Buxton, NC, is known for producing salty characters
with an affinity for chunky First Jetty barrels and a desire to stay isolated
on their lonely little piece of Hatteras Island paradise. But Jason Andre has
earned a steadily growing reputation for his smooth style in the water along
with multi-faceted musical talents on land, mastering such disparate
instruments as the didgeridoo, bagpipes, and the Turkish saz. Sweetening his
deal even further, Andre might just be the nicest guy around. EasternSurf.com chatted with Jason about
his recent debut full-length The Phoenix
& The Fish, Vanilla Ice cassettes, and making it as an independent,
self-sufficient singer/songwriter.
ESM: What’s your earliest musical memory, Jason?
Jason
Andre: Probably playing my dad’s
acoustic guitar at about three years old — and when I say playing, I
really mean just slobbering all over it while listening to The Beatles on a record
player [laughs].
ESM: Besides The Beatles, what other musical influences
shaped your life?
JA: Michael Jackson was the first vinyl I ever owned, and
embarrassingly enough, I think the first cassette tape I bought was Vanilla Ice
or MC Hammer. And then once I got into middle school I got my first NOFX and
Pennywise CDs.
ESM: How about performing music? Who inspired you to
follow that path?
JA: My mom got me into piano lessons when I was six or
seven — she always told me that if I learned how to play the piano I
could learn how to play anything. My dad was also in a ‘50s rock band, so those
were my two main influences. By about 12 or 13, I picked up a guitar and
practiced for the first time. My youth minister taught me how to play basic
chords, my dad showed me some stuff, and a couple of other friends helped out.
ESM: How did you pick up the didgeridoo and bagpipes?
JA: On my first trip to Costa Rica with my parents in
high school, I got exposed to some Latino music, but going to Australia when I
was in college really got the ball rolling. I heard the didgeridoo and was
automatically drawn to it. And then the same thing happened with the bagpipes
— I met this old Scottish guy here in Wilmington who was in the Scots
Guards 20 or 30 years ago, and he taught me how to play pipes. I’ve traveled to
Turkey and different parts of the world, picking up instruments when I’m there
and bringing ‘em back. That’s really been the driving force behind my music. I
went over to Indonesia and sat in with a local temple gamelan, or ensemble, and
picked up a few weird drums. I brought a saz, which is a thin-necked lute, back
from Turkey… My bagpipes were actually given to me by my family up in New
England after my grandfather passed away, and a friend of my dad’s gave him
this old antique banjo in pieces, and I put it back together.
ESM: Sounds like a lot of your instruments have
significant sentimental value.
JA: Yeah, my first hand drum was this massive African
djembe given to me by a friend who told me to make sure it didn’t end up on a
shelf somewhere collecting dust. And my wife’s family gave me a handmade antique
resonator guitar that I’ve turned into a slide guitar.
ESM: Other than Turkey, a lot of your travels have served
dual purposes: furthering your musical education while also enhancing your
surfing life, as well. How do the two go together?
JA: They’re the two most influential things that I’ve
done in my life. When I travel, I keep a keen eye open for the local music
culture, and I bring some of that back with me as a reminder of how good the
waves were, or how cool the people were. Music tends to remind us of times and
places in our lives, so for me it’s a way to keep those memories close.
ESM: You released your debut full-length, The Phoenix & The Fish, earlier this
year. What made you decide now was the time to introduce yourself as a
formidable singer/songwriter?
JA: I’ve tried to write songs in the past, but listening
to bands like Josh Garrels, The Psalters, Iron & Wine, and Sufjan Stevens have
shown me that really eclectic groups can take exotic instruments and old
Americana instruments and put them to use. As far as the songwriting goes, you
have to learn the craft of not only putting your emotions and life experiences
down on paper, but doing it in a way that makes things relevant to people who
can pick up on it, understand it, and appreciate it, regardless of the message.
ESM: How did the recording process for The Phoenix & The Fish go? You handled
nearly everything yourself, right?
JA: I was working for an audio/visual company last year,
and they had a recording studio that they didn’t use anymore, so in my off
hours I cleaned it up and got it back into use. But then I got laid off around
Christmas, so I had three months of no real job and no recording studio. My
collective of friends, who are basically my family, provided me with the tools
to finish the album at home, so the majority of it got recorded right in my
living room. I did all the mixing, and a guy here in town mastered it for me
— he spent a good deal of time not only mastering it, but also teaching
me the whole process, too.
ESM: Have you had luck self-releasing and self-promoting
it, as well?
JA: It’s pretty challenging [laughs]. Contrary to a major-label band getting press and hype
before an album comes out, mine has been more of a trickle-down effect —
I release the album, a couple friends know about it, and then it slowly works
its way through the veins of the world. A lot of it’s just waiting,
unfortunately.
ESM: How about the live performance side of things?
JA: For the most part, I’ve just played locally here in
North Carolina. I’ve gone out to the Cornerstone Festival in Illinois, but I do
more collaborative work with bands like Josh Garrels, Braddigan, and mewithoutYou
here in Wilmington. I’ve done a couple of small East Coast tours, but that’s
pretty much it. I haven’t really made the effort to get on the road —
being married and having a mortgage makes that really difficult. I’d love to
make it out to Portland and Seattle, but for functional purposes I’m trying to
set my goal as making music full-time without being on the road full-time. I’ve
looked into a lot of film and TV licensing, and my first major news is my buddy
Russell Brownley used three songs in a documentary he made about Bangladesh (Gum For My Boat), which Fuel TV just
licensed to air. I’ve made a little bit of money off the album — enough
to upgrade a lot of my home studio equipment — and plan on working hard
this fall to put together another one.
ESM: How is the surfing side of your life treating you?
JA: It’s actually been sort of resurrected. Moving to Wilmington
was great, because there’s so much more culture here. After losing my job, I started
to work for Wrightsville Beach Surf Camps, and they’re an incredible company. This
summer was probably the greatest I’ve had my whole life. We implement a lot of environmental
conservation and education into the camps, so I’ve been able to start using my
background in marine biology again, and I’m in the water giving other people
the joy of surfing… really it’s allowed me to fall in love with surfing all
over again. It’s a very holistic approach — you’re not just getting in
the water and then going back to Iowa. You’re learning why the ocean is
incredibly important to life on earth, and you’re also learning how to take
care of it, even if you live in the middle of nowhere. Having Rip Curl step up
my sponsorship to the professional level a couple of years ago really helped
keep me surfing and setting new goals, and allowed me to tie it all together,
like Donavon Frankenreiter or Timmy Curran — do the professional surfer
thing, but also make music on the side. A lot of credit is due to Jack Johnson
for swinging that door open for us.
ESM: Now that you’ve walked through it, hopefully things
will only continue to get better. Any shout-outs you’d like to give?
JA: Definitely my sponsors, Rip Curl, Dakine, and In The
Eye Surfboards. And most of all my parents, wife, and sister — they’re the
closest to me and have made everything possible. My wife and sister did some
singing and playing on the record, so they definitely deserve credit for
lending me their beautiful voices.
For all
things Jason Andre, visit www.jasonandre.com or
www.myspace.com/jasonandremusic
