July 30th, 2006

Hi All!

Spent most spare moments in the last 9 months or so writing and re-writing songs and music for a stage musical! It's a lot of work as it is an orchestral type of sound rather than just a rock band, but very interesting for me! My partner in the project is a good friend of mine, Anthony Di Pietro, an experienced writer/director who has worked on several movies, as well as having run a theater in New York for many years. (Check our website www.unionftc.com) My other partner has been the incredible Korg Triton Extreme keyboard! All the parts have been written arranged on it, and recorded in its on-board sequencer! There are so many styles of music and instruments needed, from strings and brass, bagpipes, sitars, all kinds of percussion etc etc, and it can do them all! (I haven't even tried the sampler yet!)

Also we have finally found a settled line-up for our Foreigner tribute band, Jukebox Heroes, with the addition of our new singer, Olin Monty! He's a great singer, exciting showman, and very easy to get on with! Great combination! Check our website www.jukeboxheroesrock.com

Got a couple of shows with the Chris Thompson Band coming up in September. We haven't really played in over a year, since Ken and Kevin Dow, bassist and drummer, have been in the Broadway show, Jersey Boys, which won the Tony for best musical this year!

Had an email from Icehouse leader Iva Davies recently, telling me that Icehouse are being inducted into the ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association) Hall of Fame! The ceremony is going to be in mid-August. Unfortunately I won't be there, but I look forward to hearing all about it! Iva also pointed out that my email address was apparently missing from my website! Thanks Iva! Teresa's fixing it ASAP!

Well, take care! I'll catch you up on new happenings when they happen!

Cheers,

Andy.

September 25th, 2005

Hi again all!

Just want to let you know that I am going to be the featured artist on Wendy's Hall of Music, on American Radio Network's Kaleidoscope Magazine. The show will air on Wednesday October 5th, at 5.30pm West Coast Time. Please check Wendy's website for full details of times and stations for your area, and where to find it on the internet - www.wendyshallofmusic.com/ and check out the other impressive artists she has lined up for future shows! Wendy will also be playing classic British hits from the 60's and 70's, so I'm sure you will enjoy it!

As it happens, John Wicks from The Records was featured on the show recently, and the week after me it's the turn of former Manfred Mann's Earth Band singer, Chris Thompson. I have been writing songs with both these guys in the last month, and both songs are great! John and I are each planning our own versions of our song, so we are going for two hits for the price of one!

I have lots of projects in the works right now, so don't forget to check back to my loungeroom before too long, and I'll give details! Oh, and if you're in the Los Angeles area next month, I will be playing with Chris Thompson at a star-studded night at the Hard Rock Cafe at the Beverly Center on Friday October 21st. Under Pressure (excellent Queen tribute band, featuring Vin Amorando who also plays with the Andy Q Band!) are also on the bill, with many star guests planned. It is for the ABC Trust. Jimmy Page and Brian May are among those behind this charity organization, which helps homeless kids in Brazil. Queen are playing the Hollywood Bowl the next night, so who knows what other exciting celebs could be there!

Take care, talk to you soon!

Cheers,

Andy.

August 14, 2005

Hi Everyone!

Hope everything has been going well for you!

Everything has been going extra well for me! Teresa and I got married On July 12th! The ceremony was on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, and then a reception and party at the Harp Inn in Costa Mesa. We had a great gathering of family and friends, including my sister Christine from England, and Teresa's Dad, James, from Louisiana. You can see some photos on Teresa's website.

We had lots of help from our friends in organizing the wedding, including singer/pianist Heather Champagne, and singer Jackie Garner who gave amazing performances of four specially chosen songs, and Vin Amorando and Matt Zavadil who played a great version of the Bridal Chorus on two guitars in harmony.

At the reception, Heather and Jackie sang some more, followed by the Andy Q Band (Matt, Vin, Heather and drummer Frankie Munoz) featuring a new song by Andy, "Just In Time", written especially for Teresa. Finally, a performance by the Chris Thompson Band (Chris, Andy, Ken Dow and Kevin Dow, + guest vocalist Steve Gouveia). Chris was best man, by the way. Ken and Kevin and Steve just left for New York to appear in a Broadway musical called Jersey Boys. We're going to miss them, after playing together for the last 4 years, but of course we wish them all the best. Hopefully we will still be able to play from time to time in the future.

