| Andy Egert | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Andreas Egert |
| Born | 24 July 1961 Mels, Switzerland |
| Genres | Blues |
| Occupations | Musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | Guitar, harmonica, Vocals |
| Years active | 1980–present |
| Labels | Brambus Records |
| Website | www.andyegert.ch |
Andreas "Andy" Egert (born 24 July 1961) is a Swiss blues guitarist, harmonica player and singer.[1]
Andy, who started his career around 30 years ago as a street musician, is mainly a live performing artist making around 100 live performances a year.
He has also made exhibitions in Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Austria, Lithuania, United States and Poland, as well as collaborations with blues singers like Bob Stroger, Robert Lucas and Dallas Hodge.
Andy Egert was rewarded in 2010 with the Swiss Blues Award.[2]
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Andy Egert was born in Mels, Switzerland as the fifth of eight brothers and sisters. He started to play guitar at the age of 19. In his first group however, Andy played the bass (a local band known as "The Cool“, from 1980). At that time his music was mainly oriented towards rock groups (Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Cream). His interest to blues came only a bit later, almost by accident, through a Swiss Radio music program called "Just the blues“.
In 1982, Andy challenged himself and tried his own way to a professional music career. He left the band to start a tour as a street musician, only equipped with an acoustic guitar. Despite difficulties and bad experiences, such as being robbed of everything except the guitar, he carries on.[3] He finally travels two years long through the streets of Europe.
Back in town, he plays again as a bass player and bandleader of a Blues-Rock band ("Express“, 1984–1987). In 1985, he definitively switched back to guitar. In these years he performed intensively, mainly touring through Switzerland and Italy. In 1988, with the band "No Comment“ he made his first studio recording. In 1989, he created the “Andy Egert Blues Band”, his final band. One year later he recorded his first LP (1990, “Andy Egert Blues Band”).
In the following years he has toured again, this time mainly in Netherlands and Germany. In 1994, he counted more than 70 exhibitions in a year. During the 1990s, Andy has more frequent solo appearances, besides the band. In addition, he started a purely acoustic bass-guitar duet project, from which he recorded the album Blues with a Feeling in 1998. His fourth album (Live, Brambus Records, 1999) is an internationally published CD.
In the following years Andy became a known artist: he appeared at several famous music festivals[4] in Italy (“Mantova Jazz Festival“), Poland (“Suwalki Blues Festival”) and Switzerland (Blue Balls Festival Lucerne, “Piazza Blues Festival”, Bellinzona).
In 2000, Andy performed with Bob Stroger, a legendary bass player from Chicago (Otis Rush, Jimmy Rogers) his first “Chicago Blues Tour”. Many other Chicago Blues Tours will follow, mainly through Switzerland. In addition, he started a second collaboration with Robert Lucas, the slide guitarist and singer from Canned Heat: tours and performances in the years 2000, 2007 and 2008. Unfortunately Robert died in November 2008, unexpectedly.
In 2010, Andy played the first time with Dallas Hodge (a second band member of Canned Heat).
In March 2010, Andy got invited to the Basel Blues Festival where he was awarded with the Swiss Blues Award.[2]
Andy has been influenced by famous American and English blues players such as Johnny Winter, Robert Johnson, Alvin Lee and Eric Clapton.[5]
His guitar style however has been mostly influenced by Freddie King. In fact his way of playing, a powerful but clean guitar sound, the variability and dynamics of his sound (from 100 to 0 and back to 100) recalls a bit some recordings of Freddie King.[3]
In general Andy is a very versatile blues artist, who can adapt his style according to the actual performing band: Texas Blues/British Blues when he tours with his Andy Egert Band, Delta blues when he plays alone with acoustic guitar and harmonica, Chicago blues for his duet performances with Bob Stroger.[6]
Beside all those aspects, Andy, who developed his own unique feeling for old blues songs by just listening to records and experimenting with the guitar, is first of all a great live performer: for example when, with his Gibson ES-335 guitar, he puts the audience back in the 1970s by playing his own version of "Red House"[7] or when, in the middle of a concert he performs a 10 minute virtuoso blues harp[8] solo.
Finally, the best description of his style is the one given by Andy himself: "Blues with a feeling".[3]
Andy's main equipment consists of a set of Hohner Marine Band blues harps, a semi acoustic Gibson ES-335 and a Marshall JCM-800 top-box amplifier.