The Allergies aren’t a nostalgia act. They’re not a retro revival. They’re engineers of euphoria. Two obsessive producers who treat feel-good music like a science. The BPMs are surgical. The samples are sacred. And the mission? Make you move, even if it kills them.

This is the story of how that mission took shape, and how it keeps evolving, told entirely by DJ Moneyshot, one half of the group. Who, along with his partner Rackabeat, create under The Allergies banner.

THE SPARK

Before The Allergies had a name, they had a hunch: Just a few beats on a hard drive and a feeling that something was worth chasing. Like most great partnerships, it didn’t start with a grand plan, but a moment of unexpected momentum. A single track that flipped the switch and made them say, “OK… maybe we’ve got something here.”

“It was a track called ‘Symphonics’,” says Moneyshot. “Which would come out as an Allergies digital single in 2012. “I’d been making and releasing a few things on my own on the party tip, but had this deeper beat on the hard-drive that I wasn’t sure about. I played it to Adam (Rackabeat) and he was into it, so we went into the studio and fleshed it out a little and hatched up the plan to self-release it as a new duo, using this tone as a template for the music we’d go on to release.
“It’s on our Bandcamp page, with a bluesy edit track called ‘Big Star’ on the A-side. And, just looking at the quotes we managed to get back then, I can see one from DJ Format – ‘Great to see Moneyshot and Rackabeat team up on these dope new Allergies beats.’ Ha! There you go. Love that guy..."

THE SECRET WEAPON

Every great band has that one collaborator who flips the chemistry from good to great. For The Allergies, that person is Andy Cooper. The Long Beach MC has become synonymous with their sound, turning tracks into bangers and live shows into detonations. But what he brings goes way beyond verses and hooks. He’s a creative Swiss Army knife, always ready with a surprise.

"He’s a genius, and so generous with his talents,” says Moneyshot. “He does main vocals for the tracks we do with him, as well as playing stuff on other joints.
“He writes lyrics for our other main lead singer, Marietta Smith. Makes beats, arrangements, programs the live show...he even cuts up the decks. The only thing that surprises us is how he never fails to surprise us. I’m convinced he’s actually one of a batch of identical Andy Cooper sextuplets, and I’m emailing one at 2am about moving a scratch section in a track a minute fraction to the left in the arrangement so it swings better, while the other five rest."

THE PUSH AND PULL

Andy Cooper might be The Allergies’ secret weapon, but even with a trusted crew and a refined sound, staying still has never been an option. What started as an homage to golden-era funk and hip-hop has steadily grown more unpredictable, folding in gospel, Afrobeat, and the occasional moody curveball. But none of it happens by accident. Behind every stylistic shift is a tension.

"It’s always a balancing act,” says Moneyshot. “Do you continue to serve up The Allergies Sound, or evolve and change it up? I’m always a fan of an act giving me that raw energy of their first album, every time. But, doing this for that last decade, you find out that you have to flip it up, if only to challenge yourself.
“Most of the time I get fired up with the idea of a track in my head, and I have to follow that flame until I get the full blazing track up and alight. Maybe it’s the perfect Allergies song. Maybe it’s way too different. I play it to Adam. Then the label. And we weigh up its potential.
“A track like (Afro house groover) ‘Hypnotise’ felt like a great shift, at the time. But it hasn’t resonated that hard with core fans, if you peep the Spotify plays. If it had blown up, no doubt we’d be exploring that sound a lot more. But, as it stands, we noted the response, and went back down a few more well know paths for tracks after that.
“Then, with something like (epic moody underground rap banger) ‘No Flash’ we did the opposite of our more trademark party beats sound and that ended up getting playlisted on BBC Radio 6 Music. So, you have to take chances and basically follow the first sample loop, whatever it may be, to its natural conclusion."

THE HOLDOUT

Following instinct doesn’t always mean charging ahead. Sometimes it means waiting. For The Allergies, not every track arrives fully formed. Some linger in limbo, caught between what they could be and what they’re waiting to become. These are the songs that don’t get dropped. They get shelved. Reworked. Reimagined. And if they’re lucky, reborn.

“Back in March of 2022 I emailed Adam about a track called ‘Downpour’,” says Moneyshot. “A real slow, atmospheric, dub-rock, half-time banger that gave me goosebumps making. That thing has been through like ten versions, been re-worked as a full instrumental, re-named to ‘Stronger’ (at time of writing), and is now in the hands of a rapper who we think will fit it like a glove.
“Andy Cooper says it's the best thing we've ever made. And it could have gone on the last two LPs by now. Sometimes you have to let these things find the perfect home. Hopefully you'll hear this one soon!"

