Andy Bull

Fri 10th Oct, 2008 in Features

23-year-old Sydney singer-songwriter Andy Bull has been performing his soul/funk/pop sound for many years now. His trademark vocals and unique sound facilitated his recent signing to Island Records Australia in late last year, ahead of his February 2009 album release.

Bull got started in music when his parents wanted him to learn an instrument, and his father’s influence of playing piano in Dixieland bands. Bull told me about his earliest memories of music; “sitting on my father’s lap when I was really little and he moved my fingers on the keys, which I used to call buttons.” He chose to learn piano but quit because he “hated practising.” Rediscovering the piano at age 12, at the time when Ben Folds was making piano cool again, it was a very encouraging first step.

Listing influences and inspirations as diverse as Jackson 5 to Burt Bacharach, it is clear that Andy Bull has a great appreciation for music in general. “I am always surprised by new musicians – discovering what another artist gets out of music,” he says. Bull’s own songs have a major focus on the lyrics and voice, which echoes his love of any songs that “have a chunk of pathos and real emotion in a 3 or 4 minute time limit”. This storyteller ability is one of Andy’s strengths, supporting Little Red on their national tour last month and capturing the attention of many new fans across Australia.

Signing with Island Records Australia was a light at the end of a difficult year for Andy Bull, with “family illness, an awful relationship ending and working two jobs to help finance the recording of the album.” The signing was made that much more special because they did not want to change anything about his sound; “It created a very respectful professional relationship.”

Andy Bull’s debut album will come out in February 2009, and will be “all about the songs, voice and lyrics, with nothing forced.” The album features a “nice mix of sounds based around piano and vocals, soul/rock and indie/pop elements, as well as beautiful string arrangements reminiscent of an Isaac Hayes record,” created by Sydney producer and Andy Bull’s right-hand man Tony Buchen. The album was mixed in Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studio, which was a beautiful yet surreal moment in Andy’s career. “We walked in and were welcomed to the studio by Albert Hammond Jr from The Strokes with his sausage dog, and later that night hung out on the rooftop under a full moon.”

During the recording process in Sydney’s 301 Studios, Bull also had the pleasure of Kanye West, spending a few hours with him while he took a break from recording part of his 2007 Graduation album. “He wanted to listen to everything I recorded and my demos. We talked about music and what makes a good song. I played him my music and he played me some of his tracks. He was very encouraging and finished the afternoon by saying – œI’ll see ya at the Grammys!’”

Andy Bull is finishing off this successful year with his first ever national tour, the ‘Small Town Girl Tour’, spanning 9 dates in October. After supporting Little Red with a short half hour set, Andy is “looking forward to having time for a full set, playing with the dynamics of the sound and giving the audience a few things to walk away with.”

That meeting with Kanye at the Grammys might be coming sooner than he thinks…

Andy Bull’s – œSmall Town Girl’ tour kicks off next week.

16 Oct – The Heritage Hotel, Wollongong
17 Oct – Brass Monkey, Sydney
18 Oct – Spectrum, Sydney
23 Oct – Soundlounge @ Currumbin RSL
24 Oct – Solbar, Sunshine Coast
25 Oct – Troubadour, Brisbane
29 Oct – The Toff in Town, Melbourne
30 Oct – Karova Lounge, Ballarat
31 Oct – Jive, Adelaide