Andry heads to Carlisle!
David Ellefson’s Kings of Thrash head to Carlisle’s The Brickyard on October 27th, and support on the night comes from up and coming female thrash rocker – Andry. Having gone viral in 2017 after appearing on the Voice of Greece, Andry has since been carving out her own path in the world of music. On 27 October, she will appear with her new band in support of former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson’s Kings of Thrash at Carlisle’s The Brickyard.
Skies is your debut album’s title track and ‘carries themes of empowerment and personal struggle’. Can you tell me anymore about your experiences that influenced the song?
I don’t have one inspiration and I have vast knowledge of music. I mean, I listen to pop, I listen to metal, R&B, house. I was playing guitar, I was playing a riff and I was singing. It’s down to each person to interpret the song the way that they want to, so, yeah, basically, it’s just me jamming in my house.
You describe yourself as a feminist, so how do you use your platform as an artist to convey that message, aside from the songs?
Oh well, the way that I write my lyrics is a little bit poetic, so basically it’s a little bit vague, meaning that I don’t want to say some words, so they (the listener) have to imagine the meaning behind it. I don’t want to be vulgar, I could, but you know that’s not my style, I’m a girl with manners.
So you like to sketch out the idea and let the listener find their own meaning?
Yeah, of course, even though Good Trip To Hell is very clear. I’ve heard people saying that they like My Love the most, some others they like Good Trip To Hell and that makes me happy because it means people like different things and I just cover a spectrum of what they like.
What does it mean as a big fan of Megadeth to be touring with David Ellefson?
Oh, yeah. I met David on the Monster of Rock cruise, so we had a really nice chat together and we both played at the jam night. Probably the thrash fan base would like one of my thrash songs because not all of my songs are thrash, it’s more classic heavy.
In terms of your set list, will it be songs from the album exclusively or will we hear any new tracks or covers?
Ah, we will do one cover. I won’t reveal it yet even though everybody knows what that is as I was on the Voice of Greece and it went viral worldwide and Glenn Hughes (former Deep Purple vocalist) is about to shoot me at some point but I think he likes me really, we talked once which was nice!
On that subject, then, that was obviously a big moment for your career. How did appearing on Voice of Greece change your path as an artist?
I really found that my first album Love Strikes Doves (recorded with Andy’s former band The Harps) was a bit unseen, if I might say a lot unseen, and that made me really sad. But me as a vocalist, I knew that I could have more potential to do many things, so I just chose the path of being the session musician if that’s how you perceive it. I was on the stage. People would bow to me, the judges, it was like a big big party and it went viral worldwide and it was one of my biggest moments. I was on the news, I was in the newspaper. Kind of weird to see your face every day! But after that, what really surprised me because Greece is not very known for the metal audience, it’s all Greek pop, so I didn’t choose that path and nothing happened after that. I got back to my old self trying to figure out what I’m going to do and then I decided to go metal So I started writing riffs and heavier sound and took influence from Queensryche, a bit of Maiden, a bit Megadeth, a bit this, a bit that, and mixed it all up into my own personal style.
Not only are you a singer, then, as you play guitar, how does that influence the creative process being a guitarist as well, and do you ever play guitar on stage?
Unfortunately, no I don’t, I have somebody else to do the job for me (laughs)! I prefer to keep my nails on. I get asked that a lot, because I am a good guitar player but I prefer to concentrate on one thing, and fashion-wise, I design my own clothing and the armour clothing does not help me to hold a guitar.
You have been described as a vocalist as ‘The missing link between Ronny James Dio and Cristina Aguilera’. How does that make you feel?
I think vocally, Ronny will always speak to me. I don’t know, maybe I have his nuance, if I might say, the colour of his voice, the kind of the depth, the pronunciation sometimes and there are a lot of similarities. If there was female counterpart of his, I think that might be me.
So more Ronny James Dio than Christian Aguilera?
No, I won’t choose because I think I get her techniques, the way she controls her voice, the scales that she plays and the techniques that she uses, I am a 100% into it and I think I got a lot of the elements of her, but I think that the base of my voice has something of Ronny.
You’ve worked with some big names in the rock and metal world, such as Billy Sheehan (Mr Big), so how do these collaborations come about and what was it like to work with such renowned musicians?
It came up mostly through Facebook. Billy, and I never expected this, said you are one of the best vocalists I’ve ever heard and I was like wow. He sent me his bass track and I said this guy is a monster. And then you know, you get to the point where you say, ‘Do I deserve that? Yeah, I deserve that. Do I? You know, you question yourself. I’ve never heard a better bass line than Billy’s. In my life I’ve played with with more than 500 musicians and his playing is something else.
What’s next for Andry?
Next is me and my band. They’re all from different countries. One is American, Micky’s from New York, Marco is from Croatia, Fab is Brazilian and Hans is Dutch. We’re a great combo, made up from all parts of the world kind of and I have a third album. I think it’s a little bit more mainstream than this one. A little bit more of Dokken, Queensryche, but a little pop. I go by feeling, you know, I play what I like. I don’t like being labelled as an artist, I’m versatile and can play funk, R&B I can play reggae too if I need to. If someone assigned me a job and say can you play this, can you play Latin, I can play lots. Should I reveal the title or not (laughs)? It’s called Queendom.
Album lead track, Skies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLGwbCNaldw
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