Section 8

Waiting 4 Andy (WA)
Interview with Mick Parker

From the Waiting 4 Andy Bio: "Approx May 2009 4 mates got together to jam original music, composed by Mick Parker and very quickly a chemistry was formed. Theres no egos just chilled relaxed friends enjoying each others company and the chance to be creative. With soaring licks from Andy's Guitar, pumping rythms from rustys drums and Rods Bass, Micks bluesy home grown yarns, took a rock form for the better, Its not rock and roll, blues, folk or funk, its a little bit of all, We call it BLUSMYK. Add in the vocal talents of Amber Nicholls and a band for all ages was born"

Hi Mick – Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to have a chat with us about Waiting 4 Andy.
You’ve clearly been hard at it promoting the band and recording as well as including as many WA artists as you can on your way around over the past few months… it’s an absolute credit to you!
GTN would like to ask you a few questions to give people an insight into Mick Parker, Waiting 4 Andy, where you come from and what’s been happening… so let’s start from the top.

Donna: Where do you originate from and at what age did you discover guitar and songwriting as a creative outlet

Mick: Born and bred Sandgroper, started playing guitar at about 15, wrote my first song Hillbilly Blues at 17, which I still perform today, then didn’t do much with music until my mid to late thirties, so stupid.

Donna: How old were you, and what was the first band you played in

Mick: Waiting 4 Andy is the first band I’ve played in, age 45. Bit of a late bloomer I guess, or as my friends say mid life crisis a happening.

Donna: How did you go about cutting your teeth in the industry

Mick: I met Mal Osbourne via the Forrestdale Sporting association, having a jam outside for hours on the acoustics. I heard some of his stuff from his Intensely Mellow days and he was playing with B Movie Heroes at the time. He asked me if I would like to do support for them at the Ravenswood hotel. I was fairly reluctant, was pretty comfortable jamming around camp fires with heaps of drunk mates telling me how gr8 I was and me believing them as I was pissed too, but I got out of my comfort zone, played half originals some covers and was very ordinary but, hey it was a start, I was 40 years old. I still play Gigs with Mal and will never forget he got me going, we have a strong friendship, he’s a good guy with strong morals.

Donna: Prior to Waiting 4 Andy, what is your most memorable music moment and were you soloing or in a band at the time

Mick: My most memorable moment was playing Solo, supporting Hells Bells, At the Premier hotel in Pinjarra. I was getting heckled, by the mob that came to headbang, about three songs in. I introduced Clean to be free and how I wrote the song at 9:30am after an all night partying session. When I started to sing about Jimmy Beam, the Bundy bear and smoking pot, they all started to warm to me and had great applause for the rest of my set. Was gr8 for my confidence to win them over and a real buzz.

Donna: Who is, or are your greatest inspirations or influences in music

Mick: I’d have to say my family. Mum was piano player and conducted the local church choir, Dad used to sing in a touring Jazz band and all the brothers and sisters were like the von trap family. Being the youngest of 6 (3 Brothers 2 sisters) I was influenced initially by their tastes, Beatles, Stones, Led Zep, Pink Floyd, Crosby Stills and Nash, Doobies and so on. The house was and still is full of music from all sorts of genre’s. Even with the folks gone, sing-along’s with me and the siblings and a few guitars is commonplace, there a special bunch my kin.

Donna: How long has Waiting 4 Andy been playing for

Mick: Nearly two years now, still a work in progress.

Donna: How did you come up with the name for the band

Mick: We did the first few gigs with a different name each gig for a bit of a laugh because we couldn’t settle on anything. Quite often we’d be saying “Waiting 4 Andy” at gigs or rehearsal, cos the dude lives in a time dimension not of this solar system, and is still to this day fashionably late. It got debated for a bit, till weight of numbers made him give in and we finally had a name.

Donna: How did the band originate and who are the members now.

Mick:  Andy our lead guitarist approached me about forming a band to do my originals. He’d jammed with Rusty the drummer, and we were all mates with Rod the bass Player and away we went rehearsing. My niece was singing with Decoy at Paddy Hannans but found singing for four hours on Saturday nights was affecting her Studies at WAAPA, so I asked her to join us and help me out with vocals on an Album, we’ve never looked back, she’s the star of the show

Donna: Who does the majority of the writing for the band

Mick: I do the bulk. We do collaborate, Such as Man Called Sid. I had the tune, sung the song to Andy with a finger click and he added the music, add in a drummer and bass, done job. Currently I am in the process of putting music to Ambers Lyrics and Andy and Amber plan to see what they can create together. Rod the bass player has some old tunes he wrote and passed on but I haven’t had the time to get to them yet, so we have a good deal of resources.

Donna: Where do you draw the ideas for your songs

Mick: I tend to write about real life experiences or even world events. Sometimes a I do it cryptically so not to bare ones soul if you like, Such as Blushward. The title is a combination of Blair, Bush and Howard and the song was written during the invasion of Iraq to oust Saddam.

