Andrew Yeadon

Andrew Yeadon- Musician
Andrew Yeadon is a musician/songwriter from Co Durham.  Gaining his inspiration from a wide range of influences he fuses it all together in a style that is unmistakeably his.  He has been writing and performing for over twenty years.  For the last nine years he has been running the highly popular TCR music project in Barnard Castle working as a teacher, band coach and advisor, concert promoter, engineer,  producer and cleaner.  In the TCR studio he has recorded and produced nearly 1,000 tracks including numerous underground albums and several commercial  releases.

HISTORY
Forming his first group aged thirteen, his school bands took on a number of incarnations regularly featuring Ainsley Crishan on bass and Paul Elliott on drums. The bands drew a lot of their inspiration from the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Guns‘n‘Roses and Led Zeppelin.  'The Scarecrows' hit a high when Andrew was 16 when they were picked from 200 bands to play at Newcasatle's Mayfair club in the Northern final of the Panasonic Audio Rock School.  After this the group took an unusual turn and recruited good friends James Whitburn on alto sax and Barnaby Fryer on tenor sax.  They created a soul cover band dressed up in shades and bow ties under the name of 'The Prisoners' who actually proved very popular.

On leaving school Andrew had a desire to experience something different and took on a six month teaching placement in the far West of Nepal. With no electricity the evenings afforded him plenty of time to spend writing songs by candle light and to study the Hindu and Buddhist philosophies of the people he was living with. This way of thinking has since been a consistent influence in his lyric writing.

On returning to England he formed Samadhi with friends Dave and Paul Hughes.  The band unsurprisingly was a highly Eastern influenced rock group who for various reasons only played about four gigs.

In 1994 Andrew went to Birmingham University to study Philosophy where he shared a room with James Saunders later to feature prominently in his musical pursuits.
Andrew and James on acoustic guitar and percussion respectively were joined by James Uphill on piano and developed a set mixing Andrew's own compositions with acoustic material by artists such as James Taylor, Neil Young and America. The group took up residency on a Sunday night in the function room of the Hibernian pub on the Pershore Road. The night became a blinding success with hardly a night that wasn't full for a year. The evenings would feature sets from the group and an open mic session which attracted some noteable performers. During this time the band grew with the addition of Dan Shaffer on flute and Ben Byer on Djembe. The event finally ended with the Hibernian's closure for it to be turned into a soulless Firkin chain pub.

The group decided to move up a gear moving Saunders to kit creating a super tight and rhythm section with Byer. The icing on the cake was the addition of old friend and trumpet maestro Joe Sharp. The band developed a unique set of acoustic tracks highly influenced by the 'drum'n'bass' and 'trip-hop' that was in its prime at that point in the mid 90's. ‘Acoustic Groove‘, as they then became called, went on to play a series of gigs and festivals that always took the audience by surprise. The band recorded an EP with ex Steve Gibbons band drummer and UB40 producer Bob Lamb.

After a couple of false promises from two major record labels the band resolved to give themselves a year to make something happen. In this time they recorded an eponymous album with Nathan Williams in his self built studio in a barn in Northern Wales. The band unfortunately gave themselves too little time, as they reached their deadline they were filling bigger and bigger venues.  Members however were already committed to future pursuits by that point and the band played their last gig at the Salford University freshers party.
 
In 1999 Andrew and went to the far East for three months with Ben Byer to study Tai Chi and meditation, Andrew wishing to further his teaching he had had while at University under Thai Buddhist Supawan Green. They were taught in Bangkok by master Zhou Youbin and later attended  a ten day meditation retreat in Wat Suan Mokh. Andrew's experience in the temple was very powerful and unexpected and left him very disorientated for several months.

Returning home to Barnard Castle he was offered some voluntary work developing a then very primitive music project at the Teesdale Community Resources center in Birch Road. That year the recording studio and rehearsal facility was developed and the first few of a now extensive list of TCR bands began to blossom.  These bands included Kef, The Atomic Flowers, Kashmir and Plasonic.
Andrew joined up with old friend and ex-Prisoners member Barney Friar, younger brother Robert Yeadon and his friend Owain Davies to form Graham The Turtle (A name created spontaneously when asked what they were called as they walked on to stage at their first gig). The band seemed to develop its retro, psychadelic music effortlessly due to a natural creative synergy. 
A memorable GTT performance was at TCR’s first Big Live Gig at the Jersey Farm Hotel.  The gig was a showcase of ten bands developed at TCR over the year. The event has happened yearly ever since and has gained cult status.  

