Looking At Finding Andy White

Looking At Finding Andy White 
By Paul McCann
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Across the world music is a universal language that can speak straight to the soul . Now and then a special communication transcends above the social closets where we live our daily lives . One such communication link belongs to a fella from the back streets of Belfast by the name of Andy White . When Belfast was buzzing Andy was right there at the heart of it all 
Your man took over without even having to fire a single shot . He just breezed in if you like and began a musical career that propelled him all over the world and when he landed in Australia I caught up with him . He told me that you can always leave Belfast but you carry it with you everywhere .
When I spoke with him I felt as if I found this escape hatch in a palace filled with noise . He has this easy manner of talking . Its like he actually sings to you in this space filled with peace .
Andy was born and reared in Belfast he grew up making his way to school between barbed wire and barricades . This lifestyle came through in a Canadian TV documentary called Much Music which won an award in France . During the program Andy took the film crew all over Belfast in his car trying to show them that Belfast has another story apart from what was normally seen . With that kind of innocent portrayal he did a big favour to the up and coming bands around Belfast . In his car they drove past checkpoints and crossed the sectarian divides that kept both communities apart . 
He spoke on the music documentary about his time at Cambridge University . Andy also worked with Terry Wogan at the BBC which gave him some of the essential ingredients he would use in cooking up tunes and a career in the music business .
Andy worked with Ex-Genesis front man Peter Gabriel , Sinead O’Connor, Tim Finn from Crowded House, and Billy Bragg .
His first single in Ireland “Religious Persuasion” appeared on the Stiff Label . Then Andy put together his first album entitled “Rave On” which was followed up by an album called “Kiss The Big Stone “ which was what propelled him into stepping out on a world stage as an Irish artist . Andy was well received out there in music land and his third album entitled “Himself” was released on the Cooking Vinyl label .It was from that album came Andy’s best known song came .In a Groovy Kind Of Way was a very popular song . Andy had a long relationship with Cooking Vinyl records who were based in London . It was a kind of world voice that picked artists from different countries . The first ever world record they ever put out was by Michelle Shocked . Terri Hooley was the driving force behind the Cooking Vinyl label . 
He wanted to show the world that Belfast had a voice and a music scene .
Record companies have a big responsibility what kind of fuse they place in our minds with their artists and their music . The artists as well have a lot to take on board and as songwriters they have a vocation to follow . It all depends on how they are able to break down the barriers and patch up the differences that make or break the delicate emotions we all have . Today more and more young people are looking for an answer and music can have a great effect on them . Coming out of Belfast gets you a head start in the hard knock school . Andy White has a way to express peace through his words and in his music Andy mixes in various sounds to enhance the listeners experience . Everything from slamming doors to screaming fire engines, footsteps walking across a wooden floor to rain pelting down on a tin roof . Somewhere within each project he projects an altered image where he crosses the divides in culture and creed . It’s a high perspective and one not many can achieve . Because of this he can focus outside a small island into a global situation .

His next album “Out There” was released . It won the Irish Times best album in 1992 . Andy received the Hot Press Songwriter of the year award in 1993 . The next project for Andy was with a three piece band called ALT .
An album entitled Altitude was released with EMI and ALT toured in Europe to promote the band and the album . This Album and the ALT project was an escape hatch Andy has found with his music . Kicking on with his solo career then Andy put together an album called Destination Beautiful which was released after the very successful Himself album . I personally love the title of this album and it again speaks in a transcendental kind of way to you if you have the ears to listen .
Andy decided to pack his things and tour around the world . He did shows in Melbourne , New York , London and at the biggest festival in Europe which is the Glastonbury Festival . His involvement with Womad UK continues to be a big focus with his career . Even though Andy is on a continual tour all over the world he still manages to put together projects like an outfit called The Celtic Ono Band in 2000 Reading poems with old school friends on Belfast and sketching out images like Picasso on a power trip . He regularily writes in his journal where even he is and whatever he is doing .
Recent new albums Andy has put out are entitled Speechless Rare and his latest Album entitled Boy 40 continues to express that peaceful escape we all must the time to find .

Out of the blue , one morning the phone rang and it was Andy who said ,
‘Hi Paul . Andy White here . I’ve just landed in Australia . For me then it was almost like “Hello ground control this is Major Tom “
I had some interviews with Andy on my Irish radio show “Craic with Mc” but he had never rang me at my house so I was amazed that he did .
I asked him where he was going and then he said he was off to Melbourne to catch  up with an old friend Tim Finn from the band :Crowded House -
I started to ask him about life and his new material and I remember saying to him , -You remind me of some kind of colourful classic character from one of those magazines who frequently escape from the social fabric of life and reinvent stories and songs for some future generation and he replied 
 “What you just said there blew me away, I’ll have to write that down “ and we had a laugh ‘ After the conversation I never heard from him again .

Little did I know then that Andy was having problems with his marriage ,
When he came to Melbourne I learned through some friends that he was grounding himself in songwriting which was helping him to deal with the break-up of his marriage.
I remember him saying once   ‘I am the means of production for my life’
I lived a similar life , for many years like a travelling musician or a troubadour, strolling from town to town, playing where ever I could .
Andy was also doing that p[laying around in Melbourne in pubs, music venues and theatres. 
Andy White has been on this journey for the past 30 years and has written many songs poems and books . He has also won many awards ,
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‘During the time I was on a walk through the desert , busking and finding inspiration Any White was recording new albums . Since “Garageband was released in 2006 he went on to release several albums , Songwriter  followed by a collaboration project   – Fearing & White . 21st Century Troubadour ,  “How Things Are” ,  Imaginary Lovers and Studio Albums 1986–2016 
”How Things Are” documents the break-up of his marriage . 
When his marriage ended, he stated .. “I didn’t have a lot of family around me or a lot of really good guy friends, and so I wrote loads and loads of songs. So yes, they were definitely my way of coping with it, understanding it, expressing it.”

One of the troubadour’s essential things is to be able to sell your skills. Andy found a way to make a living, and it’s the means of production in his life .
He says … {You have to apply and employ all the skills you have been given or have learned along the way, be it producing records, writing articles, books, journalism and blogging, as well as gigging and selling records at the shows.”
He rolls with the punches from place to place , well ahead on points and from Dublin to Fumbally Café and Joyce;s grave you can find him looking for that escape hatch to life , jumping from page to page in one of those classic comic books . 
His story is one of a kind and he might even say that time has been kind to him. 
Now with silver linings in his hair and a glint of gold in his eye , he still has that ability to drink from glasses half-full , wishing you well ..
Andy knows where he’s at , that’s where he’s going these days . 
His last release “AT” with a collaboration with  Tim Finn in April 2023 .
If you’re looking at , finding Andy , look out there and find him on Spotify and most music outlets . Andy has a also young persons guide to Andy White on his soundcloud page .

The End