Interview With Andrew Moorer.
Interviewed by: Sarah Evangelista
Happy new year! What’s one of your main goals as an artist this year?
This year, my goals definitely involve becoming more active in putting out content. That is key to being a creator and entrepreneur today. During and before 2020, I dealt with a lot of overthinking which led to constant anxiety and self-doubt. However, I’ve managed to take advantage of the lack of events happening during these weird times and use it to prepare for the eventual better future ahead. I don’t want to get into too much detail, but I’m confident I know what needs to be done to achieve my goals.
What’s your fondest musical memory?
You’re really getting me thinking! It’s always the greatest feeling when I can get crowds engaged in songs I’m performing. I will never forget the first time I performed at The Congress Hall Boiler Room in Cape May, NJ in July of 2018. It had to have been, if not the most, one of the most fun and uplifting shows I’ve I’ve ever performed. The crowd in front of me really made me feel like I was doing the right thing with my life. You should have seen their reaction when I played “500 Miles” by The Proclaimers. What an incredible night!
Your musical influences are on point! If you could pick one album to soundtrack your life, which one would it be, and why?
The album that comes to mind is not by any of my influences. You may laugh at this, but the album that first comes to mind is the Frozen II Soundtrack. SPOILER ALERT IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE MOVIE. Not going to go through every song but I’ll just give some brief examples. “Some Things Never Change” is about things being so perfect that there’s gotta be some kind of catch. “Show Yourself” is about finding the truth about yourself. “The Next Right Thing” is about feeling hopeless and stuck, but reminding yourself that you have to do what you have to do to keep yourself going. The soundtrack is the closest album I can think of that reflects my recent life with the pandemic going on. I’m glad the movie and soundtrack came out when they did because I can watch it and it makes me feel like I’m not alone and it gives me so much hope.
You’re releasing your debut single, “Good Ol’ Days”, in February. How are you feeling?
It feels so great to finally be releasing a record! The marketing and promotion game of it is so fun to me...especially reaching out to blogs, magazines and podcasts to set up interviews. It’s amazing where a simple DM on Instagram can lead you. I wanted the first single to be one that really defines who I am as a songwriter and a performer, and I’m glad I waited this long to feel as comfortable as I do now. I can’t wait to see what more people think of it!
I just HAVE to ask this, how did you come up with the idea for the cover art? I love it.
Thank you, love it too! So the diner you see me I’m chillin’ in front of is Angelo’s Diner in Glassboro, NJ. I knew this would be the perfect place to execute my idea for the single artwork, and what makes it even better is it’s located in the town I’m singing about. After my good friend Dean Mason and I met up for lunch at Angelo’s, he was gladly willing to take some photos of me against the building. I couldn’t be happier with how the photos came out and how Hungarian graphic designer László Magyar made this look. It’s amazing how László was able to cover the initial signs and implement the song title and my logo, which he also designed. Shout out to Dean Mason and László Magyar!
The song mentions missing the good moments in life and not wanting them to end, what made you want to turn this song into an upbeat one? Was that always the idea?
I started to write the song this past July while I was driving home from my gig at Klondike Kate’s in Newark, DE. The college I graduated from, Rowan University, was on the way so I decided to take a drive around campus to relieve stress I was feeling at the time. The production influence came from a song that was at the top of my Spotify playlist the time, “Another One Down” by Richard Marx. Influence also came from “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd, which you can probably tell by the synths and drum beat. I felt so comfortable creating this record with my good friend, TJ Young, being that the 80’s sound had been trending again and the record just felt like it fit me.
I was actually snooping through your Soundcloud page, and I saw that your cover of “Walk Like A Man″ has over 18K plays! Did you expect that to happen when you posted it?
Is that really how much it has? Cool! Honestly it was just a fun little thing I did in high school. There must still be people finding it somehow. Guess I’ll have to keep it on SoundCloud and see how many listens I have next year! To answer your question, absolutely not. I’m pretty surprised.
I might be moving too fast by asking this but could we expect a full project this year?
Slowly working on it. Just taking one thing at a time. When it comes, it comes. It’s definitely on my to do list, just can’t say when it’s going to happen yet. I’m really glad I listened to the right people in my life about patience. Having to be patient can be frustrating, but you can’t rush art and it really does pay off when you don’t.
Our website focuses on up and coming artists and bands, do you want to give a shout out to your favourites at the moment?
Gotta give a shout out to my friend TJ Young (@imnottjyoung)! He’s a man of many musical talents and you can check out his music on Spotify, Apple Music, etc. Thank you for helping me make “Good Ol’ Days” what it is, dude!