Chuck Garvey on His Recovery and Return with moe.
photo: Paul Citone
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“I had to relearn speaking from soup to nuts,” moe. guitarist Chuck Garvey says slowly and steadily, while discussing his recovery from the stroke he suffered on November 6, 2021. “Even making that phrase was really hard until the last two or three months, but I’ve been working on my speech every day, and one or two times a week with a speech therapist. I’m trying to talk to people a lot because it’s important not to withdraw and become isolated, which can happen.”
Garvey recalls waking up on that fateful morning and then, shortly afterward, everything went awry. “I remember looking at my right hand, which was shaking and then I went down like a tree. I don’t remember anything else, but my wife Amy heard it. This was the worst thing that I could have put her through. She had to call 911, and the woman said, ‘You have to sit on him,’ because I was flailing a little bit. They thought I was dead twice. I had a lot of seizures and they put me into a coma for three days.”
“When I finally woke up, I was really happy to see Amy and some friends who were in the room with me,” he continues. “I could understand what they were saying but if I tried to speak, it was hard to put things the right way. It was hard to focus but at least the words were in my head, which was awesome.”
Had you experienced any warning signs prior to the stroke?
I had gone to the doctor for my yearly checkup a month before, and she said, “You’re in great shape.” Then this happened. There were a couple of weird things that I experienced—some headaches and some ocular migraines—but no one can diagnose a stroke before it happens.
I had a carotid artery dissection where it splits into two—one side clots and the other side kind of pushes on it, and then your brain starves. It happens quickly and no one knew it was going to happen. My doctor actually studied this thing when she was in school, and she didn’t see it coming.
The left hemisphere of my brain was starved. That affected everything that happens in my left brain, including a lot of my language. And it also affected the nerves on the right side of my body. So everything from my right foot to my right leg, my right torso, my right hand and the right side of my face was not working. I couldn’t feel a lot. My right hand was as big as a loaf of bread, and I couldn’t move it. I had to use my left hand to move my right arm.
My arm got a little better as I went through the PT [physical therapy] stuff. Then the OT [occupational therapy] stuff helped with my hand. But it took a long time. I couldn’t tell day-to-day that I was getting anything done, but everyone else could see it.
What role did music play during your recovery?
Music sounded amazing to me when I woke up. It also helped me think about the people I love—my friends and my family. My wife and I would listen to lots of Grateful Dead, and that is one of the things that ties us together.
For me, music is a huge part of my life and it’s how I interact with people. Think about what would happen if the biggest part of your life was taken away. I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t sing, I couldn’t play. When I woke up, I wanted to see everyone that I had ever met in my whole life. It was weird because I’ve always thought that this job was my life, but it’s not. It’s really about the people that I’ve met—my friends and family. It’s been amazing.
I also watched the stream of moe. playing without me. That was fucking weird. [Laughs.] But it was really fun because it’s my friends, and a lot of people were playing with the band and that was amazing. It kind of made me sad, but it was amazing.
When I hear the band and our songs, it’s a memory. It’s not like when I hear a song that someone else wrote. I remember when we put the song together and all the times we played it together. So it’s a different thing. And it’s deep.
You’re also a visual artist. Have you been doing any of that for fun or as part of your therapy?
I’ve been drawing a little bit and writing with a pen on paper. My handwriting still looks like mine but it’s a little different now. I made a picture and I probably wouldn’t have done it the same way, but the way that my brain looks at the colors and the way that I draw my lines is different.
The same thing could also be said about my guitar-playing. My note selection is intact, but there’s a different way that I can use it. I sound like myself but there are probably going to be a lot of new things. It’s because I had to relearn how to play with my right hand. I have the same musician’s brain, but it’s like someone else’s hand. It’s weird. I’m the same person, but things are a little different.
There’s something else I would like to mention and this is about Get Back. It’s something funny that happened. At first, I couldn’t talk a lot, but I was getting there. I also couldn’t watch movies for a while because I couldn’t focus enough—it was too much. Then I think Rob told me to check out this Marvel movie, which was an action thing that was easy to watch from the beginning to the end.
That was new, so I decided, “I have a lot of time, I’m laid up, I should watch Get Back.” [The nearly 8 hour film documents the Beatles in the studio writing and developing the songs that would appear on their final studio album, Let It Be].
But when I began watching, it was messing with my mind because I knew all those songs but they were playing them in a different way. Those were not the same versions that were in my head. It was almost like someone else’s memory and it felt really bad. I had to stop watching [Laughs.]
I should probably sit down now and watch the whole thing because it would be awesome. Everything that they’re saying and doing while they’re working on those songs should be amazing for me now. But I couldn’t focus then because it just didn’t feel right to me.
Have you found the development with your speech and your guitar-playing to be interrelated?
Amy brought a guitar to rehab, and I would play on that. It was really hard. I couldn’t even hold a pick in my right hand at first, but I could strum and do other stuff. Sometimes I would play a song but I couldn’t remember the name. The language is one thing and the melodies are another thing. It took a long time to finally put them together.
I still have a lot of stuff to work on with my speech, my fine motor skills and whatnot, but one thing that helped me was playing “Shoot First,” which is in my brain. At first, I was a noob. I started strumming the chords and got a little better each time I played.
I have a speech therapist who suggested I work on “Suck a Lemon” and “Shoot First.” Those were two moe. songs that I knew. So I worked on the words and the process of delivering a line. Playing guitar and working on the lyrics have helped me a lot. It’s hard still, but all these little steps get you there.
What are your upcoming musical goals with moe.?
I want to play with the band at New Year’s Eve. It’s gonna be at least a song or two. Playing a whole set might be too much but playing one song might be too little. Right now, I’m doing the work to join the band and then tour and everything. The first thing is going to be New Year’s Eve. We’ll see how that goes.
