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 Known
affectionately within the band as ‘The Crow’, Andy is the band’s oldest
member - although to watch him on stage you wouldn’t think so! Although he
has ‘only’ been with the band since their third album he has connections to
the band that go back many years.
He was introduced to Liam Davison (former Mostly Autumn 2nd guitarist) in
1994 while working as a lighting engineer. At that time both Bryan and Liam
were playing in a pre- Mostly Autumn band with Brian and Andy was asked to
do some lighting for the band. However, this was short lived as the band
split up several months later and Bryan started to concentrate on a project
he already had in mind.
Around this time Angela, who Andy had met at university in 1993, started
helping out with lighting work and they went on to form Pyramid lighting
with Mostly Autumn becoming one of their first customers. Consequently Andy
has witnessed hundreds of Mostly Autumn shows and seen every line up the
band has had and can testify to just how much the band has changed and
evolved.
In 1998 the bass player at the time (Stu Carver) got married and his
honeymoon led to a three week requirement for a temporary bass player. Andy
was asked to fill in and then continued to play occasionally whenever Stu
was unavailable.
Eventually an increasingly hectic schedule led to Stu leaving. However, Andy
was unfortunately already committed to another band and so another
replacement was sought. Finally though in May 2000 after a Sunday morning
phone call from Bryan he at last joined the line-up. Three days later Andy
performed his first gig as a full-time member. In fact it was only at this
gig that he first met then drummer Jonathan Blackmore (who had only joined
the band a few weeks earlier) just as the “Night Sky” keyboard intro
started!
With a stable line up the band went into the studio to record “The Last
Bright Light”. The next two years were hectic including playing the first
Mostly Autumn European gigs, new festivals, the band’s live first DVD,
signing to Classic Rock Productions, gigs in the USA, and support tours.
Things have continued to become even busier for Andy and the band with
countless gigs, more live CDs and DVDs and of course four more studio
albums!
Andy’s influences are firmly entrenched in the 70s (which is hardly
surprising as he played his first gig in 1975!) and include The Who, the
Rolling Stones, Free, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Fleetwood.Mac etc. He’s also
but has also played in many different types of band over the years. But
never one quite like Mostly Autumn!
Quiet and mild-mannered in person, the spirit of rock engulfs Andy and
transforms whenever he picks up his bass and goes on stage! Somehow he
manages to be able to underpin the band with his rock steady bass lines
while managing to leap off drum risers in the finest rock star tradition.
And he’s not averse to donning a pair of cool-looking shades at the
slightest excuse. In fact Bryan has been quoted as saying that one of his
favourite pastimes is watching Andy on stage!
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