music
biography
|
| born |
5th
Sep 1958 in Sherburn-in-Elmet, Yorkshire |
| height |
6'
1" |
| eyes |
blue |
| feet |
what's
this got to do with it? |
| Likes |
Blue
Nile, James Taylor, Nitin Sawheny, Talvin Singh, Bruce Cockburn,
Iain Archer, U2, Joan Armatrading, John Martyn |
| Dislikes |
beautiful
south, texas, hue & cry, reminiscing |
| Music
qualifications |
you're
kidding... O Level, grade 4 oboe |
| Instruments |
Guitar,
Sax, programming, percussion |
| Uses |
Cubase,
Wavelab, LM4, Spirit FX16, ASR 10, Takamine Santa Fe, Sansamp,
tons of hand held percussion |
| Inspiration |
Love,
struggle, corruption, hope, the realm of God |
| Perspiration |
keep
listening for where the song wants to go, stay with it.. |
musical
career
|
| Wrote
first song |
aged
14 - "Nobody knows that I'm there" (sad or what?) |
| First
band seen live |
status
quo in Bournemouth (later that year) |
| First
love |
Amanda
Tull |
| First
love song |
"I
eat men for breakfast" |
| First
Band |
"Dry
Ice" |
| Their
most memorable song |
"Witches
Parlour" |
| First
Band to Perform Live |
"Fracas"
(aged 17) |
| Reaction
to the gig |
buns
from the church hall thrown at the band |
| Their
most memorable song |
"Spring
Morning Sunrise" ("lay it easy on my mind" - mmm
mmm) |
| First
paid gigs |
light
entertainment guitar novelty duet "Stonewall Griffiths" with
John Griffiths (later to become a Woebegone Brother) |
| First
recorded release |
"The
Last of Stonewall Griffiths" 1981 featuring guest artists Jon
Magnussen & Ricky Ross, amongst others.. |
| Outstanding
Songs... |
"Who
Shot JR?", "The Dark Night of the Soul", "Used
to be a Man", "Jammy Side Down" |
| Other
Dundee Bands |
"Ricky
Ross and the Norman Tebbits of this World", "Wells Fargo and
the Stage Frights" |
but
more seriously ... move to Glasgow...
|
1983
- 86: rattling the cage
|
"Sophisticated
Pop"
6
piece featuring - amongst others, Lorraine McIntosh &
Ewen Vernal, later of Deacon Blue. No releases but gig coverage
in Melody Maker. First gig at Greenbelt in 1986 supporting
Fat and Frantic on Sunday lunchtime. Got wet & went home
thinking it was a strange event.
|
|
1986:
the Shift
Short
lived precursor to Big Sur retaining the influence of Mario
D'Agostino on keys and joint song-writing. Did an 'interesting'
8 track demo at Ricky's house before attempting amore glamorous
option...
|
|
1987
- 89: Big Sur
80's
song-based pop band. Released 12" single "Please Stay".
Simultaneously
'record
of the week'
in
Record Mirror and
"a
vile disgusting whinge"
in
NME. Toured UK as support to Deacon Blue in 1988. Released
"Doing the Rounds" commemorative cassette & T shirt.
Much radio play but never distributed seriously to shops.
Andy signed to Chrysalis in 1989 as a songwriter. Demoralising
experience which led to the collapse of the band due to passivity
of Publishing company. Recorded songs solo then started own
studio in order to get some income.
|
1990
- co-founder of The Late Late Service
|
|
experimental
contemporary worship arts collective based round dance beats
and multimedia environments. Recorded the first ever Christian
Service for Radio 1 (and the second), also on Channel 4 &
Channel 5 at Christmas. Released several albums through Sticky
Music.
Also
ran my own studio at this time. Interesting clients / collaborations:
Wambali
(Malawi) / Phil White / Brian
McGlynn / The Wild
Goose Worship Group
I
wish that I could be with you - check this Brian McGlynn
track that we did together (then go see his stuff on the link
above!)
|
1994
- recorded Victims & Criminals
Album
available - click the link on the left here
|
1996
- moved to London
|
|
to
manage Greenbelt Festivals
- music dries up except for in the basement studio & pieces
for 'Host' - Hackney based alternative worship group.
|
2000
- released The Things You Never Say
|
2001
- move around London, move job
|
|
campaign
manager at The Giving Campaign running a new project to promote
charitable giving to young people in the UK: Giving Nation.
Click here to see the
Giving Nation web site
2005
- move to Citizenship Foundation with Giving Nation
2005
- release
Sunflower Girl album.
A
tribute to Donna and songs mostly written in the period after
her death. Will say more about this in time
|
