| Andy Bull | |
|---|---|
Andy Bull on stage at Sydney's Metro Theatre, May 2011 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Andrew Bull |
| Origin | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Genres | Piano rock, Blue-eyed soul, Pop |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | Piano, electric keyboard, vocals, guitar, drums |
| Years active | 2004–present |
| Labels | Island Records (AUS) |
| Associated acts | Tim Finn, Little Red, Lisa Mitchell, Hungry Kids of Hungary, Deep Sea Arcade, Owl Eyes, Slow Down Honey, WIM |
| Website | AndyBull.com.au |
Andy Bull is an Australian alt-pop/piano rock singer-songwriter, based in Sydney. He is best known for the single "Dog," from his 2010 Phantom Pains EP, a duet with former Australian Idol contestant Lisa Mitchell, as well as his prolific Australian touring.
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Bull developed his love of music growing up, with his father developing a passion for collecting keyboards on his travels, and had a keen interest in playing the piano. It was not long until Andy himself developed this interest in the piano, later developing into singing and writing his own music.[1]
Bull began performing in and around Sydney in the early 2000s, eventually getting the attention of producer Tony Buchen in 2004.[1] Buchen, having worked with other successful acts such as Blue King Brown, Macromantics and The Whitlams, felt that Bull's style of music required different approach to recording, and the two experimented with older recording techniques such as analogue.[2]
Wanting to develop Bull's talent further, but still nurture his individual style, they then travelled together to New York City, where they produced and mixed songs for Bull's debut album at the Electric Lady Studios.[1] Bull signed to Island Records, a part of Universal Music Australia, in 2007.[1] In 2007, Bull supported Joss Stone on her Australian tour and, in 2008, increased in popularity by being played regularly by the radio station Triple J.
Bull's debut single was released in August 2008. Entitled "Small Town Girl", it was taken from his debut album We're Too Young.[1] In 2008, Bull toured with Garage to V winners, Little Red. His first headlining national tour commenced in late 2008. A music video was also made for "Young Man," the second single from the album. Bull would continue to tour extensively in support of the album throughout the rest of 2008 and 2009, notably joining Tim Finn's national tour as an opening act, performing solo as opposed to with his six-piece band. He also opened for a MySpace secret show in Sydney featuring U.K. neo-soul singer Duffy in that same year.
In May 2009, Bull toured in support of Lisa Mitchell's Australian tour, prior to the July release of her Platinum selling debut album "Wonder". During the tour, Bull performed his support set solo. For her own set, Mitchell was to play guitar, accompanied by bass player Jan Bangma and drummer Robert Vasey. Before the second show of the tour, however, Mitchell's hand was cut in an accident. Due to Mitchell's injury, she was unable to play guitar and so Bull stepped in, learning the set on piano in lieu of the guitar parts. Bull played in the band for the remainder of that tour, fomenting Bull and Mitchell's friendship, which would lead to their collaboration on Bull's song "Dog" the following year.
In September of 2009, Bull released "We're Too Young", the recording of which had been completed the previous year with producer Tony Buchen.
In 2010, Bull began writing new material after relocating to Surry Hills. He was inspired to record a duet with Lisa Mitchell after performing a cover of Madonna's "Like a Prayer" with her and Lanie Lane at Sydney's Enmore Theatre during Mitchell's headlining performance at the venue. The resulting song was "Dog," which has gone on to become Bull's most popular song to date. Its popularity resulted in being featured in the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2010, charting at number 68.[3]
"Dog," along with five other new songs, featured on Bull's Phantom Pains EP. Bull played piano, guitar and drums on the EP, as well as nearly all of the vocals. He was also joined by former Red Riders guitarist Adrian Deutsh and Deep Sea Arcade/Tim Finn drummer Carlos Adura, and Deep Sea Arcade Bass player Nick Weaver. Along with Mitchell, the EP also featured special guests Little Red and Hungry Kids of Hungary as Bull's backing band on the songs "Nothing to Lose" and "Last Waltz," respectively. A music video was made for the EP's title track,[4] in which a man cuts off his thumb in order to get workplace compensation. The EP artwork was painted by Bull, and features a depiction of his left hand with a severed thumb.
In October 2010, Bull would join Clare Bowditch's national tour for a series of stops as her opening act, joining Augie March frontman Glenn Richards. For these dates, Bull was joined by Slow Down Honey guitarist Alex Bennison. Bull and Bennison would also do a small headlining tour in the following weeks, and later join Canadian singer-songwriter Dan Mangan on the New South Wales leg of his national tour in January 2011. On this tour, Bull premiered a new song, entitled "Penny Drops."
Shortly after this, the second and final single from Phantom Pains was announced as "Last Waltz." Bull, Bennison and new drummer Dave Jenkins Junior would visit the Triple J studios on the 24th of March, 2011, to perform the song acoustically as a part of the station's "Like a Version" segment. As is customary, the trio also performed a cover, Tears for Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World."[5] Bull would also head out on a headlining tour of the east coast with Melbourne singer Owl Eyes, titled the Bulls Eye tour, in February.[6] The tour was a notable success for Bull, including a sold-out Wollongong date at the Otis Bar.
On February 28, Bull was a special guest on Channel 10 comedy panel show Good News Week. As one of the clues in deciphering a news story from the week, he performed a piano-based version of the Sex Pistols song "God Save the Queen."[7] In early March 2011, Bull was also a part of a campaign for Australian tourism called "Making Tracks,"[8] in which he was paired with Taiwanese classical musician Irene Chan, from the YouTube Symphony Orchestra. The pair travelled to South Australia and the Northern Territory, in particular Kangaroo Island and Kings Canyon. The campaign involved a musical experiment, in which the two collaborated on a piece of music that reflected their journey. The video documentation of this has had nearly 100 thousand hits on YouTube.[9]
Following this tour, Bull was asked to join his friends Hungry Kids of Hungary on their final Australian tour in support of their debut album, Escapades. Each night of the tour would see Bull performing with his band, as well as performing "Last Waltz" with Hungry Kids of Hungary during their headlining sets.
In June 2011, Bull played solo in support of Joshua Radin's Australian tour.
In August/September 2011, Bull and band (Bennison, Jenkins Junior) headlined the official Phantom Pains tour of Australia. They were supported by Spring Skier, two-man off-shoot of The Hungry Kids of Hungary, made up Kane Mazlin and Remy Boccalatte, who again joined Bull and band in performing Last Waltz each night. The tour included sold out shows at Good God in Sydney; Northcote Social Club in Melbourne; and The Spiegltent in Brisbane (as part of the 2011 Brisbane Festival).
In December 2011, Bull and band performed three shows at The Woodford Folk Festival in Woodford, Queensland, performing a mix new material, and songs taken from The Phantom Pains EP.
Bull recently confirmed on his Facebook fan page that he is working on more new material, potentially for a second studio album.[10] He was also announced as the support act for Joshua Radin's headlining tour of Australia in June 2011, a tour which he completed solo; as well as being announced as one of the acts performing at the 2011 Coaster Festival in Gosford, New South Wales, alongside acts such as the John Butler Trio and Jebediah.[11]
Bull performed on BalconyTV Melbourne in July 2011. In the same month, he also announced a headlining tour in support of Phantom Pains.