Background
The Early Years
Andy was inspired to play the drums in his final year at
Ellon Academy (1983/1984) when he became a good friend of
Evelyn Glennie. He
used to watch her practice and perform on a regular basis and despite her
efforts to teach him piano, he decided drums looked more cool!
Andy's older brother also played drums with a top class
local rock band called 'Never Amber' and Andy would frequently go to his
brother's gigs to learn what he could. For practice, Andy would 'play' along
to records on his mother's armchair (don't tell her) or on his bed (he
didn't have practice pads back then!). He developed his co-ordination by
tapping his foot on the ground at the same time, as though hitting the bass
drum.
The First Kit
Once he had saved enough
money from working as an apprentice draughtsman/civil engineer (bearing
in mind, he was only on £50 a week back then), he bought his first drum
kit (a black Premier Royale) from his brother for £200.
The next problem was
finding somewhere to practice without disturbing the neighbours. This
has been an obstacle ever since. Nowadays he practices at home on pads
or an electronic kit.
The First Band
1984-1986 Andy then went
on to join a band from Ellon called 'Subtle Contrast' for a short time
and managed to get his first few gigs under his belt. 1986 was the year
that Andy got into his first working band, 'Bigfoot', a local cover band
who played on a weekly basis. They had already been on the circuit for
many years and are still on the scene today.
In 1988, Andy's brother
left his band, 'Never
Amber' and Andy was approached to take his place. This was a dream
come true for Andy so he left 'Bigfoot' and went on to play with 'Never
Amber' on a full-time basis for about a year, playing 5-6 nights a
week.
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Something Original
Sadly, in 1989, 'Never
Amber' split up and Andy went on to play with a few local cover bands,
just to keep playing. He felt that the quality of the music he was playing
had dropped somewhat and he wasn't being musically challenged enough, so
when he was approached to audition for local original band 'Tour de Force',
he jumped at the chance. They were a top quality outfit and it was Andy's
first introduction to original material, which was a new challenge from
doing covers. Although this only lasted for a few months, as the band
decided to split, the experience Andy gained was invaluable.
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In 1990, some members of 'Never
Amber' decided to re-form but under the new name of 'Nightshift'.
Andy played gigs with 'Nightshift' on a weekly basis until they lost
their singer, who decided to move abroad with his partner in 1992. To
this day, Andy believes this was the line-up he felt most at home with
and, if it is possible, believes Nightshift built up a better reputation
than even 'Never
Amber', certainly in the town.
In 1993, the remaining
members formed the rock band 'Shogun' but the line-up didn't inspire
Andy so he parted company with them.
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"I
always feel that once a band, who are used to playing well together
(no matter how good each individual musician is) lose a member, they
are always difficult to replace." [Andy] |
Shogun did continue to
play on the circuit afterwards, but went through 3 singers in the
process. |
After 'Shogun', Andy decided to take a break from working
full time in the circuit, although he kept his hand in by doing stand-in
gigs for various bands.
Recording
Andy's break from the
circuit came to an end in 1995 when he auditioned for, and was accepted
into, an outfit playing original material, who went on to become Amoeba
Red (see photo on the right).
This band rehearsed
solidly for a year and during the period of time when they finally began
performing in public, they managed to secure a local sponsor, recorded a
4 track EP in a top quality recording studio and sold out a performance
at the prestigious Aberdeen venue, 'The
Lemon Tree'. Amoeba Red's EP was Andy's first experience of
recording work and playing to a click track - which has proved to be an
invaluable skill!!!
In 1996/1997, Andy was
approached by his first working band 'Bigfoot' to do some stand-in gigs
and he ended up rejoining the outfit for a while. |
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Computer Game
In 2001, Andy parted company from 'Bigfoot' and formed
local rock band 'Pie Shop',
a band that is still on the go today and whose popularity has far exceeded
anything else Andy has been part of. Andy believes that the secret of the
band's success is a mixture of both individual talent and the ability to
play well together as a unit.
'Pie
Shop' is also the band that, along with another local musician, became
the cartoon band
Lovefist from
Grand
Theft Auto - vice city, a computer game that has sold in excess of 28
million copies worldwide. Please
click here
for more information and photographs.
In January of 2002, Andy began
teaching drumming and now runs
his own successful private teaching practice from home. Please
click here
for more information. |
