the site
Andy H (and the Amateur Herbalists)
 |
website |
in his own words
- Which OOTB performers really rock your boat?
- Gingergreen, The Peggy Vestas. I feel seasick already.
- What's the worst, nails-down-a-blackboard musical experience you've
had? - Three musicians with food poisoning and a drum machine without. That and 1989-92.
- What's the best piece of songwriting advice you've ever been given?
- "Write 10 songs a day, then discard 9.75 of them" (or something) - Bob Dylan, of all people. Some days I experiment by upping the discard rate to 12.
- Your favourite song(s) of all time ?
- Quoth the egotist:
Living in Another World - Talk Talk
Musette and Drums - Cocteau Twins
Eagle - Abba
I Feel Fine - Beatles
Every 1's A Winner - Hot Chocolate
Sorry Please Thankyou - The Peggy Vestas
Loneliness - Ed Harcourt - The consumer question: album, book or film you've enjoyed
recently. - Album - Hazel Morrison's and I've not even heard it yet, which just goes to show how good it's going to be.
- How would your best review sum you up?
- "Imagine the Cure were young again" - Melody Maker (now defunct, no wonder with writing like that)
- How would your worst critic sum you up?
- "The Ned Flanders of the Edinburgh acoustic scene" - Edinburgh Evening News (who he?)
- Who would be in your fantasy band?
- Fiona Bruce, a labrador and a jar of chocolate spread. Oh sorry, 'band' ...
at OOTB
Following Lynsey was Andy H, performing a very nice first number that to my mind sounded quite 'lennony' generally always a good thing. His second is fast becoming a favourite of mine (though I'm still not sure what it's called, possibly "Time of your life"). A very warm and evocative song containing the lines 'this is the fine line we walk in the sun, sets our future' The third one "Echoes of a burned out life" was a far more melancholic number with the sad refrain "how lonely, how lonely life" and was delivered like a man baring his own personal scars, assuredly confident that he knows something we don't.
OOTB regular Andy H came in from a days' work selling whisky and Japanese food to entertain us with his gentle, melodic sound. "For More" and "In The Name of The World" are both soothing and mellow like a big mug of Horlicks at suppertime. There is a mix of melancholy and joy - 'you make me beg for more', 'we take our dreams and fly away' - and the overall effect is nice 'n easy. "This Is The Time of Your Life" is fast becoming a Waverley favourite and got a few people shaking a leg or an egg. Andy sounds most confident and comfortable with this one. 'This is the fine line we walk in the sun/ this is our future' is an example of the vague optimism of this piece. Good stuff, Andy.