With a lighthearted pop rock touch, Andy Quick brings us a single that serves as an anthem for most grown adults as it rolls through thoughts, struggles, stresses, ups and downs to bring just surviving life.
"Ninety-Nine" is a brilliant track that really showcases Quick's character as an artist with hints of humor beneath the surface, a driving pop sensibility, and guitars that ring out in true classic rock style.
The single has a heavily danceable quality and feels bright and crisp as it's performed with a gusto and swagger that is needed for the song to come through the way it was meant to.
This artist knows exactly what he's doing, and you can almost tell this track was a vision that came to fruition for him.
The accompanying music video also deepens the premise of this track as you quickly run the treadmill of life and go through what seem like chapters of that life.
So, the song does have this sort of existential undertone, but it's really done with a fun polish and sheen that makes it completely relatable to most people. Most...grown and adulting people.
It's terrific to hear a track that talks about it and portrays it the way Andy Quick does it.
With the release of "Ninety-Nine", we wanted to have a talk with Andy Quick just to find out where this came from and what may be next for the artist.
BuzzSlayers: Okay so let's start things off with "Ninety-Nine". This track has a great pop rock style and portrays some of the stresses of life! Where did this track come from?
It came from a dark place deep in the middle of a lockdown. I was having a bad day and in a bit of a state I picked up my guitar and just started smashing it. God knows why but it was down tuned to C which is quite unusual, but as I hit the bugger it actually sounded great, kinda like a sitar. I found myself shouting things out rhythmically and frantically like a commentator at a horse race, barking out dos and don’ts, hating every minute of it but lost in a rage. By the time I dropped it to the minor chord I was practically crying and desperate for a relief from my own brain. I think there is something primal about the sound of the word ‘nine’ at least in my subconscious because I shouted it over and over again before I had any idea what I was saying. “Ninety nine point nine, nine , nine , nine percent of the time I get by, but I need some help sometimes” I loved that chorus straight away and more than any other song I’ve written it just summed up perfectly and immediately my emotional state and mindset - ‘I’m trying my best here, just give me some help, give me a fucking break’.
I spent the rest of the day writing the words, determined to get it all done there and then. I remember feeling a LOT better after that.
BuzzSlayers: I'm certainly hearing some different styles mixed in on this one. Who are some of your biggest musical influences?
I have been influenced by everything I’ve ever heard, great and terrible. Way too many to be specific. From the biggest bands on the pyramid stage to the guy playing a harmonica at the open mic night, I have soaked up so much over the years, I am very open minded to what I create so anything I hear that I like is a potential leaping off point. Having said that I try not to be influenced too heavily by anyone as I'm too busy trying to make the sounds that come directly to me from inside and I think it's better to walk your own path as a songwriter if you know what I mean? I guess these sounds have been influenced by hundreds if not thousands of bands that I've seen live but if you want a couple of ones that spring to mind, Cat empire, T Rex, Louis Prima, Jack White, the roots
BuzzSlayers: The video deepens the premise of the song while we watch you endlessly run taking all the hits life brings on. Was the video your idea?
Yep. I visualized it in bed one-night last year when I couldn’t sleep. Saw the whole thing from start to finish. Which is a blessing and a curse because once you’ve seen it in your mind's eye you have to find a way to manifest it. But I managed to recruit a really great supportive team of friends to help me, probably 9-10 people have been instrumental in making that vid, and that’s just the unpaid ones, with nothing but their own passion to get it done. I really am lucky to have great people like that around me. And we choreographed it all together, they did an amazing job really, playing two characters each and nailed it in the one take
BuzzSlayers: So how did all of this really start for you?
Very very slowly. I have always written poetry since being a very young lad but with no musical training or inspiration whatsoever in the place I grew up I didn’t really find my voice till my mid-twenties, playing songs round campfires in Southeast Asia. Started my first band aged 30 and have been loving it ever since. I guess that late start has kept me hungry because I have the material written for 2 or 3 albums and the ideas won’t stop coming
BuzzSlayers: Do you do any live performances?
I make my living from live performances yes
BuzzSlayers: What kind of things inspire you to write?
The main theme in my writing is probably the journey of rising up out of your human limitations to find a greater power within yourself or greater experiences in your life or something more amazing and beautiful than the everyday shit we get bogged down with. I think if there’s one thing that I’m driven to encapsulate in music it's probably that. However, I will literally write almost anything that comes into my head, so I also have songs about dodgy politicians, stalkers, hedonistic misadventures, plus rants and silly songs about dogs
BuzzSlayers: What's next for you as an artist? Is there anything new in the works even now?
I'm currently making an album called ‘Revelations’ self-recording the tracks and mixing it with a producer, it's a massive learning curve but I am enjoying it and committing to the work. The first track ‘Ninety-Nine’ is out next week but track 2 ‘Our Time’ I reckon will be the one that people are really gonna love. Its retro calypso madness and I am completely in love with it. I'm also trying to recover fully from Covid as its still on my lungs. So that’s what I’m all about right now getting fit and looking ahead. I'll start touring fully in spring and I will be hitting it hard this year to make up for the stop/ start bollocks of 2020/21
BuzzSlayers: What are you doing when you're NOT working on music?
Hanging out with my little lad drawing gorillas. Cooking, yoga, kickboxing, sitting in the sauna.
BuzzSlayers: This track and video feels like a big undertaking. What kind of advice would you have for other up and coming bands out there?
I guess I just aim high. The last shot in the vid was supposed to be a massive view for miles around from the highest point in Dartmoor. But when it came to the shoot I was really suffering with a savage cold and couldn’t find the energy to aim that high, so I settled for a safe option on a friend's farm, and I regret it. The vid is great but out could have been outstanding. You get loads of chances to aim high in music so just keep doing that and try not to settle for the easiest thing. Oh, yea and pay absolutely no attention to anything in the charts. Do not copy or regurgitate that absolute shite. Get yourself to a grassroots festival and listen to what real people want to hear, not what the music industry wants you to buy.
BuzzSlayers: Okay so you wake up in the middle of the night starving. What's your go-to midnight snack? (a question of character here)
Marmite on Toast
BuzzSlayers: Before we go, what would you like to say to fans of the music?
Check out www.andyquickmusic.com send me your email and I will send you a monthly blog cast to make you smile. Cheers!
Commenti