We recently had a chance to talk with Andrea from Germany’s hard rock band ANDY ROCKS, whose new album Look At What We’ve Done was released on July 1st via Soman Records. Interview reads as follows:
Hello Andrea! Nice to have you with us. Your debut album from Soman Records is one of the big hopes for the modern hard rock scene. How do you feel on this?
Hi guys, thank you for the interview! To be honest, I have never thought about being a “big hope for the modern hard rock scene”, as you say. But it surely sounds good, sounds very flattering.
I became a fan immediately and I was lucky enough to check your album. Any plans for small lives in Germany? From your last videos, it seems that the band is a real energy bomb which is ready to explode anytime soon. What is your secret?
Nice to call you, our fan! We have our next show in October. This year it was – and still is – not easy doing and booking shows. There are all these corona rules, and we still do not know what will happen this fall. But we are really looking forward to playing the new songs live and letting some energy out again. Doing live shows with a good crowd is a real energy booster – you cannot have these feelings in an online show.
Let’s first talk a little bit about what’s been happening with Andy Rocks the last couple of months. What does tour look like during a pandemic? Was there a lot that changed for you guys?
For us there were no possibilities to tour. Most of those smaller events as we do them usually were not allowed to happen. That was a pity for the band because we stumbled into this pandemic time. I started the project in late 2018 and as we had the songs ready, the lockdown came.
Especially with a band like Andy Rocks, there is usually a lot of energy and such going on during your shows, does it feel weird for you to see people seated at a show, for example?
It is okay for an acoustic show, but it is a little strange for a rock and roll show, where people usually jump and move a lot.
You also recently released two videos from “Look At What We’ve Done” album and it seemed like you had a lot of fun shooting them. What can you tell about the video shootings?
Yeah, this also happened during lockdowns and restrictions, and we had to shoot ourselves at home — like you see with the regret video. When shooting Get me a drink we were at least allowed to meet and could shoot together. While doing this video we had some basic ideas but also improvised a lot, like all the bar scenes. This was fun indeed.
Is a music video like that different from playing a show and is it something you take into account when doing the act?
It is totally different. It takes much longer to shoot and cut and edit it, we are talking about days. During a live show you play a song only once and when shooting a video, you are doing the same song several times.
I noticed you’re one of these bands that puts a lot of effort about songwriting and performing. Who writes the music and lyrics and how do you work on this?
In this band I wrote most of the songs and lyrics. We did the arrangements together.
My next question is about your strong memories connected to the band. Maybe your first time playing or something…do you have some specific memories from your history with Andy Rocks?
Yes, making the music video for Get me a drink and shooting those bar scenes was a very cool day!
What songs from “Look At What We’ve Done” do you enjoy playing the most, if you have any?
“Hot as hell” and “Get me a drink” are fun songs to play, but I enjoy all of them.
There are a lot of people commenting on your YouTube videos, how do you feel about the first feedback for the new album?
Of course, it makes us happy if we read some nice comments and reviews about our musical work!
Are you happy for your cooperation with Soman Records?
Up to now it was uncomplicated, so yes.
Anyway, I’m looking forward to meeting you on stage! Thank you so much for the nice conversations, do you have any last thoughts you want to share with our readers and your fans?
I hope to see all of you soon again at live shows. Don’t forget to listen to our new record in the meantime.
