Meet Kyle - From Rockstar to Psychedelic Healer & Author - A Wild Wild Journey

I. Living The Dream

Kyle moved to Los Angeles at the age of 18 to follow his dream of becoming a professional musician.

Within two years, he had secured a record deal with Bright Antenna, a publishing deal with Universal Publishing, a manager whose previous clients included Guns N Roses and Morrissey, and the same booking agent as Eminem and Coldplay.

His newly formed band, Beware of Darkness, would go on to record their debut album Orthodox with producer Dave Sardy (Oasis, Jet, Wolfmother) and nab a top five rock hit with the song “Howl”.

The band amassed 40 million streams worldwide, playing on Conan, and landing a feature in Rolling Stone.

The band toured the world multiple times, hand picked by The Smashing Pumpkins, The Struts, Eagle of Death Metal, Alec Benjamin, and Skunk Anansie as an opening act. The band also shared the stage at festivals and radio shows with Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Coheed and Cambria, Weezer, 30 Seconds From Mars, and Atlas Genius.

His songs have been featured in countless movies, tv shows, and video games including Nissan Commercials, The Mayans, Red 2, Need For Speed, and FIFA. The bands second record "Are You Real?” was produced by Grammy winner, Catherine Marks. Its lead single “Dope” was premiered by Zane Lowe.

Although it seemed he was “living the dream”, despite all this material success, on the inside Kyle was having a mental health crisis. All the success had only compounded his depression and anxiety.

The paradox and confusion of getting all the material success he’d dreamed of yet feeling all the more empty because of it would be the spark that ignited his spiritual path and deeper search for meaning.

When he gave up the dream, the real journey would begin.

II. The Healing Path

When his band of ten years broke up, he was faced with an identity and existential crisis. “Who Am I?”

This led to a dark night of the soul. Without the band to prop his identity up, he went into a mental health free fall: his depression bottoming out, suffering panic attacks, and feeling suicidal almost daily.

He embarked on a healing path, exploring every healing modality he could find - Eastern and Western, practical and mystical, shamanic and psychedelic. He completed his 200 YTT, becoming a certified Yoga Teacher and was a steady Transcendental Meditation practitioner for a decade.

It was an encounter with the psychedelic Ayahuasca, that changed everything.

A single ceremony with the sacred plant medicine was the answer he’d been looking for. One dose healed a decade of depression overnight, reconnected him connection with the divine, and helped him clearly see the root of over 15 years of suffering.

It was a personal revelation and remembrance. Over the next few years, he became a student of the plants. He sat with every psychedelic modality that presented itself, including Ayahuasca, San Pedro, 5-MEO DMT, Rapé, Psilocybin, and Kambo.

One the biggest shifts was in how he saw his own depression, How could his depression or anxiety ever be a bad thing if it led him back to source and a spiritual awakening / remembrance?

Cue the book.

III. The Book

Kyle sees the role of an artist as an alchemist, how can I alchemize my own pain and suffering into light for someone else?

This idea was the spark for his next project, a book.

Drawing upon his desire to help others suffer less, he taught himself how to write a book, and wrote Thank God For Depression - Make Depression The Best Thing To Ever Happen To You, a non-fiction / memoir aimed at helping people alchemize their depression into the best version of themselves.

He raised over $22,000 from over 210 people via an Indiegogo Campaign.

“It’s the book I wish I would have had at 20. I believe all the knowledge in here would have saved me a decade of suffering.”

The whole thesis is, “what if my ten years of suffering could be someone else’s sixth months because of all the information in this book.

The book offers radical perspective shifts on depression, and a smorgasbord of paths to healing alongside hilarious stories from his days in Beware of Darkness and other psychedelic adventures. Imagine if David Sedaris or Anthony Bourdain wrote a book on healing.

He decided to own his own art and self publish the book, and the bet has paid off - it has gone on to sell over 1,500 copies worldwide, a feat that 90% of published books never achieve. This has been all through word of mouth.

The book has gained the praise of Toms Founder Blake Mycowskie, who said, “It had a huge impact over me in my life, really one of the seminal texts I went to try to figure out my depression and ultimately played a pivotal role in my coming out of it.”

IV. In Service

His continued involvement in the underground world of shamanism and plant medicine ceremonies also lead to one of his deepest callings, leading music at Ayahuasca ceremonies.

Drawing upon intuition, flow states, prayer, mantra, intention, shamanic tools, sound, and a deep partnership and reverence for the medicine, he acts as a channel for the divine to heal and guide people on their plant medicine journeys.

Pulling from a catalogue of ancient and modern songs, he sings in Spanish, Portuguese, English and Sanskrit, often writing songs on the spot, playing four hours straight in a trance state. He has also written a full album of healing medicine music with his partner.

Participates repeatedly say how integral and profound his music is to their own healing journey. The music helped them re-connect with past loved ones, heal deep trauma, have awakening spiritual experiences, and find meaning, purpose and joy in life again.

The shift form playing being a rockstar, all about ego and self gratification, to a shamanic sonic healer, where sound is all in spiritual service has been one of the most profound paths of his life.

Kyle has said the shift from playing in front of 40,000 people for ego to playing in a medicine ceremony for 25 for service and healing has been one of the most meaningful paths of his life.

Since then he has began giving Keynotes across the country on how psychedelics and other non-ordinary states of consciousness can heal depression and anxiety.

Kyle journeys deep into the underworld to bring back the insights, lessons, and visions to help others transform their suffering into meaning and purpose.

He is currently writing his next book, Thank God For Anxiety.

Media

Interview Topics

  • Mental Health & Psychedelics - All the ways psychedelics can heal depression, anxiety, and creativity.

    Personal Stories, Insight, and Wisdom A decade of sitting with various psychedelic plant medicines including Ayahuasca, Huachuma (San Pedro), Bufo, Kambo, & Rapeh.

    Playing Music In Ayahuasca Cermonies - Four years of leading music in underground Ayahuasca ceremonies. Stories, insights, and wisdom on using music as a channel and partnering with plant medicine to help people heal their deepest traumas. Using sound, song, and flow states as a medicine. Also, yes, the stories from playing in plant medicine ceremonies are wild.

  • The Intersection of Creativity & Mental Health - Wisdom on navigating mental health while being a professional artist. How better mental health leads to better creativity. How to heal creativity after trauma.

  • Success, Creativity, and Songwriting - Wisdom and stories from a writing top five rock hit and recording and producing five albums of original material.

    Touring - He spent his entire 20’s touring the world in a rock band. What its like to play to crowds and festivals of over 10,000 people

    The Industry - Personal insight into the music industry. navigating record and publishing deals.

  • How to use shamanic and energetic modalities, partnering with the mystical, irrational, and mysterious to heal, touch the truth of our being, and remember who we are and where we come from.