By Frieder Rexer

Tell me four random things about you. Who are you?

I’m a professional chef. Father of two children. Singer and song writer. All around a hard working person.

Where are you from?

I’m from Philadelphia/Pennsylvania in the USA. A great city with a great music scene. Have lived here my whole life.

You´re a musician. Tell me about your “career”.

My career started when I was 19 when I started a band called Little League (later changed to Kill Verona for legal reasons). We had a ton of success in the scene, went on a bunch of tours and played with many great bands. Since then I have fronted The End OF Radio and am currently singing and song writing for Hero Hero, a dance rock type group with an 80′s vibe. I’ve also been working with Paul from my band Kill Verona on new material that we can hopefully get released in the near future.

What is KTDA Tinnitus Awareness?

KTDA (Keep the Dream alive) is a small organization I started to raise awareness of tinnitus in the underground music scene. To promote the use of ear protection to people just like myself. Also to be a support system to anyone who gets tinnitus and needs help to get through it.

Why did you start KTDA Tinnitus Awareness?

I started KTDA because I myself have a horrible case of tinnitus that almost took my life and my music career away. I never knew about tinnitus until it was too late and I just want to get information out there so other talented young musicians don’t put their lives and dreams in jeopardy.

Did you learn how to deal with tinnitus? If yes how?

I have learned how to deal with it. I wish I could say it was an easy process but it wasn’t. I had a long road of ups and downs. Tinnitus is torture at times and so far I’ve found that the things that help me the most were a positive mental attitude and just an all around mental toughness. My world hit bottom a bunch of times because of tinnitus and one day I just said I need to get busy living or get busy dying. I chose living of course. I’ve also found ways to mask my tinnitus. There are things available on iTunes that you can download to help. My favourite is sounds of rain. For some reason when I hear rain it perfectly masks the sound in my ears. But mostly I’ve just learned to live with it.

What can I do if I´d notice a ringing in my ears, that won’t go away for a few days?

Take notice of it and give it time. Protect your ears and if the noise is still there in a month then start taking the possibilty of Tinnitus seriously.

How can people (especially musicians/music lovers) prevent tinnitus?

WEAR EARPLUGS. My number one regret in life is not wearing them when I was performing all those years leading up to it. I know it sucks sometimes but trust me if your music means something to you then you should treat your ears like your most precious of tools.

Is there anything you want to tell the world?

Life throws unexpected things your way. Sometimes it gets so hard that you want to give up. Just remember that you only get one shot at this and no matter what happens you always have the power to change your life for the better with hard work and positive thinking. Keep the dream alive. Thank you Germany, I can’t wait to visit.