Veterans band going to national Veterans Creative Arts Festival

The reason? Not only was the former tank driver helped out of a low point in his life, but he also met his new wife, Brandi Schneider, a Navy Veteran and fellow musician.

“It’s changed my life,” he said. “I’m over the moon with joy.”

It all started a few years ago when Erik Schneider was referred to music therapy and took guitar lessons at Lovell FHCC. Then he became a member of the Veteran band “Broken Pieces,” and met his then-future wife.

Now the seven-member band is planning a trip to the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival in June, in South Carolina, where they’ve been invited to perform their first place entry, “When Did I Get Old.”

Broken Pieces came together in a music therapy jam group that is part of the Lovell FHCC BRIDGE mental health recovery program. The band members gathered recently and played outside the Patriot Store and canteen, where the American Legion Auxiliary was sponsoring a bake sale to help them raise the money they need to pay for their hotel and travel.

Brandi Schneider was there by her new husband’s side, putting out brownies and cookies on the bake sale table, and she offered some more details about how they met and fell in love.

Brandi Schneider is no newcomer to the Veterans Creative Arts Festival. She’s entered it three other years – the first time when she was still serving on active duty as an electrician in the Navy.

She said it was three years ago in March when Lovell FHCC Music Therapist Elizabeth La Combe told her about a new “drummer guy” she needed to meet.

“I remember he came in, in a beat-up motorcycle jacket, carrying drumsticks, and I said, ‘so you’re the drummer guy,’” Brandi Schneider said.

The rest, as they say, is history. The couple got married on April 16 of this year.

“I’ll always have immense gratitude,” Erik Schneider said, for his wife and all the other ways his life has changed for the better through music therapy, the band, the festival and the care he receives at Lovell FHCC.

“All I ever wanted to do is be a musician,” he said. “I’m very excited to be here. We meet other Veterans all over the place. We love playing. We need this support.”

Lovell FHCC Chief of Staff Dr. Jeffrey Oken stopped by the bake sale to present the band members with certificates of appreciation and wish them well at the national CAF.

“You help people heal,” Oken told the band. “This is a powerful recovery message you pass along to other people.”

Many people have witnessed the healing powers of music therapy through the band’s performances. “Broken Pieces” has played at dozens of community events in the past few months, La Combe said, in the run-up to the national CAF.

At least one other Veteran currently participating in the music therapy jam group already is planning to join the band and enter the 2027 Veterans Creative Arts Festival.

Congratulations to this year’s first place band: Marine Corps Veterans Joe Kerrill, Gary McDermott and Jimmi Koliatsis; Navy Veterans Brandi Schneider, Jerry Wanczyk and Jeff Wilcox, and Army Veteran Erik Schneider! Best of luck at the national festival!