“Conflict and comfort. Demise and resurrection, like the Phoenix, we rose from the ashes,” says Mindfilter vocalist and guitarist, Ba®️on.

MindFilter was in the trenches, recording songs for “Firebird,” when famed producer and engineer, George Tutko, was diagnosed with a fast moving cancer that would take his life just months later. Production of the album was halted.

“When you suffer a loss that deep, you have no idea how each person will deal with their grief. Some of us went to the coast, others to the desert, but all of us went inside ourselves in one way or another,” Ba®️on said.

The band would eventually regroup in Las Vegas in an effort to complete the record. But then, a few weeks later, Ba®️on and his bandmate and brother, TheCount, suddenly lost their mother and sister to COVID-19 a week apart.

“Looking back, having our music to take our minds off of everything was really a blessing,” said Count, Mindfilter’s sibling bassist.

“Look, if you’ve lost someone close to you then you know what it’s like, but at some point you have to be like, I’m not gonna let this drag me down, I’m going to keep forging forward,” said TheCount.

Soon after the sudden loss of a producer and pair of family members, misfortune struck again after Ba®️on woke up in the isolation ward of a Las Vegas hospital – Apparently suffering a severe case of COVID. “Son, you’ve been in a coma. We had to resuscitate you three times. We’ve been trying to save your life. Do you have insurance? Do you have a will?” said Baron of his first interaction with medical professionals after awaking from his coma.

Ba®️on had been unconscious laying in a hospital bed for over 48 hours before family members were able to locate him. He recalled, “I was a ‘John Doe.’ Nobody knew who I was. Nobody knew where I was. It was in the darkest days of COVID, I was treated like I was nuclear.”

After making a full recovery, Ba®on made Las Vegas headlines after staving off a potentially deadly carjacking. According to reports,  Ba®on utterance of a few strong, well-placed words after stepping out of a limousine in the Palms Las Vegas underground parking lot, may have saved his life, and maybe even the lives of others. “It was crazy, a white van appeared out of nowhere.” The driver jumped out of the van in an apparent effort to commandeer the limo and possibly Ba®on as well.

“It was intense because I was in a kill zone, a situation where there is no clear retreat, as he approached, I shouted ‘get back in your vehicle!’ That stopped him dead in his tracks, but now he was just standing there trembling, glaring at me with his fists clenched. That’s when I said, ‘look, I’m off duty, but I could be on duty real quick if you’d like.’ Stunned, he grunted, jumped back in the van and screeched away,” said Ba®on, who quickly contacted 911 to report the incident.

“Within minutes, police cruisers were everywhere,” said Ba®️on. “They got him! METRO Police, they did an incredible job.”

It would later come to light that the suspect was heavily armed and already wanted by the police for multiple carjackings and other brutalities.

“As a songwriter, words are very important to me. I guess I just wrote and spit some cop-sounding verse on the spot and it worked,” Ba®️on said.

“Nothing was gonna stop us from making this record, I just hope the next one has a smoother ride to the finish,” said TheCount.

Follow, like and listen to MindFilter on Spotify and join the MF army fan club at mfarmy@mindfilter.com.