With performance, exhibitions and any other kind of live entertainment on hold at the moment, we begin a series of question and answer profiles featuring some of the dale’s most creative individuals and groups, starting this week with musician Andy Yeadon
How did you get into music and what instruments can you play?
There was always music on at home when I grew up. I had piano lessons when I was eight but found them boring, quit and then was told it was a good idea as music wasn’t my thing!
When I was 13, my dad brought an electric guitar home from Singapore, against my mum’s wishes. I picked it up and never put it down again.
I’ll have a go at playing virtually anything but if you’re asking what instruments can I play well I’m probably best at the guitar and piano though I should probably be a bit better, considering I’ve been playing them more than 30 years.
What inspires your music most and which other artists have influenced your music?
I get a tremendous positive feeling playing music and this is amplified when I play with other people.
I’ve so many influences but the ones I return to time and time again are Neil Young, Steely Dan, Frank Zappa, John Martyn, Radiohead… and the list could expand to fill the whole of the Mercury!
What are your favourite music genres?
There’s no bad music genre, I like it all – there is just great and terrible music and everything in between within every genre.
The dale has a wealth of music talent, what do your attribute this to?
There are many factors though I believe the music project in the town started by Keith Jones and a local musician in 1999 that may be a contributing factor.
When and where was your favourite performance and why?
That’s a tough one. There’ve been a lot of great gigs (some pretty dodgy ones too). Last year I fronted the Wattyboys in Asbury Park, New Jersey that was definitely cool.
Do you have a special place where you write music?
No but I definitely need to be in a certain headspace. I ned to know there’s nothing I need to do imminently.
Apart from music, what are your other interests?
I’ve always done martial arts. I run a Tai Chi class (not on at present) and am also a judo coach (all judo currently suspended). I love climbing mountains (can’t go out) and reading non fiction (that’s okay).
Do you have a favourite lyric, and if so, what is it and who wrote it?
Where do I start? I think the whole of John Lennon’s Imagine is poignant as hell and points towards the barriers we need to break down in order to move towards world peace.
How are you keeping yourself busy while the country is under lockdown?
It’s not hard for a musician to keep busy. I’m currently putting a nightly performance on Facebook and our band About the Humans… is using the opportunity to communicate electronically and develop a new album.
For anyone who hasn’t heard your music, where can they listen to samples of it?
Look up Andrew Yeadon and Moray Nellis on Spotify and Youtube or any other streaming platform. We’ve also go an About the Humans… Facebook page www.facebook.com/andrewyeadonmusic
Tell us three good things you have learned about people in the past few weeks, and three bad things.
Good: That when things get tough most people look after one another; that though people are encouraged through advertising and social pressure to do and buy lots of stuff they are quite happy just living simply so long as everyone else is; that people find room for humour in a crisis.
Bad: That some people must need a lot of loo roll; that some people will choose to resist authority even when the end goal is of great value; that money is still king for many people.
And, what are your thoughts on society post virus?
Without a doubt things will not be the same after this as they were before.
My hope is that people’s behaviour will change that may have an impact on our global climate crisis.
I think people will gain an appreciation for the simpler things in life and not feel like they need to consume as much or rush around everywhere as much. We also won’t be able to afford to either.
