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Eyes Wide OpenMuch has been said regarding Brian “Head” Welch’s departure from, and eventually return to Korn when he became a Christian. Thankfully, Welch doesn’t leave his fans to make up their own assumptions. He puts it out all out there in literary form. He is already a bestselling author, with 2007’s Save Me From Myself: How I Found God, Quit Korn, Kicked Drugs and Lived to Tell My Story, dealing specifically with the two years after leaving the band. It is hard to believe that so many years have gone by since that book was released and now Welch is back to share the next chapter of the story in With My Eyes Wide Open: Miracles and Mistakes on My Way Back to Korn (May 17th, Nelson Books).

With My Eyes Wide Open deals with Welch’s struggles as a single father, raising his daughter Jennea, to whom he also dedicated the book. No longer dealing with meth addiction, Welch still has many struggles in his life- from lawsuits, to bankruptcy, to some business deals gone bad with a former friend. But the biggest struggles of all are in his role as a father. We see his daughter Jennea going from a preteen who loves High School Musical and Hannah Montana (and the image of rocker Welch taking his daughter to a Disney premiere is both sweet and amusing), to a teenager dealing with depression and self-mutilation. Welch includes his personal prayers in the book, as he struggles with the decision to eventually send his daughter to a boarding school for at risk teens.

Welch also reveals his journey to form his band Love and Death, and we are along for the ride as he begins to reconnect with his fellow Korn bandmates, ultimately choosing to reunite with them in 2013. The book includes color photos from Welch’s personal archive, as well as a free download link to a song from his band Love and Death. Advanced praise at the beginning includes quotes from those in the secular rock world as well as those well-known in the Christian music industry, and those that straddle the line of both : Nikki Sixx, Corey Taylor, Alice Cooper, Michael W. Smith, Lacey Sturm, and Sonny Sandoval, just to name a few. There is also a note from Brian’s daughter, Jennea at the end of the book. She seems to be doing remarkably well now.

This book is the perfect companion to Save Me From Myself, and hopefully there will be another installment in later years. Welch is not ashamed of his faith in any way and speaks openly about God, including his personal struggles and triumphs after becoming a Christian, making him relatable to lifelong believers as well as those who are just interested in reading a music biography.

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