Donna: Explain the chemistry of the band

Mick: We just gel, not sure why? Not having experienced a band before and hearing how much hard work individuals can be, I guess I lucked out, we never have any grief personally. I write songs, we jam them till they are polished, no one tells another how to play, being the least accomplished muso in the band I let the musos do their muso shit and it not only works, it works a bloody treat!

Donna: You started a major promotion for the band recently.  Over what period of time and how many venues.

Mick: I just made a concerted effort to get more gigs in the new year, so I put one on myself at the Freo Arts centre, pounded the pavement in Freo meeting publicans and handing out CD’s, which landed us a residency at bar Orient and it was a natural progression from there. Like all the active bands in Perth, I work hard networking, face book all that sort of stuff, heaps of emails etc; I get more knock backs than gigs but Perth is clicky and we are the new kids on the block and other than Amber we are mature as well, so that goes against us I believe. I refuse to do covers and not for ego, I’m an average guitarist and am crap at playing other peoples tunes, so I stick to the songwriting and do what I do and like best.

Donna: Which song from Back In The Mud seem to gain the greatest reaction from crowds

Mick: Definitely the up tempo tunes manage to get the punters up and dancing to songs they are hearing for the first time, such as Man Called Sid, Journey and the likes. We have a new Song Joe dancer, which is about losing both parents to cancer, and a bro fighting the dreaded disease now, I tell the story behind the song and we get a few randoms shed a tear, that’s like the ultimate compliment when your music moves people, this is the sort of music I strive to write.

Donna: How long did it take to record Back In The Mud.

Mick: We recorded 12 tracks in a day for an EP then ended up with a CD of 11. I spent another 40 hours with production roughly, just tidying up dodgy guitar work etc; Drums and Bass never got altered, and I’m really proud of the quality on a tiny budget, in a short space of time. The next one will be a mission given what I’ve learnt and that might be a bad thing who knows? But I’m hoping we will produce something special next time around, I feel the songs I’m writing now are far better simply from being in a band surrounded by excellent musicians; I have grown and learnt so much in the last 12 months. I feel my best stuff is ahead of me.

Donna: Where did you record and what was the recording process like for you and the band members

Mick: We recorded with Sound Suite in Bayswater. At first it was a bit weird because it was 8am and then it got weirder because the Studio is an old house. Brett the main man wanted to lay drum tracks, then guitars etc and I was like stuff that, if we can’t do it live then we will go away and practice till we can! So I was in one room with my acoustic and Amber, The drums lead and Bass were in another with their amps elsewhere, so now it was really weird because we relied a lot on visual contact when playing, but we got into a groove and really pulled it off. We know the quality could be this and that, but it was a tool to get gigs, nothing more and that has worked for us, as well as we could have hoped.

Donna: You enlisted the help of some Perth musicians to add some colour to the album.  Can you tell us how that came about, who they are and the difference it made to the tracks

Mick: I’m quite good friends of Janis Cullen and Kelly Bavich who were with all girl band Vamp and original band Lunchbox. I always envisaged the song “Insane” with a backing choir but didn’t have the patience or the resources to pull this off

But it needed more harmonies and asked the girls if they’d like to help and they were up for it, awesome ladies. Then Janis also ad libbed some vocals on Clean to be free and it was all good. I would like to revisit Insane some day and produce it with the whole shebang, It’s a cool song.

Donna: How have you found the response to Waiting 4 Andy’s live shows.

Mick: Just blows me away the vibe at our shows and how people get into it, very humbling to be honest. Without fail we get the punters dancing. Amber has so much energy people grab on to it and want to be on what she is, high on life so they join in and have fun with us, because at the end of the day that’s all we are dong, having fun and we want people to have fun with us, it’s not a performance, it’s a bunch of mates having a fat time and the crowd gets it.

Donna: Where to from here… what can we expect to see and hear from Waiting 4 Andy in the near future

Mick: We are having a break in the winter to travel, Andy to Europe, Russ to England and me North busking and to wherever I end up. I’m keen to have time out to write some new stuff then put all the unrecorded stuff together pick the next albums worth and hit the Studios again about September with a view for a release in November ready for the summer again, exciting times ahead I feel for W4A. I’m also heading to the studio in April to record a solo EP with special guests, an all acoustic tool to get me gigs, whilst I’m busking my way through El Questro and places like this.

Donna: Mick, you and your band have put your hearts and souls into Waiting 4 Andy and we recognize that you are an inspiration to anyone who decides to take the plunge into music and follow their dreams even in the latter part of their life.  We wish you all the success you deserve!  Long may you rock. Cheers to you all!

Mick: No Cheers to you!

Waiting 4 Andy is going into hiatus after the final show of their outstanding self promotional tour and will return in the Spring with what promises to be a rocking second CD!    Before they do, you can catch them LIVE for their final hurrah (with Sister Mojo) on May 1^st at Bar Orient Fremantle (6pm to 9pm).

Keep your eye out for all the news from Waiting 4 Andy:
Website: www.mickparker.com.au
And Waiting 4 Andy on facebook
Band Members: Andy W, Rod C, Mick P, Rusty H, Amber N, Adam B

Waiting 4 Andy is in rotation on GTN's Australian Independent Radio