May 14, 2021 First and foremost, I would like to thank all who have taken interest in my music. Sixteen years after the first track was recorded, it's exhilarating to know that some folks enjoy it, even if only 13-15% of the total plays say they like it. You folks are AWESOME! You ROCK! I can't thank you enough for listening! The interesting thing about this newfound support on N1M of late, is that I didn't even know N1M existed. Around 2010, I signed up for BandPage, and was under the strong impression it was long gone. Evidently N1M is a phoenix that rose from the ashes of BandPage. Unfortunately, the BandPage tracks did not transfer to N1M, explaining the lack of music here for so long. Some folks have expressed interest in buying my music. I will be exploring options to see what I can do to make that happen. Bear in mind, I can only post one newsletter a month, so any updates will be posted in the most current newsletter. Allergic To Air is a one-person band – me. Yes, these tracks were written, arranged, played, recorded, produced, mixed, and mastered by one person, using only a Digitech RP-250 effects processor, a cheap $300 keyboard, a StudioTechnica studio-quality condenser microphone, a TASCAM 2488 24-track digital recorder / mixer, and two electric guitars (an Ibanez and a Kramer Striker). I've dabbled in music and writing song lyrics, parodies and fiction since my teens, nearly thirty years. Apologies in advance for the long read, but 20-30 years isn't compressed into a few paragraphs easily. Now for some history, a few crucial details, and an interesting backstory – one corroborating John Lennon's statement of “Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.” I grew up in Central Virginia in the United States, exposed to many kinds of music – popular songs from as far back as the 1940s, as well as southern rock, blues, hard rock / heavy metal, hip-hop, pop, top 40, etc. Obviously, my main influences are hard rock and rap. I can't really tie my sound to any particular artists, but feel the music I listened to most in my teens and twenties heavily influenced it. Guns N' Roses, Metallica, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Sebastian Bach-era Skid Row, Audioslave, Megadeth, Pearl Jam, Oleander, and many other hard rock / heavy metal bands of those eras, as well as many hip-hop artists of these eras. One might even suggest Linkin Park as an influence. Hearing Guns N' Roses in 1988 awoke something in me. I began singing around 1992, and dabbled with a basic electric guitar in high school, but naysayers clowned my unorthodox playing technique, hampering efforts at showing what I could do. But connections made after a drunken 1999 karaoke encounter convinced me to take my talents more seriously. I was a regular at Charlottesville area karaoke shows, three to five nights a week, singing most any song I knew, from Dion and The Belmonts to Alice In Chains. Between 2000 and 2003, I began writing song lyrics and digging more into sharpening my guitar playing. Fronting for a local band fizzled fast – the others couldn't stay coherent long enough to do anything. My first recording attempt across 2003 / 2004 was sabotaged by a con man, who claimed to be able to use their talents to give my project a shot in the arm, but ultimately ripped me off, taking the money I paid him to help compose original music and recording my vocals over ripped-off snippets of copyrighted music. Around 2006, my late friend Steve Miller, an area karaoke host, offered help recording my demo, in a small studio built in his shed. Steve was largely responsible for my sound, as he taught me a LOT about mixdown and mastering. He also made valiant efforts in trying to get my talent exposure by helping to create MP3+G versions of The Color Of Time, Beautiful Day, and Slave To Society for inclusion in his library, allowing for live performances, karaoke-style. The three tracks here are from twenty or so recorded there from 2005-2011, using the working title “The Color Of Time”, anticipating an indie release effort that never went beyond 150 or so promo copies. I also uploaded lyrics videos for several songs to my YouTube channel, AllergicToAirMusic – here's the link. https://www.youtube.com/user/AllergicToAirMusic Around 2009, another late friend, Andrew Rich, mentioned a possible connection he had in the United Kingdom, to which I sent five tracks. They requested more, and I sent five more, but heard nothing further. Other than YouTube and the aforementioned promo copies, these tracks were more or less unreleased until uploaded here, and you'll notice even YouTube and MySpace (if it still exists) have ten or less of the twenty or so recorded. Now, here is where John Lennon's statement holds true. Since the late 1990s, severe allergies and severe asthma have plagued my life. There are even indications it is COPD. Around 2002, bronchial infections progressively increased in frequency and severity. One such infection in 2003 lasted 2-3 months, taking my singing voice for six months. Every cloud has a silver lining, I guess, because in this time, I figured out I could rap, paving the way for Anomaly and The Color Of Time's last two verses. During treatment of that infection, my doctor said cigarette smoke was likely the cause of this latest infection. Having been told I was allergic to dust, ragweed and pollen already, I joked, “Great, I'm allergic to air.” And THAT, is how I came to use Allergic To Air as an artist name. Sadly, folks, it's NOT a joke – I REALLY AM allergic to air. Hence, the chances of ever really playing live are slim to none. In 2013, another bronchial infection sabotaged an audition for The Voice in NYC, and finances forced me to at least temporarily shelve the project in search of greener pastures. I drove 18-wheelers from 2013 until 2017, when the bronchial infections got too frequent and too severe to keep at bay. In 2019, I discovered an undisclosed 40-year-old diagnosis of asthma and asthmatic bronchitis, which, accompanied by years of continuous heavy secondhand tobacco smoke exposure, explains everything. So, now that I've brought everyone up to date on the history and behind-the-scenes, most might wonder, “what now?” Very good question. What I can tell you is that I have by no means given up on music, though I was definitely forced to put it on the back burner, and my equipment has largely been in storage since at least 2014. I recently discovered most of it had been exposed to heavy amounts of moisture and mold. But amazingly, most, if not all of it seems none the worse for wear after cleaning and maintenance, and I actually just picked up my guitars from a local shop that took them completely apart for inspection, repair, cleaning and rejuvenation. Just last night, I played for about thirty minutes, the first time since 2016. Before that, 2011. While I can't promise anything earth-shattering is coming, I am slowly getting back into the groove playing, and I'll be trying to make serious effort to work on new music, as I've had many inspirations for new tunes in my 10-year hiatus, some of which I experimented with while on the road. It may or may not be more than studio instrumentals, however. The lung capacity for serious singing or rapping is questionable at this point, and will likely require multiple recording takes, as my lung function is approximately 60-70% of normal with treatment, 35-45% without. That is all I can say for now, folks. I even have some old tracks from the old studio that were never used or released, so hopefully, there is more to come. I can also be reached directly by email at < allergic.to.air@gmail.com >.