Meet Pete Egersheim | Local Musician, Bogey Golfer Extraordinaire and Advocate for Suicide Prevention

We had the good fortune of connecting with Pete Egersheim and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Pete, why did you pursue a creative career?
Like a lot of people, I fell in love with music at a very early age. I ended up hitting the Gene Pool Lottery in music and art as my grandfather, father and mother could all play guitar and most my aunts and grandmothers could sing or play piano. My uncles and cousins are all fabulous artists and illustrators as well.

I’m originally from New England but moved to Pacific Beach, CA in 2006 when I was 23-years-old. Back in Massachusetts, I started a band in high school with my brother and best friends. From 1995-2005, our high school band “12cent” ended up making a decent name for ourselves and had been playing shows, touring (before cell phones) and releasing our own records for 10 years. After visiting and playing gigs on tour in San Diego a few times, we made the difficult decision to uproot our lives, follow our guts and our dreams, kissed our families, and moved 3000 miles across the country with our brothers and best friends from suburban Boston to sunny San Diego, CA.

Currently, I am a 41-year-old local singer, songwriter and musician from Pacific Beach and have been living and performing in the San Diego Music, Art and Restaurant scenes for 18 years. I play guitar and sing lead vocals for the 3-piece Punk Rock & Roll band ‘Making Incredible Time’ and I also perform solo acoustic shows all around San Diego. My current band Making Incredible Time, or MIT, is made up of my brother Brian (drums) and best friend Tom (bass) who I have been playing music with since I was a teenager back in Massachusetts in the late 90’s. I have also performed vocals with the Irish Rock band ‘Drunken Lullabies” downtown at the San Diego ShamROCK festivals along with having organized multiple Music and Art themed Fundraisers for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) raising not only money but also Awareness for mental health and suicide. With the help of my mother, sister and the AFSP, I learned that through music and art; I can “Be the Voice” for the voiceless, (those that are not yet ready to share their story) and that “You Are Not Alone”.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
If I’m being honest with myself, in my opinion my music is Small Time and I definitely don’t make enough money to quit my day-job, but that doesn’t stop me from performing. Humbly, I know that my music has impacted some people and that I have made a (hopefully) positive influence on them. I have made so many life-long connections with people thanks to my music. Many of my old friends from high school and loved ones have been able to follow my journey thanks to the internet, and likewise, I have been able to follow theirs. Sadly, the older we get, the more loved ones we seem to lose. It’s been a difficult couple of years for me personally and I have lost a few friends to suicide. When I was 7 and my sister Melissa was 9, my father committed suicide. Playing music with my brother and friends definitely helped save my life. Punk Rock was the perfect outlet and distraction. At first, I went to therapy for a few months, but overall, I suppressed my emotions and did my best to hide ‘my secret’ from everyone for almost 30 years. I didn’t want to look weak. I didn’t want people to feel bad for me or look at me differently. I didn’t want my father’s suicide to define me and I didn’t talk about it to anyone outside from a handful of people that already knew. That is until I turned 37, coincidentally the same age as my father was when he died.
My mother is incredibly strong. She raised two children alone after her divorced husband killed himself. She would work 3 jobs, sometimes in the same day, just for my sister and I. She is my inspiration and an advocate for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. The AFSP organizes a fundraising walk in a different major city every year called the “Out Of The Darkness Walk” and my mother always walks in the name of my father and other loved ones she lost to suicide.
One year, the OOTD Walk came to San Diego and I met my mother at the Rally Point near San Diego Waterfront. Everyone was wearing different colored beads like Mardi Gras. I asked my mother what it all meant and she told me that “Everyone wearing a bead necklace is someone that has been affected directly by suicide and that every color means a different person. Blue could mean Brother, Pink means Mother, White means your Armed Forces brother or sister… Everyone has a color.” There must have been thousands of people there and it all hit me like a ton of bricks. I thought out loud as I fought back the tears, “…and this is just San Diego…”. My mother responded with “Well… this is just the people that showed up.”. I dropped to my knees and bawled my eyes out. (It felt pretty good actually). I asked her How she does it? She told me, “Talking about it helps. You get to know the other people and hear their stories and share yours. You eventually start to feel like “You Are Not Alone” and that “It is OK to Talk About Suicide”. She taught me how to “Be the Voice” for other at first, (if you can).

This moving experience motivated me to open up about my own story and I ended up setting up a few fundraising gigs to benefit the AFSP in the name of my father, Kevin. Once my story was out, many people who I had been friends with for years started coming up to me exclaiming, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t know about your dad”, which I know is not easy to do, but in turn it helped them open up about THEIR stories. I helped get the conversation going just as my mother helped me.
Just recently, an old friend that I haven’t spoken to in 15 years reached out to me on facebook. She had just lost her father to suicide a couple weeks ago and said that she saw my story and asked me for advice. Although it’s sad, it was humbling and heartwarming to me that she was brave enough to reach out, share her story and ask for help. It’s definitely not easy. After we talked I sent her to AFSP.org and through them she was able to get some help and start her healing process.

Through the power of music and love can we inspire and give hope to others. We can teach others how to have a voice and that they are not alone. To me, Music is a family and a community and knowing that I can make the smallest positive difference on someone, either through songwriting, performing, or just sharing stories, is what makes this all worth it to me.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I love San Diego and when people come to visit me I try to take them to a live music venue like Winston’s or The Tower Bar for a show and to some of my favorite places to eat like ‘OB Noodle House – Bar 1502’ and Luigi’s in Ocean Beach along with Big Jim’s Roast Beef and Hoboken Pizza in Pacific Beach. I also love going to the museums at Balboa Park and The San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Parks. I would say that my favorite thing to do with visitors (and locals) though is to play golf! This place is a mecca for golf! I’m only a “Bogey Golfer Extraordinaire” but I have played most courses from the border up to North and East County. Mt. Woodson, Admiral Baker, Maderas, Enagic and Tecolote Canyon are some of my favorites.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Krystal Dyer – The Artist. Talk about inspiration. Shout out to The Girl Who Never Stops. Local artist Krystal Dyer hails from South Jersey but started her California career over 15 years ago when she dropped everything, moved 3000 miles away and took a job as an artist for Nickelodeon. Things didn’t quite work out for ‘Krystal and Nick’ but that didn’t stop her. She refused to go home a failure and kept on grinding. Fast forward almost 17 years and “K.D” has started her own Art and Music promotion business and has been working for herself for several years now. Krystal is famous for painting live during a band’s set. She is often on stage with the band or just off to the side where fans can see her paint in real time along with the musicians that are performing, On top of this, she teaches art classes, promotes art and other events on social media for several San Diego bars, restaurants, live music venues and businesses. She paints murals and signs around town and also a Festival Director who works with the merchants, venders and other artists for big festivals like Cali-Roots and SameSameButDifferent Festivals.
On top of her being an inspiring business’ owner who works hard, Krystal is also incredibly supportive to her friends and loved ones. She is the type of person who hosts “Friendsgiving” and other holiday parties for people that have no family out here or anywhere else to go. She has also been one of my biggest and long time supporters. Krystal is often found at my live performances painting, taking pictures, and advocating for mental health and suicide prevention. She helped me set up and run the fundraisers for AFSP.org and even donated and raffled off her own art. For that, I thank you Krystal Dyer. This woman is a steel locomotive rolling down the track and I don’t see her slowing down anytime soon. Great Job Krystal!

Instagram: @makingincredibletime @wicked.lucky

Facebook: facebook.com/MakingIncredibleTime

Youtube: @makingincredibletime3541

Other: AFSP.org

Image Credits
Photos by David J. Blood