Andy Shaw Band mixes music with free food

Local rock-reggae act gives away waffles, grilled cheese

By Dana Stewart

Special to Metromix

Columbus is home to a uniquely thriving “house” culture that is an integral part of the city’s nightlife, from the Hoodoo Soul Band every Sunday at Rumba Café to house shows at venues like the Monster House and the Last House on the left. Enter into the picture the Andy Shaw Band, going into a second year playing their funky, jazzy version of reggae every Monday night at Ruby Tuesday’s on Summit Street. With easily identifiable musical talents, humble attitudes and a desire to make the world feel like one giant family, the Andy Shaw Band’s mission in life can seem like a true “Rastafarian” outlook on life. But these men would be truly happy just to bring smiles to the people of the Columbus community simply through their musical efforts.

 

And, by effort, these boys mean business. Not an over-the-top, fame and money equals happiness sort of business—“You don’t have to have a yacht to be able to support yourself,” explained Theo Perry, guitar player in the Andy Shaw Band. “Just so that you can know that you can pay your rent and bills on time and know that you are going to have a good time playing music, that’s all you can really ask for I think.”

 

Theo is joined in this theory by the band’s front man, Andy Shaw (28, guitar and vocals) Shaw brother Chris (24, drums), Shaw father, Jim (62, keys), and old friend Bobby Wildermuth (23, bass). When asked how the Shaw men found their non-related band mates, they exclaimed, “Well, there was a shelter downtown, and we just picked them up along the way, we took pity on them.” Family-like teasing aside, the band is held together by a drive to possibly leave all non-creative day jobs behind in favor of dedicating their lives to true talents and to giving back to the community.

 

“A guy once told me that if you put that same time that you put into working at Panera into writing more, practicing more, and working more, you’d be able to support yourself,” Theo reminisced of his time spent working for the café chain. “And I quit the next week.”

 

In light of this ambition, the Andy Shaw Band works hard. In addition to what they refer to as a “residency” at Ruby’s every Monday, the group has numerous gigs and recording times for their easy-going, jam session-like music that really helps a person wind down after a long day at an office. The sound is an incredibly approachable tap into the reggae genre that is initially disguised by an almost alt-country feel and intense technical tightness, commanding audience respect, especially live.

 

Aside from playing as a band, each member has another creative work connection. Jim teaches general music to elementary students; Andy and Chris perform a stripped-down folk duo and teach various instrument lessons; Theo works with the Floorwalkers, another Ruby’s band-in-residence; and Bobby works on numerous projects involving music for his sanity in his time away from a day job at California Pizza Kitchen.

 

“It’s really the only thing I do that’s not music. I found something that’s flexible so that I can work more and focus on music and keep my sanity by doing art and music. I went to school for art. When Andy asked me to play in the band it was good because I wasn’t playing and I was very, very insane for a little while.”

 

So, just how much time goes into being a full-time musician and band? The guys explained that the job often feels like much more work is being put into it than a person would for an average job, what with gigs (Ruby’s- three hours, weekends- 10 hours), individual and full band practices, recording and promotions, plus musical work aside from the Andy Shaw Band.

 

“I try to spend an hour to two hours a day just writing, or writing and practicing,” Andy said. “And then practice is kind of a separate thing from that. It’s a lot of putting your own work in and being your own manager of life. You have to really be on top of yourself and be a multi-tasker to the extreme. That’s the thing that I actually really enjoy. You’re making a lot less money, but you end up being happier.”

 

Playing regularly at a bar like Ruby’s is great practice for any band, especially one hoping to improve their material and to get decent feedback.

 

“You just get really tight. It’s like any job I think. When you do something on a regular basis long enough, you get used to it, you get better at it. But I think it’s more like working out—the more you do it the more endurance you have and the better you are at it. And that’s what’s happened to us over the last year.”

 

Another perk for the Andy Shaw Band as a regular act in Columbus is meeting members of the community that are supportive, with feedback that allows the band to figure out what works in new songs and to get instant responses to changes on a weekly basis. This also inspires the fellas to get their music writing caps on more regularly.

 

“You start to gain real fans,” Chris said. “People will come out every week and they become your friends, but they’re like friends that you know only because you’re in a band. I mean they’re friends and that’s great because they’re loyal people and they want to see your music, and they like you and they like your music.”

 

Andy added, “If we had the same people from the first day to the last day, I could see it being dull, but there’s always new people being told by word of mouth or just coming out. When you do start to get kind of a following I think it helps with the writing process because then you want to do more music, new songs for them.”

 

Throughout February the Andy Shaw Band is keeping things interesting for fans and the general bar regulars with new spins on an ASB show staple--free food. On Feb. 9 the Ruby’s show involved a nice promotion that asked for a canned food donation in exchange for only paying $1 to see the usual $5 show, free food still included. On Feb. 23 the guys will switch out the George Forman grilled cheese maker in favor of a waffle iron, in true spirit of “Wafflepalooza.”

 

“You want people to be excited about every week. We did the food to be something that was interesting every week, or something to give back for people coming out on a Monday. And we were doing grilled cheese every Monday for like four months straight because it’s really affordable for us and it was really easy.

 

“I wanted to do a food drive because I had seen a lot of news stuff about how the Ohio food bank was not doing very well, especially over the holidays. I think it’s important, especially when you’re doing something like a Monday night show, when we’re trying to raise awareness for our band and we’re trying to get people out and excited about our things, to not only use that as a tool of self-promotion, but also make it something that people can feel good about. And that is more important to us.”

 

This and other important factors, like finishing and releasing record number two in April and going on 5-6 day tours, are high on the list of goals for the Andy Shaw Band in 2009…right after “world peace.” Through a Columbus band, during economic hard times? Andy notes that musicians don’t particularly experience anything new during recessions because musicians are always poor anyways, and then proclaims that he is waiting for Bono to call him back, re: world peace, and wonders why it hasn’t happened yet. Until world peace is reached, expect the Andy Shaw Band to keep trying every Monday, and all of the time in between to be working diligently on their collective talents that bring smiles to many in at least one fair city.

 

“Making people happy,” Theo said. “That’s probably the favorite thing about playing music for me, when someone will come up to you, especially with a regular gig, and say, ‘I look forward to seeing you guys play every week, it makes my week better.’”

 

Maybe world peace isn’t so far off after all.