Band Intros - Part 4 - Andy

Bringing the bass...

What instrument do you play and what made you want to play it?

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Bass, but I started out on guitar. After 5+ years of unsuccessfully trying to find a guitarist's spot in a band, I noticed that bassists always seemed to be in short supply. So I bought my flatmate's battered Peavey bass off him, and within a few months I was in Seas of Neptune, learning to play bass on the job.

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Who are your biggest musical influences?

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I'm a big fan of songwriters like Hanni El Khatib and Michael Kiwanuka. I was introduced to Queens of The Stone Age while at uni, and that obsession has lasted the better part of a decade. Spotify seems to have labelled most of the stuff I like as 'alternative' (alternative to what exactly??). After I made the switch to bass, I start paying a lot more attention to what bassists like Krist Novoselic (Nirvana), Kim Deal (Pixies) and Duff McKagan (GnR) bring to the table for each of their respective bands. That definitely helped inform my own style.

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If you could support any band at any venue, who and where?

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Is time travel allowed? If so, then Iggy Pop at the Cincinnati Pop Festival 1970 (AKA the 'Peanut Butter Incident').

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When you're not with the band, what do you spend your time doing?

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Practising on the bass! I wouldn't go so far as to say I've got impostor syndrome, but I'm definitely not at the level I would like to be yet. I've come along a lot in lockdown though.

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Non-band related activities include: reading, watching movies and going to other peoples' gigs. Cycling used to be on that list until my bike was nicked.

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Describe the perfect next five years for the band:

Well, Covid can piss off for a start. I've always wanted to tour Europe, that's definitely on the bucket list one day. I've got some family ties to Japan so playing there would be a huge deal as well.

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What's your favourite track by the band so far?

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I think 'Oh, Misery'. The demo was knocking around for ages but it's the first track recorded entirely by our current line-up, and it just came together in the studio so easily.

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Why should people listen to Seas of Neptune?

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You've got this far reading all of our responses, at this point you may as well check out the songs too.

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What's it like being the bass player in the band, the sound engineer and the producer? Do you think being within the band helps you understand the core sound the band wants from recording?

 I now understand why those jobs are usually performed by 3 different people. Having said that, having a personal stake in the band's success definitely pushes you to be more of a perfectionist at the mixing desk. I really enjoy the production side of things. The key is to try to listen back to each song the way an outsider would, and leave your own biases out of it.