Andrew Vladeck

MSN Canada posted this lovely interview - with French subtitles.     Andrew is featured in the current issue of Pulse Magazine:  “strolling at his own speed across the country from one gig to the next.  With rust-colored hair and a thoughtful, deliberate choice of words, he beckons you closer.  He wants to tell you a story and he’s going to let his amped-up banjo do most of the talking…“ More. The US Tour Finale - Philly on 11/11 with The White Buffalo. more »

Andrew’s touring in support of The Wheel is going great (Boston Herald, Boston Phoenix, AM-NY, Grimygoods).  And In Europe they’re calling Andrew a “poëtische woordengoochelaar” (Rootstime)! Andrew’s band The Honey Brothers has been garnering lovely reviews for their festival shows - Wanderlust Festival (New Music Exchange), All Points West (MTV),  Osheaga (Montreal Gazette), with a preview for Bumbershoot and West Coast Tour (NO DEPRESSION).  Andrew was able to catch up with his band of neighbors Balthrop, Alabama out in California on their epic cross country tour (Portland Mercury, Albuquerque Alibi) in support of similarly epic “Subway Songs / Cowboy Songs.“ In between all this Andrew recorded a quick live record/video of my current show with the uber-talented Dawn Landes at Saltlands in… more »

The Honey Brothers got off to a great start in Seattle - playing a show under the space needle!  The sun broke though the clouds for our set, prompting our band to go “Sleaveless in Seattle”. We woke up to a lovely review in Seattle Times left in front of our hotel room doors which we passed around the van. Portland, Eugene, Sacramento, and then a highlight - playing the Power to the Peaceful Festival in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park!  A beautiful concert, a lot a great progressive messages, good politics, and aromatherapy.  It was hard to not get a contact high from standing in front of that audience.  The fog rolled in, indeed! more »

Where am I?  This summer has me playing all over the USA like some warped Where’s Waldo wandering minstrel.  Absurdly busy.  Suffice it to say, thanks to you and various forms of wildlife (more on that in a minute) it has thus far been a memorable and frequently great summer.  What’s more, it’s awesome to see all my various projects totally rocking and getting great notice for our efforts. First off, as you know, I just came out with a hot new record, produced by Kyle Fischer.  This review from The Netherlands came in last week, not everyday I’m called a “poëtische woordengoochelaar” (Rootstime).  My Summer Record Release Tour for The Wheel took me up the East Coast, my first shows in DC and Philly and headlining the Mercury Lounge here in NYC.  I caught many of you good people (thank you very much!) ~ and then west… more »

We swore it was snowing in Burlington, as white, fat, fuzzy things (seedlings?  not old hippies) filled the air around my car.   It was beautiful and surreal, like that scene from The Right Stuff, where mysterious golden droplets surround John Glenn’s spacecraft.   Ah, Vermont, where a Sunday drive up Route 7 finds locals engaged in a “Piscachio Hunt” on the front lawn of Church, the “Ho Hum Motel” in the shadow of Mt. Philo, the rural birthplace of the fabled founder of AA, the biggest moth I’ve ever seen, that had gigantic owl eye patterns on it’s wings.   The Radio Bean in Burlington was lit up like a fishtank in the afternoon sun, dazzlingly bright and hot, and not finding a rock I could crawl under I sweated it out with people out front before the show, which included a young woman carving a stick with a gigantic hunting knife.   It… more »

There’s just so many musical things going on in my life it is hard to keep track!   This super fun record just came out today (available everywhere online).   I liked the way Snobmusic put it: “Sometimes you can just hear the first few notes of a record and say “I will be listening to that all summer long”.  I had one of those moments when I hit play on Demonstration, the forthcoming EP (out June 16th) from New York fiver-piece The Honey Brothers.“ We’re playing all over the country this summer at sweet festivals.  The EP has already been featured on Spinner.com, Artist Direct, Relix Magazine.   Not a bad start. We recorded it over a week in midst of a New York winter - but still warm from our tour of Australia.   Producer Brad Albetta did a gorgeous job with our musicality and insanity.   And his studio had the most AMAZING views… more »

Cherry blossoms swept up in a dust devil - I walk through a pink tornado and voila: it’s springtime for Brooklyn.  A Mockingbird on an antennae above Fulton Street  confuses and delights with the Mr. Softee song.  Huh, nature’s got talent.   My neighbor’s dog Vu (for Velvet Underground) walks me down the street as cups of coffee walk art students up.I just got hold of my new record: “The Wheel.“  Blessed springtime: newness, fresh air - progress in various forms, intoxicating and inescapable.  With thanks to my artist friends, musical and visual, and my mates at End Up Records.  Dates are filling in for the Record Release tour, where I hope to see you.   My record is available 6/6.  The hometown release headlines the Mercury Lounge 7/7.  Read all about it at this website.And summer shapes up with fun festival gigs - big ones, all over the country (countries?  Canada… more »

Out of the frying pan, into the fire.   I came back from 5 weeks of tour and was sucked into an musicaholic abyss with a ton of different projects.  Good to keep me indoors when it’s winter and the time is ripe to woodshed indoors.   But I do need air  (read: booze) every so often!   My new record is DONE!  It’s getting duplicated for all to enjoy.   So now I’ve been practicing my hot licks, and am absolutely DYING to get my thing on the road.  Planning on this June/July!    The various other projects include: My beautiful band with my brothers - The Honey Brothers.  The Honey Brothers finished our recording in March - Brad Albetta did such a freaking gorgeous job with our insanity and musicality.  You gotta hear it. Soon.   And his studio had the most AMAZING view of NYC I’ve ever seen.  Ask me about… more »

