About Scott Von Heldt (Sikander)
Singer and guitarist Scott Von Heldt (aka: SVH) joins a new breed of heavy music and offers up a glimpse into the future of the primitive. From entrancing tribal rhythms to unparalleled vocal incantations, SVH has long been admired by his peers and continues to push the envelope to create music with unrelenting passion and intensity.
From a young age music was a part of Scott's life. He was raised in the Christian church, the son of a choir director and had a natural gift for musical expression. Alongside his passion for music he also struggled with, what was then known as, hyperactivity and suffered from major allergy problems. After much research, hard work, and diligent effort, Scott's Mom realized that food allergies, and additives in everyday household products, were triggering these outbursts of energy and causing all the allergic reactions that had been plaquing his ability to enjoy a normal life. She immediatly got him off his "hyper" medicine and onto an organic diet and met with an allergy specialist at the Cleveland Clinic that helped reverse his allergies and help regain his life! From this point on his guitar became his outlet for the extra stored up energy and with a balanced body, mind, and spirit, he was ready to take on the world.
Scott broke out into the original metal scene of Northern Ohio at the age of 17 by releasing his first solo guitar record To Each His Own. He went on to join local metal giants Vatican (later renamed Marquis de Sade) and soon became a local guitar legend with the release of his second solo record Cries of Silence. In 1994 Scott gave his full attention to the formation of his new band Theater of Madness. The group went on to dominate the local music scene, releasing their debut CD The Demo and opening for national acts ranging from Quiet Riot, Slaughter, and LA Guns, to metal masters more in their vein such as Suffocation, Anthrax, and Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson among many others.
After many years of trudging through the trenches in search of a record company, Scott formed his own indie label Dead City Records and began work on Mantra, the debut from a new and improved version of his former band now named KURAI. It was during this time that, by way of his study in martial arts, he began to look at taking what is useful from all styles to create a formless, unique, style of your own, that is not constricted to one mold or ideology. Through this realization he began to see the unity of all faiths and philosophies of religion and started his own personal journey towards awakening.
In 2002 he moved to Los Angeles and went on to join Ivan de Prume (White Zombie) and Martin St. Pierre (Cirque du Soliel) in the creation of HEALER, a band combining the elements of world music with modern metal! The bands debut Awakening has been hailed as one of the most original CD's released this decade and continues to garnish rave reviews. At this time he discovered the Sufi message of Hazrat Inayat Khan and began studying these works feverishly until eventually meeting his guide Tasnim Hermilla Fernandez, and being initiated into the Sufi order in 2005. He was given the name Sikander, which stems from the Persion origins of Alexander the Great.
In the fall of 2008 Scott release the first book in a three part series entitled, Mind Over Metal: The Musician's Guide to Mental Mastery. Then in February of '09 SVH was chosen as lead guitarist and backing vocalist for (then) former KoRn guitarist Brian "HEAD" Welch (Love and Death). The group toured lightly throughout 2009 and spent most of 2010 touring the US and Europe. In 2011 SVH performed his last show with Head/Love and Death in New Zealand. He then resumed work on his solo career, and Sufi studies while also attending courses in herbology, iridology, sound and vibrational therapy and other healing modalities.
In Dec. of 2013 he returned to the music scene with a new Kurai release entitled Breaking The Broken, and he is currently involved in a new Vatican record as well. He has worked with members of Korn, Mudvayne, White Zombie, Cirque du Soliel, Strife, Limp Bizkit, Whitesnake, Bad Company, and many many more and continues an open dialogue with many of his peers on the topics of mind, body, and spirtual health for musicial expansion and personal growth through his website Holistic Musician.
Sikander has also been studied to be a Sufi Healing Conductor under the instruction of Devi Tide, head of the North American Sufi Healing Order and he was ordained and initiated as a Healer in March of 2014, and in 2017 has been appointed as a Coordinator in Los Angeles for the Inayati Sufi Order. He offers classes and sound healing sessions in Los Angeles and continues to add a unique sentiment to heavy music by infusing raw intensity with spiritual insight and global awareness.
