The official Andy Gordon homepage.
Singer / songwriter
Alt-country, folk-pop
Born in Wollongong, NSW in 1967, Singer, guitarist, percussionist and trumpeter, Andy was 10 years old when he first started to play music. His mother was a trained singer and they sang together constantly as he grew up. His father's mother was a music teacher. His mother's father was a musical jack of all trades who found his expression on the banjo and the spoons. His older cousin played saxaphone in the band, Tarquin, and going to gigs seemed to be an integral part of existence to him. It was only natural that Andy would end up playing for a living himself.
Under the direction of an enthusiastic music teacher Andy and three other friends formed a band whilst in High School called Mistaken Identity. They played around Wollongong and up and down the south coast. Their parents had to drive them to gigs as they were too young themselves. Of course they weren't meant to be in pubs either but that didn't stop them playing them regularly.
After leaving school Andy moved to Sydney to work at EMI's recording facility, Studios 301. For ten years he soaked up every influence he could and worked with so many great musicians. He met Russell Kilbey and played on an album by Russell and Ed Clayton-Jones, Turkeyneck Lasso. John Kilbey asked Andy to do some sound engineering and playing on his solo album, The Penny Drops, Good Fortunes. Around this time Andy met Matt Clyde and Jeremy Butterworth. A lasting friendship was formed out of which came the band, Luminous. They recorded an EP which is no longer available. It was maybe a case of "what could have been".
Andy Gordon has popped up on stages up and down the east coast of Australia for 15 years playing originally as a drummer with Luminous, as a solo artist and also sharing the stage with the likes of Steve Balbi, Steve Kilbey, John Kilbey, Tania Bowra, Damien Lovelock, Leroy Lee, Bernie Hayes, Rex Goh, Matt Tonks and many others. Andy features on the albums, Jeremy Flies...A Tribute To Nick Drake, Um and Ah Records, playing the haunting, "Fruit Tree", Jeremy Flies Vol 2...A Tribute To Nick Drake, Acoustic Lounge Records playing, the song, "Clothes Of Sand", Stars In My Belly-A Tribute To Jeff Buckley, Acoustic Lounge Records, playing an un-released song of Jeff's called "All Flowers In Time (Bend Towards The Sun)" and on Remote Memory - A Tribute To Elliott Smith, Um and Ah Records, playing "Everything Reminds Me Of Her".
You can hear one of Andy's songs, "Under a Lid", on the recently released and nothing short of fantastic album by good friend John Kilbey, Nothing More Than Something To Wear, JLK, Karmic Hit Records.
Finally, life having rather got in the way, he releases his debut independent solo album. Written in the solar-powered house he and his partner built in Kangaroo Valley and recorded in nearby Nowra Studios 313 with producer Ben Moore (David Lane, Liz Martin) the album has ten richly recorded songs of happiness and confusion, love and loss, a personal polaroid of life's rich pageant.
You can catch Andy playing solo shows on the South Coast, the Southern Highlands and in Sydney and at tribute nights at The Basement, Circular Quay and The Sandringham Hotel, Newtown. Andy has also toured with Raoul Graf playing shows in Sydney, Wollongong and the North Coast of NSW.
Andy lives with his love in the beautiful Kangaroo Valley writing and playing his music on the porch and in any pub that will take him.
With his angelic voice, his guitar and an interest in the craft of songwriting and his love of the expression of life in country songs, balanced with his roots in rock it means something interesting will always happen in a song by Andy Gordon. Gram Parsons meets Jay Farrar with Paul McCartney looking over their shoulders is how his music could be described. He is not afraid to note the pain in the world around him but also to acknowledge the beauty.
Live music is the breath of life. Andy likes to build a relationship with the people in the audience. A residency at a pub gives a chance for people to grow with the artist. If you are a music lover or a publican or perhaps both and you are interested in Andy playing at your Pub email him here.