(NU) - Some musicians sing about angst and anger. For Roman Alexander, the lead singer of Roman Alexander and The Robbery, music “breathes positivity and consciousness into the people listening.”

      Life has not always been upbeat for Alexander. In 2005, the then mixed-martial-arts and dance instructor suffered a seizure while training for a match. Doctors diagnosed Alexander with an arterial venular malformation (AVM) – an abnormal collection of blood cells in his brain. Not wanting to live a half-life on medication or lose his afro to chemical poisoning, Alexander opted for brain surgery.

      “When I woke up that day in the hospital, I felt so limited,” says Alexander. “I had to learn to walk again. One side of my body was weak. I had lost my license and my job, I had $240,000 in medical bills.”

      Alexander’s survival gave him the sense that anything was possible, that he could act to improve himself and his world. It was this new “positivity,” as Alexander calls it, that reinvigorated his songwriting. “I had songs written before the surgery, but I was looking at life in a completely different way – I wanted to express this new, rejuvenated human.”

Brain surgery left lyricist and
singer Roman Alexander with
a story to tell – through his
music.

 

     Alexander has since found bandmates – bassist and guitarist Ryan Reno, drummer Jeff Carruth and guitarist Matt McDavid – who harness positive messages into addictive rhythms. Serendipitous circumstances brought them together, and now the band brings edge to Alexander’s mellow sound and finds innovative new hooks. With its rock-blues-reggae sound, the band has toured Florida and southern California and will play the OC Music Fest in May 2009.

     Alexander hopes that Roman Alexander and The Robbery’s songs will actualize change in its listener’s lives. In profound moments, Alexander muses about bringing his listeners to that same, new starting point that he experienced when he first woke up in his hospital bed. “It was like ‘Wow,’ there’s so much I can do to be proactive, to live my life in a new and better way.”

      Then again, sometimes it’s just about the music. “I’m a rhythm kid,” says Alexander, “Everything I’ve done, fighting, music, dancing, is all about beats.” 

     To learn more about Roman Alexander and The Robbery, visit www.myspace.com/romanalexanderandtherobbery www.myspace.com/romanalexanderandtherobbery. For more information about the OC Music Fest, visit www.ocmusicfest09.com.