New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Digital-Only release recalls producing the first digitally watermarked CD as a young graduate student, being discovered by Duran Duran's John Taylor, and a series of events that led to cancer.
"I.V. Catatonia: 20 Years As A Two-Time Cancer Survivor", the new digital-only release from Musician/Composer/Producer Eric Alexandrakis, will be released exclusively via digital retailers, August 28, 2019.
No money, no job, and no insurance. All Alexandrakis had to guide him on his journey of healing and discovery was a borrowed 4-track cassette recorder, a Super 8 camera, a heap of talent, an art school approach to everything, and a fist-sized tumor in his chest. Although he would face his greatest challenge at only 24 years old, his determination and talent proved he could overcome even the worst of situations.
"It was a time of great uncertainty, and general physical and emotional turmoil, but along with my family and friends, music was my greatest companion and ally."
While classically trained Alexandrakis attended the University of Miami School of
Music [Music
Industry program] as a young man in his early twenties, he produced the first digitally watermarked CD for the school's record label [a tech created by inventor Scott Moskowitz of Blue Spike Inc.], and had approached his schooling and career beginnings with intense gusto.
Various overlapping stressful events including all night recording sessions, fueled by a lack of rest mixed with ultra sugary caffeinated drinks, relationship issues, the sudden deaths of three friends, shifty characters, and enthusiastic overexertion, all culminated into one giant stress bomb leaving Eric with a fist-sized tumor of Hodgkin's Disease.
What followed was "9 Demos On A 4-Track" [recorded while a mystery pain caused by the fist-sized tumor pushing through his rib cage persisted], which was supported by Duran Duran's John Taylor, and the critically acclaimed "I.V. Catatonia" [recorded during 6 months of chemotherapy], for which critics around the world hailed its creator as "absolutely worth watching out for in the future."
"My only real escape was music, so I spent all of my free time creating my own, and other people's. I remember being in a recording studio for someone else's project during my 6 months of chemotherapy, and having to stop a guitar take I was doing to throw up in the bathroom."
The result was a spark launching a vast career boasting a wide array of clients and collaborations ranging from Kate Spade, to Live Nation, to John Malkovich, to the late
Dolores O'Riordan [The Cranberries].
"What I hope to accomplish with this
Spoken Word project is to get it into the hands of those people suffering from cancer as a hopeful distraction, to encourage the channeling of the 'bad' into something positive and creative."
Recent happenings include a forthcoming Record Store Day release on
Black Friday of this year, various collaborations with musicians from The Cure,
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, etc., short films on the worldwide film festival circuit including Psychogenic Fugue [a tribute to the works of
David Lynch directed by Sandro Miller, starring John Malkovich, and scored by Eric Alexandrakis, and whose original concept Alexandrakis concocted], which shortlisted at Cannes Lions in 2017.
"I.V. Catatonia: 20 Years As A Two-Time Cancer Survivor" contains 61 tracks, including uninterrupted versions of the albums "9 Demos On A 4-Track" and "I.V. Catatonia".
