Hello and welcome!
This week I got the chance to interview an up and coming band from my home town, continue reading to find out the story of Andromedous!
Who Are You?
We are Andromedous, a masked 3 piece band hailing from the muddy banks of Weston Super Mare.
How would you describe your music? Who are your influences? What's your Unique Selling Point?
We take the best elements of the genres we draw influence from, those being predominantly metal rock and varying degrees of electronic dance music. This results in a captivating mix of ferocious guitar riffs and soaring synths.
Coming from vastly different musical backgrounds, each member has contributed their influences into the sound that has become synonymous with Andromedous. 001’s background is firmly rooted in electronic dance music while 002 and 003 draw their influences across a wide spectrum of rock and metal ranging from Slipknot and Bullet For My Valentine to Fall Out Boy and Neck Deep.
What sets us apart from our peers is our high energy live shows and the masked personas that we adopt when we take the stage. These masks allow us to access a level of comfort and expression that we would be hard-pressed to find if we simply stepped on the stage without them; this allows us to throw ourselves into the performance and leave it all on the stage for the audience.
Where does your story into the industry begin?
Our story began back when there were just two of us and we played our end of year university showcase. It was a very much last minute idea to do a cover of ‘Witchcraft’ by Pendulum and that we would go on stage wearing light-up masks. Between the two of us, we crafted the track and performed it in front of a crowd of peers and parents. To our surprise, it went down extremely well, so much so that the owner of the venue this showcase was being held at asked us if we could support an upcoming artist that was going to be playing in December.
This was a potentially huge opportunity to support an artist in a similar vein to what we were trying to achieve with our cover, the only problem was that we had to create 45 minutes of original music in the space of about 3 months, we didn’t even have a name for the band at that point. But between the two of us, we crafted another cover and 8 original songs ready in time for this support gig. Sadly that gig didn’t end up happening, but that didn’t stop us from refining and improving on what we had started. We recruited another guitarist, and a drummer and a live production engineer and recorded our debut EP that we launched with a gig to an overwhelming response. From that point on it was all about stepping up each aspect of Andromedous from the music to the live show and the social media.
Whats the biggest problem you’ve faced in the industry so far? And have you learnt how to over come it yet?
I’d say the biggest problem we have faced with the industry is just a lot of non-responsiveness from venues and festivals regarding gig enquires. As we are still a relatively new band only being around less than a year, it is understandable that venues and festivals could be reluctant to take a chance on an unknown band. I think the only way to overcome this issue is persistence in pursuing these opportunities.
If you could change anything about the music industry, what would it be?
Perhaps more transparency and feedback; It can be extremely demotivating to send close to 100 emails to not receive a response from any of them. If we are doing something wrong or could be doing something better or a different way, educate us!
What do you enjoy/dislike the most about the music industry and being a musician?
The crushing self-doubt and second-guessing that go hand in hand with being a musician, but when we take the stage and the crowd is with us and you can see them responding positively to what you have created, all of those feelings fade away.
Do you think an artists story is just as important as the music?
What's a character without a compelling backstory?! I personally find it very interesting hearing how an artist or band has ended up where they are and what they drew from creatively to inform their music. Take the ‘Holy Ghost’ documentary from the band Architects that was released before their latest album; hearing the story behind the recording of that album after losing their primary songwriter to cancer made listening to the album a much more impactful experience.
Check out Andromedous here!
Spotify - Andromedous
Facebook - Andromedous
Instagram - @andromedous
YouTube - Andromedous Music
Catch them at their next live show 31/10/19 @ The Electric Banana
Photographs in this post by @EllaCakebreadPhotography and @david_matthews_photographer.
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