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Music Biography
Early
My musical career began early in my home where my mother, a piano teacher, would assemble the family for music perfomance and singing. Some would begin singing in harmony and my eager voice soon caught on. Before long I was taking classical piano lessons and reached the dizzying hieghts of Royal Conservatory Grade 2. I was, by age 10, closely tuned into pop music on my rocket radio. It appeared that guitar, not piano, was going to launch me to stardom. I did continue taking popular piano lessons and have continued to teach myself to this day. Guitar lessons carried on for several years, including classical and jazz styles (jazz under the supervision of Ian McConkey), and eventually I began teaching guitar.
Early Performance
My first performances were mostly classical guitar pieces at my mother's music-school recitals in Victoria, B.C., Canada. During my teen years I formed bands more in keeping with my pop music interests, the first as guitarist and lead-vocal in "The Odyssey", circa Grade 9 (1966). We played mostly Beatles and Beach Boys covers. The following years saw the evolution of "Uranus and the Four Moons" in which I again played guitar and sang lead-vocal. We were an irreverant band inspired by the likes of early Frank Zappa. We made fun of "greaser" and Western songs and attempted modernizing some early North American folk music. The band wrote many songs. We played many dates at high school Battle of the Bands and youth-group concerts. By Grade 12 more serious interests saw the the creation of "Amethyst", a folk-rock trio playing folk and jazz covers at local Victoria coffee-houses.
Recording
After high school I bought a 4 track tape recorder and began recording my original songs. I developed a keen interest in the music recording industry and applied for entrance into Fanshawe Technical Arts College in London, Ontario, Canada in 1975. Awaiting acceptance I worked at the University of Victoria music library and was finally accepted in 1976. The course included all aspects of the music industry at that time, including practical music production, recording, arranging, basic electronics, ear-training and theory. My songwriting and music performance blossomed and in the first year my song "Frozen Moment" appeared on the annual college record. The second year saw the first recording of my "Loving Company" win second prize in the college music awards show. During this period I performed with a folk-trio touring the southern Ontario coffee-house scene and recording for national broadcast with the Canadian Broadcast Corp. My first music industry job was managing and engineering at a Toronto recording studio "Studiofarm", and touring as a monitor- mixer with the Genesis clone-band "Nightwinds". During off-hours I continued creating and recording my music. In 1979 I recieved a position at "Bullfrog Studios", a Vancouver, B.C. recording studio and eventually instituted a sound-engineering school there. By 1983 I had created my own recording studio, Howe Sound Studios, which continues to this day. I have been involved since with many artists since as a producer, engineer, co-writer, and PA mixer. It is where I compiled the best of my song-writing history onto a self-produced CD entitled "In Search of the Lava Goddess".
Recent Performance
In 1988 I became the keyboardist, and one of two lead-singers with the group "Third Wave", a hard-rock cover band. We wrote and performed socio-politically motivated original songs in the Vancouver club scene. Three years later the band dissolved and I was asked to play bass guitar and sing backing vocals in "SKWID", an all-original power-funk alternative band playing in Vancouver and the Gulf Islands. In 1997 I formed a cover band called "Lookinglass" as a guitarist and lead-singer. We play popular dance music from the Sixties to the present.
Current Projects
The Jammers Handbook
This is a songbook project compiling popular music that I have analyzed since about 1996. The goal is present each song on a single page face. I've included song format, lyric, and chord information for each song. Currently including 370 titles. (Title table). It is assumed that the user is familiar with the melody. I am currently exploring the feasability of publishing the book.
Article from Westender Magazine: July 22, 2004
Personal Data
Birthdate: January 28, 1953
Citizenship: Canadian and
British
Phone: 604-836-4693
ICQ#: 258497536
Andrew Butler Photo Album Index
HOWE SOUND Studios |