THE TIME MACHINE

If ‘Downpour’ taught them patience, the rest of The Allergies’ catalogue proves their precision. Their crate-digging roots might lie in the golden eras of funk and hip-hop, but their tracks never feel like museum pieces. That’s because they don’t just lift the past, they rewire it. They stack layers, tighten the low end, and polish every beat until it slams in a modern system. The result is something that nods backward but hits forward.

“The key eras are 60’s and 70’s funk, 90’s NY hip-hop, and early 2000’s sample-based beatmaking” says Moneyshot. “Dip into any of these for inspiration and we’re in Allergies country. I suppose the way to keep it fresh, or at least up-to-date, is to add that production punch to these dusty grooves. We like a beefy kick and some big bottom end, with a studio polish on top.
“This retro sound can sound mad weak or tame when you’re on a stage after a DnB DJ or something, so you have to keep that in mind when finishing up these tracks. The most time we spend is in post-production. The back and forth and notes and constant EQ fiddling is the hardest part of trying to get these tracks over the line.”

THE CRAFT

Joy might sound spontaneous. But building something that feels effortless takes serious work, especially when you’re chasing a sound that hits both the hips and the heart. You can’t fake ‘bounce’. It has to land just right. And that kind of precision doesn’t happen by accident.

"One of our most joyous tracks is ‘Every Trick In the Book’, but there’s a ton going on under the hood of that one,” says Moneyshot. “The first stages were finding the Tina Turner vocal and editing it over this Latin beat. Digging for just those two samples until I had a cool beat and a vocal would take a few days. Then adding more drums and other stuff to fill it out, a few more. Then passing that demo to Andy and Adam for notes. Then working with Andy to see what else it needed would go on all week.
“Then I’d be inspired by a big beat track from 1998 and want a big breakdown and build up, and we’d go back and forth on that. Then Andy would play bass guitar and stuff. I’d add cuts. Then we’d hire a horn section to layer up parts and add solos. Then get that into shape. Sprinkle on more stuff. Then finally all agree it was the best it could be, going back and forth via email and WhatsApp messages with us in the UK and Andy in the US. Then we’d export the 70/80 separate channels of music out of my computer to Adam who would then group all the elements into sections and then engineer the sound so everything had space. Then more notes… Months go by. But that song takes you three minutes and ten seconds to listen to."

THE FEEDBACK LOOP

And all that work, the late nights, the layering, the precision, pays off. The world’s a strange place when your own music comes echoing back at you from unexpected corners. A trailer. A hotel TV. A moody scene in a hit show. That’s when it sinks in: Your sound is out there now, living its own weird life.

“Yeah, it’s weird,” says Moneyshot. “You might be sat in the cinema, watching the trailers on the new James Bond film and ‘Rock Rock’ is on a SkyTV ad. That was surreal. Or on a hotel bed somewhere in Europe and flicking through the channels, then back. Wait! That’s ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ on an ice tea spot.
“The latest was on the closing scene of episode one of the new series of Severance. That was bonkers. Almost like the show itself. We might actually be dreaming…”

THE WHY

One minute your track is closing out an episode of hit television series, and the next, it’s echoing back at you from a sea of people at a festival. It’s the other side of the dream. Not just hearing your music in strange places, but feeling it land, in real time. The loop clicks, the beat hits, the crowd’s locked in. That’s the moment where it all snaps into focus.

“Even when I’m making the first loops of a track that has promise, I kinda imagine it playing to a massive crowd,” says Moneyshot. “Maybe it’s some kind of self-actualisation trick. Whatever, it feels like it should hit that hard. Then if you get to play it out, at a festival or live concert say, and they all sing it back. Dang! That’s a moment in time that makes it all worth while.”

THE PAYOFF

What The Allergies do might sound effortless, but it isn’t. It’s late-night edits, obsessive EQ passes, horn arrangements sent back and forth across continents. It’s stacking layers of joy until it hits with the force of a dropkick. And when it lands, when a crowd sings it back or a sync sneaks up in a movie theater, it’s a reminder. That fun isn’t a guilty pleasure. It’s a craft. And these two are masters of it.

The Allergies ‘So Real EP’ is out now. For more info on new music and live dates head to: http://theallergies.co.uk

Built to Bounce: The Allergies and the Architecture of Joy