GTT made one of the first recordings at the TCR studio entitled 'Cheers John'. The sound was quite primitive due to Andrew's then quite basic skills but none the less the simplicity of the sound seemed to work. The short run release of the CD with songs such as ‘Lentil Mantra Tea’ and ‘Borg on the Lawn‘ seemed to be a hit with the more 'open minded' type of person.

The band split for a while with Fryer moving to London and Davies going to university.  Davies returned after a while and the band reformed, this time he shared guitar and vocals with Andrew and John Marriot was recruited on the bass. The group played a small number of gigs but were much more involved in the studio recording their second eponymous album. The album was to be far removed from the last one with not one hint of humour and taking its’ influences from Radiohead, Neil Young and Pink Floyd . The majority of the lyrics were based around Andrew's frustration over being in love with close friend Cloedie Nellis. The album featured songs 'As Emotion Bursts' and 'Miss You'.
 
Whilst recording this album Andrew also produced an album for Dave Watson, frontman and songwriter for 'The Watty Boys'. Dave's passion for words and use of lyrical imagery was highly influencial on the development of Andrew's own songs.
GTT split again, this time with brother Rob leaving for Glasgow. Andrew's own music took a back seat as he worked with 'Nine Yards', 'Flypaper' and a number of other local acts. He developed through TCR a highly popular open mic night in the Castle Wall Wine Bar which gradually saw the development of a new group through various live jams. The band initially were called 'Graham The Turtle' and featured Paul Hughes on Bass, John Rackham on guitar and Owain Davies now on Kit. The band played a mini tour in Somerset including a gig at the Ilchester eel festival(?!). The band were the opening act in the 'Rocks in the Quarry' festival. Glawegian Stuart Simpson later took the drums on and the band renamed themselves 'The Vibe Surgeons'. Certain tensions between members of the band meant the group was far from being 'vibed up'. the group in this line-up played a number of North-East gigs including a Big Live Gig, made an unreleased album and then split.
 
After this experience of band differences Andrew decided to take hold of the reins and perform and record under his own name. A concert at the Witham Hall was reassuring enough for him to pursue his plan and over the Winter of 2003/2004 he recorded his first solo album 'Timepiece'. The album was a mainly acoustic affair with a few rockier moments in 'Time TV' and 'Evil'. Songs delved into man’s relationship with the earth and the need for a renewed sense of spirituality.

Andrew married Cloedie Nellis in Feb and held a gig in Mickleton featuring his brother's new band Unkle Bob, old university mates James Moss and James Uphill, Dave Kidd, Tina Pinkney, Flossie with Tom and Paul Hughes and The Watty Boys.
In 2004 the Andrew Yeadon band was put together and featured Paul Hughes (Now on violin), Mike Tulloch (Kit), John Marriott (Bass) and Owain Davies (Now on Keys). The bands first outing was an album release gig again at the Witham Hall.  Other performances included the Barnard Castle Rhythm and Blues festival with Dr. Feelgood and the 2004 outdoor Big Live Gig. The development of Teesdale Radio became a great opportunity for the promotion of TCR recorded music and 'One More Night' from Timepiece became a regularly played track.

Later that year Andrew met jazz trumpeter Terry Willits and recruited Mike Tulloch and Paul Hughes to form 'The Teesdale Jazz Quartet'. The group started playing spots in local pubs and in late 2005 were playing support to Alan Barnes and David Newton. 2005 also saw the arrival of Andrew and Cloedie's daugter Isobel. This temporarily put a restraint on Andrew's own music making but gave lots of inspiration for songs.

In March 2006 he started recording a new album laying down drum tracks provided by his brother now quite an accomplished drummer through his work with Unkle Bob.  The studio was then closed to be sold to a housing developer for TCR to develop a new larger center.  That May he collaborated with his father in law Jimmy Nellis creating a band to play Jimmy’s music.  Jim had previously been front man with East West and work extensively with The Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart.  The group featured at that years Rhythm and Blues festival alongside Otis Grand. 

Andrew’s second solo album was to be finished over the next year in a temporary studio built in an office in the town.  Ex Acoustic Groove trumpeter Joe Sharp (Who had since worked extensively with the London Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestras) was invited up to add an old familiar flavour to the recording.  University friend James Moss was also invited to provide keyboards and noises and a number of other musicians including Owain Davies, Paul Hughes and sister Katie added their own ingredients to the pot.     

TCR’s plans went terribly wrong in late 2006 when the local council scuppered plans for the new building and the organisation were left running their activities from costly temporary hired premises.

In 2007 The Yeadon Wesley Band was formed a sideline to the original music playing straight blues and featuring the dual singer guitars of Andrew and brother in law John ’Wesley’ Rackham.

The new album ‘Look Into The Eyes of the Innocent’ was released in August.  Andrew’s second child is due in October.