1.Who is ‘ Andrew Walters. ’
I am a father, an independent artist, and a teacher.
My music goes under the name “and shane walts” a pen name that is a goofy abbreviation of my fool name.
2. For someone that is yet to discover you, how would you describe your music?
Down trodden, melancholy, folk/indie, yet with some hope and humor
3. What inspired you as an artist?
My father. My grandfather. My mother. My sister and brother. Basically my whole family. Lollapalooza’97, Bush at Woodstock ‘99. Thursday’s album Full Collapse. The Get Up Kids – Four Minute Mile and Something to Write Home About and so many other artist and things.
4. What is your process for preparing to perform live? Do you have any Diva demands?
I wish I had more diva-ish demands. I feel like that would be cool but I’m kinda boring. I just enjoy playing and just need at least one instrument to do it. I get told I’m pretty chill.
I just need a space. I love to play. So anywhere people let me post up and sing some songs, I’m down.
5. Where do you feel you fit into the music ?
I feel that music is just an extension of myself, especially my solo material. Often the words and musical expressions align with what is occurring in my life. So it feels, at least to me, deeply entwined with who I am and what I’m experiencing.
6: What are your favourite musical genres, and are there any you dislike?
I love punk, hardcore, rock, and simple singer songwriters. I also enjoy proto-punk hip hop, r&b, and jazz. I’ll honestly listen to anything and I find myself liking just about anything that I give a chance. Since I started teaching music I’ve found a vast amount of respect for anyone who creates and puts their material out there.
7. Is there a story behind your new release?
Yes, I married my wife two years ago and she already had a 6 year old son. So I quickly became a stepfather. And when my wife got pregnant we were super excited to add a new member to our family. After our new little guy came into this world, “Color of Love” just sort of showed up with him. I basically wrote the song in a day.
The instrumentation that came with it showed up as I was recording it with my buddy Mitch Fedie. But the lyrical content and the main foundation was present at the inception.
8. What would you say is your greatest strength as an artist?
Authenticity. I’ve been doing this most of my life and it’s something I’ll continue to do. I write music because it’s something I have to do for myself.
9. What would you say is your greatest weakness as an artist?
My stubbornness. Because I write for myself, I don’t always listen to others even if they have good advice that I may adhere to later. I’ve had to find out a lot through making mistakes.
10. What can fans expect from your “Colour of Love ‘
An authentic testament to the beauty and pain of love. The push and pull of our own nature, and the cyclical sense of adoration. I feel like that sounds ridiculously flowery but that’s what it brings up for me.
11. What music artist would you say have influenced your work?
Damien Jurado, Richard Swift, The Get Up Kids, Thursday, Thrice, Cass McCombs, Jay Som, Kevin Devine, the Deftones, Poison the Well, Hot Water Music and many, many more.
12. Who would you most like to collaborate with artistically?
Damien Jurado, Kevin Devine, the Get Up Kids, Hot Water Music, Jay Som, I would be down to collaborate with just about anyone, that sounds fun to me.
13. What was your worst performance?
That’s a great question. I got the opportunity to do a tour with my buddy Robbie Freeman’s solo music called Little High Little Low. He’s an amazing songwriter and a fantastic human. I played guitar and piano for him on that tour. He let me open up some of the shows, which was a lot of fun. We played a show in Indianapolis at a brewery. I just remember totally forgetting some of my lyrics at one point. So I just kinda did the marble mouth thing. Where it sounds like I got too many marbles in my mouth to anúnciate anything correctly. I was like, “ garbal gareeebbaa laaa zzoooaaahhh” I don’t know if anyone noticed but I felt like a buffoon lol
14: What was the most difficult obstacle you have ever faced and how did you overcome it?
Saying goodbye to my father. He passed away two years ago now and it’s something I’m still grappling with. He was always very encouraging and caring when it came to my choices as a musician and a human. I don’t think I’ll ever overcome losing him but I’ve learned a lot through the process. About how important it is to be a caring, and compassionate father to my own little guys. So I’ve put a lot of attention and energy there.
15: What is your creative process when making music. Do you work with others or is there just you?
Both. I write music as an independent artist and my process can be a little chaotic. I’ve got lots of random voice memo recordings and tons of half written notes on my phone. I also have lots of scribbled notebooks. I typically do my best to just trust that I’ll make what I need to make.
I also play in a punk alternative band called Better Before and our process is similar but we will work and re-work songs all the time. We enjoy playing together and trying it out a bunch of ways before we settle on something. Sometimes we have to hang it up for a while and come back to it later.
16: Where do you see your musical career in 10 years?
I see myself writing, recording, playing shows, and teaching. I love music and I wish more people got involved in the process of making it and performing it. I believe art is healing. And I feel so lucky to have had it in my life for so long.
17:Your Top 3 Overrated Musicians, who when you hear them you think ‘ How The Fk………….. ?
I feel bad saying this cause I’ve got so much respect for all artists, especially those who put themselves out there. So this are just a few artist I don’t vibe with so well lol imagine Dragons. Maroon 5 and One Republic