We spent a week this past weekend in Copenhagen.  At least that’s what it felt like: one big, glorious week.  Perhaps it is due to us sleeping in installments, when we could, thanks to jet lag, sound check, obligations, bar-hopping.    It helped that we refused to get off of “New York Time” for the brief weekend we were there - so when once again we found ourselves ordering another round of drinks at 6 in the morning (for the second time in as many days) it was easy to convince ourselves that it really was only 11 at night in NYC.   Besides, as city was even more electric in these pre-dawn hours, so we were extremely grateful to have jet lag on our side, and took full advantage.   I didn’t expect that level of raging from a relatively small (compared to nyc) - Scandinavian city.  Hoyt’s friend Asger… more »

In the van we’re debating the best way to describe the gleeful, beer-curdling, eardrum-bursting response of our Brooklyn audience when, in a lull between songs, we simply exclaimed the fun, rolling syllables “O-BA-MA!“    DuContra isn’t sure how to accurately describe the highness of the pitch.  And Carl isn’t sure how to describe the sheer overwhelming power that i witnessed rock him backwards clasping his ears, with a look of fear in his eyes.  It was probably most like standing in front of a double jet engine.  At 30,000 feet.  Yes, we were exceedingly grateful the NYC audience was very much on our side…. but nothing in our set could compete with the ovation for President Obama.    Still, we couldn’t complain, as we concurred wholeheartedly, and besides, all the positive energy was harnessed to contribute to a great night playing a sold out show in our hometown. Despite the home-team crowd,… more »

I don’t know where to start except to state the obvious rhetorical question: HOW FREAKING AMAZING IS THIS?   We took a long walk from the hotel to the Washington Mall, each block more and more people, until every street was jammed.  Yet amazingly enough, we ALL made it in timely fashion to stand near the Washington Monument about 100 yards from a “jumbotron” TV.  I don’t think we’ll ever be surrounded by such a mass of humanity ever again.   Especially such a beautifully cool mass of humanity, all watching TV together.  It was like a Super Bowl party, without the lime-flavored nachos and the salty halftime show.    As the dignitaries began to approach the crowed cheered each one.   It got comical when Joe Biden came on the TV and the everyone cheered - then when they cut to Bush everyone booed - then they cut back to Biden and everyone cheered.  It… more »

First off, I need to sign my own mailing list so I know where I’m going next.   It’s been a bit of a mystery lately.  Especially confusing since the past three places we’ve traveled to have had beaches and palm trees and perfect weather.  And quite frankly i’m sick of it.   I miss trying to shovel my car after it’s been plowed in a Brooklyn street with ice so hard it breaks the shovel.   I miss stepping into a quicksand-like puddle of slush on the corner and watching as the edge of my shoe disappears under the brown ice-sludge.   All this sunshine is making me soft and if i don’t get to NYC soon i’m afraid i will turn into a soft, spineless puddle myself.   Somebody, help me.   If i have to have one more pina colada while sitting on the beach I think I’ll scream.  I’m a  FOLK-singer,… more »

Landing in LA to more palm trees and good mexican food.  Australia - which was not unlike california, but with more kangaroos, koalas, health insurance, vegemite, and skin damage; and less mexican food, guns, and plastic surgery.   Australia is probably what would happen to California if you lopped it off and let it drift across the Pacific Ocean for 100 years.   Very happy to be hosted by Clark from The Good Listeners.  One of our favorite bands.   He took me to his new favorite old Mexican restaurant.  Let’s see, how many times can I mention Mexican food?   After which I sat by the pool under a lemon tree and watched hummingbirds buzz around as I re-strung my banjo.    I tell ya, one thing Australia and California have on NYC is this:  LIFESTYLE.   They got a nice freaking lifestyle.  Good weather.  Great produce.  And did i mention, mexican… more »

Ordinarily we like to have more truffle oil on our procutto before the lobster is served.  But trying times call for desperate measures, and somehow we all made do.   Somehow the band was blessed with a harbour tour of Sydney on a yacht complete with lovely people and good food.   It wasn’t so indie-rock…  more 1970s Van Halen… but i was impressed with how adaptable everyone was in the band to this new environment.     We had a couple of days to kill, and we got some good help.   Our show at The Supper Club was so much fun.  A cool neighborhood.  A ton of great people came out.  I’ve had the great opportunity to play gigs BOTH with The Honey Brothers, AND solo “Andrew Vladeck” shows on the same tour.  Pretty neat how that worked out, i must say.   The only hitch has been having to haul a… more »

Everything happens in slow motion for the Koala.  I got to see one up close outside of Sydney… too close.  Somehow, it all happened so fast.  It thought my ear was a eucalyptus leaf and took a nibble.  Now here I am I’m moving as slow as a koala.   It’s all i can do to eat, play, and go back to sleep.    The antidote is to kiss a dolphin… lucky for me since on our tour up the Gold Coast we stopped by Sea World and oddly we each got to do just that (to the same dolphin, poor girl).   You’d think the humane society of Australia should be notified.  All in a days work, I suppose. But seriously, time passesss sllooooowly when you are on the road.   I don’t understand it exactly.   I don’t think it has anything to do with Einstein’s theory of relativity (which I don’t understand), though… more »