real life because we'll take everything we learned and it's all just gonna equal love at the end of that you know yeah knows that so speaking of love and you know one of the most beautiful moments the documentary is you guys at your graduation dance it around there so how cool is it to experience that after everything you guys have been through here's a moment to celebrate an accomplishment for you and and do it with the person who's been there for you every step of the way how cool was that gosh it was so amazing it was so like I felt like like like a puzzle piece piece you know like just clicked I don't know I felt like home yeah I guess I don't know sharing those things and and I had so many friends and family around - it was just beautiful it was really nice it was yeah that's who that whole season just everything you know yeah there's a lot I remember she got her first job at Chipotle - you around then oh yeah yes I went in there and like I almost started crying because I saw her behind the register the first time I've ever seen her working yeah so and then yeah what was it called not graduation sorry it was it was stunning just to see her come in there because they awakening did it like full-on it's the best like yeah look looked amazing but there's a family like atmosphere boarding school uniforms and now it's a love you know it's very like therapeutic they did man they did it up and so uh so just uh she got her hair crashing and I walked in that was like it was all straight cuz look at her here it's that's all natural naturally curly and she did it all straight and like she looked like a movie star crazy so one of the other things I thought was really interesting was was your parents in the documentary yeah thank you just thinking about it you know their ride with you because obviously they see their son going to this heavy metal band then son becomes a Christian and I love their just the ride in the way with you as dreams yeah you know you're bringing the guys over for dinner and I just see them you know it looks like these middle America parents and I can just totally macton the dinner table conversations so just just describe a relationship with your parents and what they've meant for you throughout this whole journey my poor parents man fer okay first I go I just want metal music you know and my dad's like not knowing how to you know because all his friends kids look normal sure you know I'm this guy so he's like tell me cut my hair and all this and so we have friction and then I go and make it a music actually you know and then so my mom's like hearing all these F words and stuff and corns music and I'm like mom I just played guitar it's all good all these extremes right yeah and then I go and leave the band and then everyone starts mocking me and then they think I'm my parents are afraid I'm like getting brainwashed or something you know it's so but now that there's so much balance they understand that it's a you know they found their own faith and and they obviously see that I came around and I'm level-headed now so yeah but they're my dad they're in Bakersfield California and my dad just broke his femur on Thanksgiving my kin them yeah oh yeah so he's doing good though he's strong he's he's the old school you know just powers through oh yeah yeah just like he was on the ground and he called my brother and told what to do the turkey my dick my brothers like dad are you kidding me just broke your leg come on yeah yeah they're often though out there that's cool yeah so when people check out the documentary you know what do you want people to know about your story and what do you want people to learn from watching this because like I said just unbelievably powerful and hits on a bunch of different things but what specifically do you guys want people to walk away thinking can I say so I just want to say that it's not people think it's it's gonna be a rock dock and there is that in there sorry so much more it's a small piece of the much larger scale documentary and so I would like people to walk away that you know never give up I don't care how bad it looks whatever you're going through there's always like it's always going to turn around if you keep going you know and that you know not religious like all the religious stuff that we see in the world the media picks up with the good stuff that out there spiritualism good stuff doesn't get documented and it is good and God is good and and you know I just give it a chance you know give life a chance and and life's too short man yeah why struggle and and go through life without you know searching for healing and living a life of love and everything so for me the documentary is talks about scene teen depression suicide self-harm it's women empowerment yeah and it's the the the relationship and the bond between father daughter and how important that is you know those are the three things that I think are super important and yeah I thought that's what I want people to take away from it really yes I agree awesome well guys it's been an absolute pleasure thank you very much you guys can check out loud crazy love on Showtime starting December 14th we'll see you next time here on the sit down

Channel: CBS Local News

Views: 24,134

Rating: 4.9665971 out of 5

Keywords: CBS Local Interviews, Brian Welch, Brian Head Welch, DJ Sixsmith

Id: cvFrTM9qE0w

Length: 21min 8sec (1268 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 11 2018