Andy Walters
Also check out www.belltone.com.au for Live sound and Mastering...
Influences
Just some of my favorites:
Nine inch Nails, Lenny Kravitz, Ben Harper, Lez Karski, The Tea Party, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Blind Boys of Alabama, Zappa.
Sounds Like
The heavier side of acoustic rock, with a little softness in between.
Andy Walters has seen a few incarnations since his first show in a small town in Victoria at the age of 14. He has been seen thrashing his head in various metal bands, been known as that ‘bare footed bass player’ through different parts of Australia but is now showing signs of slowly mellowing, capturing his own style & “feel” for his favourite instrument.
His debut as a 14-year old in Balmoral, Victoria was as the support act for Australian music legend Broderick Smith. Not even legally allowed in the local pub, a bunch of farm kids had put together their first band & certainly made an impact on the locals! An obviously talented Andy was then eagerly encouraged to continue on this music journey by everyone, including Broderick.
A move to the Western Australian town of Albany a year later cemented this promise and he soon became the local “go to” guy for all things musical. Andy played in a succession of favourite local acts, including “No-wear” a metal act that won a series of song-writing & performing awards throughout W.A. in the mid-90’s. During this time, Andy began to develop his recording & sound engineering skills leading to a fateful meeting with internationally respected producer & guitarist Lez Karski (Lez produced the first 2 Midnight Oil albums + many others & originally found his way to Australia in the late 70’s as singer, guitarist & song writer with world 1 recording artist Supercharge.) Lez took Andy under his wing & provided the mentorship required to hone such a prodigious natural talent.
At this time, Andy realised that unless he put in the effort, nothing much would happen. At 16 he started staging his own shows (and those of other Albany locals) doing all you would expect of a promoter – sourcing venues, negotiating bills & contracts, media liaison and, of course, hiring PA’s etc. Many of his shows sold out with some events attracting over 500 people. In a community of only 20,000 this was an extraordinary feat in itself. One memorable night was in a venue that held 500. Problem – nearly 1,600 people turned up creating a headache (of sorts) for a young promoter!
At 18, Andy’s bass playing had drawn sufficient attention that he was asked to join WA stars Southern Exposure as bassist & singer. Andy spent nearly 3 years touring WA & beyond, playing well over 1,000 shows to adoring fans of all ages. While still a teenager, Andy began his live and studio engineering career to such a standard that he worked with many of Australia’s most loved artists who were themselves on their early journeys to rock superstardom including Eskimo Joe, Fourth Floor Collapse, Gyroscope, Carus, John Butler and Jebediah. Internationally renowned artists such as Eugene “Hideaway” Bridges and Australia’s The Waifs & Bondi Cigars also figure on this list.
In 2003, Andy was “head-hunted” by Mick Wordley from the world-renowned Mixmasters Studio to a position of in-house engineer. Andy eagerly grabbed this opportunity & moved half way across the country to Adelaide, South Australia. He stayed with Mixmasters for 18 months learning his recording craft and working with a host of extraordinary talent in a variety of genres. The Nervous Investors (which includes his mentor Lez Karski), The Oceans, Jak Housden (The Whitlams), Special Patrol, multi-Grammy winner Youssou N’Dour to name a few. He also became involved in another of Mixmasters core businesses, the trading of second-hand audio equipment.
In 2005, while on holiday in Canberra, ACT Andy was offered the opportunity to develop the “High-Tech” arm of nationally respected music retailer Pro Audio Supplies. After much thought Andy moved across country again to take up this challenging role, in which he was enormously successful. Andy kept up his recording & engineering profile producing Australian Top 10 country album “Living While I Learn” for respected artist Dale Juner as well as a host of local ACT artists.
During his time in Canberra, Andy realised he wasn’t able to play nearly as often as he would like and began a search for a more hands-on role. He met Paul Greene (ex Olympic 400m runner & accomplished musician) who was himself establishing a national profile. The relationship with Paul has seen Andy tour Australia on several occasions and return to his “roots” as Paul’s bass-player and sound engineer. With Paul’s encouragement Andy started writing his own music again and on some of Paul’s tours, Andy has been the support artist as well as juggling a multitude of other roles.
