In Sarah Newberry’s office at Colmery-O’Neil VA Hospital, patients fill up the institution-blue chairs and crowd around the stereo. They have over 200 CD’s to choose from, and the conversation blossoms in this small room, discussions starting with the immediacy of the music issued from the speakers, but ending in places very few of us have seen.

“You may have someone with a social disorder who doesn’t want to talk about anything,” says Newberry, a Music Therapy intern from Florida State University. “They come to the listening clinic, take a couple of times to get used to people, and then they open up like a book. They’ll talk about Led Zeppelin, talk about rock. Sometimes it will help them talk about some of the stuff they saw in combat that they don’t usually like to talk about.”

Down the hall from Newberry’s office is A112J, another room at the VA that would seem institutional except for the fact that it’s filled with music stands, piano and keyboard, electric guitars with all their wiry appendages, a variety of hand-held percussion instruments and tall bongos lined up like soldiers. Then come the actual soldiers, or, more accurately, the veterans of U.S. military service, who file into the room, pick up their instruments and begin tuning up for VA Rock Band practice. Theirs is not a typical rock and roll story.

Jesse Pierce plays drums with such vigor and enthusiasm that he is still popping out a lengthy solo after the other band members have stopped tuning up. “Man, I can’t hold back, man!” he says in explanation. He is lost in the enjoyment of playing.

It’s like that for all the members of the VA Rock Band, which started up, with Newberry’s guidance, in January. It’s an unprecedented project for Colmery-O’Neil, one that could have easily not happened were it not for Newberry’s determination, says Gary Johnson, her supervisor and music clinician at the hospital.

“When she first came to me with this idea for the band, I went [throws up his hands and sighs] — it takes a lot of work, it takes a lot of organization and planning.”

That didn’t stop Newberry, and she and Johnson worked together to create a rock band made up of VA patients. The resulting group couldn’t be more diverse, ranging from a lead singer in his 20’s to an acoustic guitarist in his mid-60’s, all with varying levels of musical experience. But there is one obvious commonality with this group.

“Here we’re all veterans,” says Pierce. “It makes it like patriotism. Even though we don’t know each other that well, it’s easier to work together because we’ve all been through the service. It comes with our instincts.”

After the announcement that their lead singer, David Riviera, was transferred to the VA in Leavenworth, the mood in the room dips. Riviera will be back just in time to rehearse for a few days before the group’s upcoming concert, but in the meantime, they will have to practice without him. It’s a reminder that they are patients in an institutional system, and, although they are being treated for disabilities, whether psychological, physical or both, some aspects of their lives are out of their control. Even within the rock band.

When they start playing, though, you can see why they do it. The 12-bar blues song will be the finale at their upcoming show April 26, and Newberry has suggested that each member take a solo. In lone expression, but still held up by the constant time of the group, the soloist shines.

“Different people have different social issues, and to see them overcome their anxieties is so cool,” says Newberry. “Especially with music. You’re not just sitting in a room with a lot of people. You’re playing in a group, which is a whole different ball game. It’s esteem-building to have something where they’re encouraged to be who they are, and feel like they’re contributing.”

Ask the group how their participation in VA Rock Band has been therapeutic, and the answer is different in syntax but same in meaning.

“I can see the enjoyment it brings for people,” says Jeannette Jones, percussionist.

“Besides the joy I get out of it, it’s the joy I give to the other veterans,” says Gary Staerkel, guitarist.

“It does a lot for your mind,” says Pierce. “It’s the way I’m completing someone else. If I see them get up and dance, I know I’m doing something right.”

The rock band that was set up to help the members themselves has become a reciprocal vehicle. In their performances, they give something enjoyable to the community and receive in exchange a feeling of belonging and significance. And the music isn’t too bad, either.

“The first time they played ‘Come Together’ by the Beatles, Gary and I looked at each other and were like, ‘What just happened?’” Newberry says. “They were listening to each other and ran through it perfectly the first time… That was the day that I was like, ‘This is really going to work.’ And they knew it, too. You could see it on everyone’s faces.”

Watch the VA Rock Band Perform

Practice winds down and the rock band members pack up their instruments to go back to their own unique lives within the VA system. But their participation in the band has an impact outside Room A112J.

“It’s all a part of integrating back into the community,” says Johnson. “These guys have had backgrounds in music probably before they entered the service. Now, whatever disability occurred to disrupt their lives, music is a vehicle that helps them to express themselves.”

Guitarist Greg Berry just recently re-discovered his love of playing guitar after a long hiatus. Berry, a Vietnam War vet, has been in the VA system off and on since getting out of the army in 1975.

“It’s been really good for getting over depression,” he says. “It gives me a way to get out of myself and interact with others instead of just isolating.”

With Newberry’s internship ending in May, the group doesn’t want to see her go, but feels like she has planted the seed for the rock band to continue to grow, thrive and provide meaning for each member. But whether or not the band shows up for practice every week, the impact has already been felt.

“I’m going to stay with the guitar now,” Berry says with levity. “I’m not going to put it down and walk away like I do everything else in my life. If I can stay focused for that, maybe I can move on to bigger and better things.”

The VA Rock Band plays April 26 at the Colmery-O’Neil VA Hospital auditorium, 1 p.m. The show is open to the public. Come out, rock out and show your support to these veterans.

[Leah Sewell | David Kitchner | video courtesy Gary Johnson | April 2010]