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Andy is the Bass Player

Andy bought his first bass guitar when he was 16 years old, it was a beaten up old grey Fender Precision copy, which Andy stripped down and rebuilt turning it into a metallic blue bass. He then started to learn playing from a book when he was 17 and in the very early stages of learning (literally he was on page 7 of his 'teach yourself bass book), a good friend of his (and later to be his Best Man at his wedding) Rob invited him to join a band. As you would expect Andy said no as he was no where near good enough, but Rob managed to convince him to go along and meet with his pal the guitarist who promptly taught Andy a few songs.

After a little practice the three of them decided they needed a drummer and an ad was placed and one of the people to answer that ad was Mark the Drummer, who then made the full line up and 100% Proof was formed. Mark played with them for a couple of years before leaving the band. 100% Proof carried on with a succession of other Drummers and name changes for a number of years before finally breaking up for good some time in 2002.

Shortly after Mark had left 100% Proof, he invited Andy to join him in a band which at that time was called The Bandits and it was at that point that Andy met, future fellow Lock Down band member Robin who was one of the original Bandits Duo. Once there where four the name was quickly changed to Face to Face and they did many gigs over a period of years.

Andy has musical roots, his father Martin plays lead guitar and sings in the Rock and Blues band Vintage Stuff and has been playing guitar since 1965 (which is far longer than Andy has even been alive). Both Andy and his wife (Lara, who incidentally met Andy at one of his gigs) liked Vintage Stuff so much that they asked them to play at their wedding lots of pictures of which can be seen on this Vintage Stuff pictures page.

Back when Andy was learning the basics and was having his baptism of fire, by being in a rock band and not really knowing how to play, having such a talented dad came in very handy and his dad would frequently show Andy how to play the songs he needed to learn. To this day Andy admits to still from time to time, calling his Dad for help when he comes up against a song he is having trouble figuring out. Martin also comes and helps the Lock Down band by being their impromptu sound guy and ensuring the levels are set correctly at gigs, so from Andy and the rest of the band thanks Dad / Martin.

Gear wise Andy mostly plays his Silver Curbow Bass, but also owns a metallic purple Fender Jazz Bass and his very first and now Metallic Blue Precision copy. The amp he uses is a solid state Warwick CCL which is bloody loud.