2006 saw Andy move back to Adelaide to concentrate more on his own musical development. He finally released his debut EP, gaining airplay across Australia on community & local commercial radio. His old fans in WA have given him widespread support and a 3-week tour of that state mid year (with Paul Greene) sold out on many occasions. His CD received promising critical acclaim along the way garnering favourable reviews and a second pressing to boot! Many festival appearances have cemented Andy as a favourite performer & engineer with shows at leading events such as Woodford Folk Festival and The Great Escape (Sydney).
2007 dawned with Andy touring Australia as part of Big Day Out as monitor engineer with main-stage openers Sick Puppies. He also filled in at various times on that tour as monitor engineer for Something For Kate, Little Birdy & The Violent Femmes. His own musical touring included more dates with Paul Greene, including the Bendigo Easter Festival and the newly created Pt Nepean Music Festival in Victoria alongside artists such as John Meyer, Ben Harper, The Hiptones and Osomatli.
These days Andy is writing & recording his first full-length CD. He’s picked up an acoustic guitar (as well as his bass) and is singing his own brand of powerful, yet soulful tunes that illustrate his raft of experiences in life & music. Drawing from the influences of his past, including the rock, pop, metal, and big band gigs from his school days, his new album is due for release later in 2007. He’s currently working as a Audio Supervisor at the Adelaide Convention Centre, in between shows of course!
Ahoy hoy thaaaarrrrr, You know the steez, ugh, I hate spams so i'm typing all this by hand, you won't BELIEVE how long it's taken me....anyways....I see you're a bit of a music fan. I have a FREE mixtape available at http://www.whoissyntax.com check it out and lemme know what you think. pzzz!
Thanks for being a friend of Golonka...Hope that you'll come say hi one day at a gig when Golonka finally gets its useless gypsy caravan on the road....Warm gypsy curses unto you....Golonka...xx
S P E C I A L P A T R OL Friday 11th March at Rocket Bar. Special Patrol have been busy working on the new album, but we are playing a show next Friday 11th March with friends City Riots and the Battery Kids. We'll be playing some of the new material on the night so come and check it out. Doors at 9pm, come along for a drink or 3. We'd love to see you there. Myles, Rob, James, Bri and Paul.
hey there, we are playing an all ages show this fri 23rd Nov at the promethium theatre (116 grote st, adel) with Plastic Palace Alice (Melb) and Brillig. you should come for a beer and check it out. tour dates are on our page. yours always & forever, SP.
Cheers for the connection with Kurb. we provide professional online promotion strategies for artists and creative projects that get results. Come by our page, theres plenty to find out about whats happening right now in the music industry checking out our blogs and theres a whole lot of free info and articles at our self promotions hub. Get some scope checking out our overview of online promotion strategies and if you’re interested our artist packages.
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howdy, this saturday night the 22nd of sept we are playing at jive (181 hindley st, adel) with red jesebel and bakewell street. you should come along and have a drink... let hair down... have a few laughs... love to see you there, SP.
================================== SPECIAL PATROL TOUR DATES
SA Sat 22nd Sept, Jive, Hindley St Adelaide, with Red Jesebel VIC Wed 3rd Oct Manchester Lane NSW Fri 5th Oct Mum @ World Bar, Kings Cross ACT Sat 6th Oct Transit Bar, Canberra w/ The Paper Scissors NSW Sun 7th Oct Beach Road H, Bondi w/ Pluto (NZ) & Black Astronaut Appreciation Society. VIC Fri 19th @ The Loft, Warrnmbool, w/ The Custom Kings SA Sat 20th @ Jive, hindley St, Adel, with The Custom Kings. SA Fri 26th Oct at The Rocket Bar, Hindley St Adelaide.
Hey Andy!! So great to hear from you!! It's been a while! How are you? Here everything's great.. Except the summer's over and winter's getting close. It's getting cold and dark.. But you have to look on the bright side, I guess.. This is a great season for movie-watching and candle lights and above all MUSIC PRODUCTION!! =)
hey Andy, How have u been? You found me and i have added u and i found u now. i know that dosent make sense but i just thought i would make this comment sound like it didnt make sense. So what new with u
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