*Breaking News* (always wanted to say that!) :

Wendy Hall, who has a show on American Radio Network's Kaleidoscope Radio Magazine, is featuring 4 songs from my Legend In A Loungeroom CD, to air on August 20th. In the L.A. area you can hear it on KCLA-FM and KLAS-FM. It is also syndicated nationally, and around the world on the internet.

Meanwhile, I have just started work on songs and music for a musical, to be produced by the Union Film and Theatre Co. (www.unionftc.com) Should be fun. Anyway, seeing how Ken and Kevin are doing a musical, and my brother Tony is playing guitar in a West End musical in London (Dancing In The Streets), I was starting to feel left out!

Well, thanks for dropping in to my loungeroom! Come back soon, more news on the way!

Cheers,

Andy.

January 3, 2005

Hi to all you Loungeroom visitors!

Hope you had a great Holiday season, and Happy New Year to you!

2004 was a great year for me - the remastered CD of my album, Legend In A Loungeroom, was completed with fabulous new artwork, and released in the summer. Thanks to all those who bought it, and it is still available for those who didn't get around to buying it yet!

I formed a band to play the songs live, and we have been having a great time with that. I was lucky enough to get some great guys to help me out - Matt Mitchell, whose band, the Smog Brothers, I have been playing with, provides incredible guitar and backup vocals; Matt Zavidil, former student at the Guitar Institute, on bass and backup vocals, and my buddy, Frankie Munoz, from our Deep Purple tribute band, Made In Japan, on drums. For our first show, my brother, Tony, who had played on the original album, flew over from England to play some songs with us too! That really gave us a big lift to have him along. Thanks, Tone!

Talking of Made In Japan - we are currently rehearsing a new guitar player - and should be gigging again by next month. It's always fun playing those rock classics!

Did a guest spot with John Wicks' band too, which was great, as I love his songs. John is the singer/guitarist/songwriter from legendary band, The Records. We are hoping to get together to write some songs soon.

I did some great gigs with The Chris Thompson Band, not only at our usual haunt at the Harp in Costa Mesa, but also some extra special shows. In July we played at the Hard Rock in L.A. for Jimmy Page's charity for kids in Brazil, sponsored by a local radio station. Our friends, Led Zepagain, invited us, along with many famous musicians including; Nuno Bettancourt (Extreme, Population 1), Bruce Kulick (Kiss) Paul Gilbert (Mr Big).

In September, we played at the opening party for Queen's "We Will Rock You" show at the Paris in Las Vegas. It was great rubbing shoulders with the likes of Brian May and Roger Taylor of Queen, Meatloaf, Glenn Hughes (ex Deep Purple), Steve Lukather of Toto, Simon Phillips (drummer extraordinaire for just about everybody), and Nuno again! By the way, "We Will Rock You" is a really great show, and I would definitely recommend it.

Also in the fall, I did a guest spot for singer-songwriter Heather Champagne. We sang "You're The Voice" as a duet. Fortunately, she apparently knew the song better than I did, and the live CD she recorded on the night sounds really good!

Finally, Teresa and I just got engaged! We're still having fun after seeing each other for over a year, so I think that is a good omen! Teresa does all the artwork, photos, flyers, website, etc., for me, which is great, but she also has many other very attractive attributes! Lucky me!

Well, keep checking in, as there will be more interesting goings on this year, for example, I will doing some solo gigs with the acoustic 12-string guitar, and I am planning to do a new album.

Once again, all the best to you, hope to see you at one of my gigs!

Cheers,

Andy Q.

June 21, 2004

Hi there, loungeroom dwellers!

Summer is here already, but never too soon in my opinion! I hope you all have a great time in the sunshine! Of course, if you live in Down-Under-Land, you are probably cursing me right now, as you are in the middle of winter! Well, I hope it is not too cold for you, and don’t forget, you get to laugh at the Northern Hemisphere when you have your summer at the end of the year!

Lots of things have been happening in the last few months. First of all, the new version of the "Legend In A Loungeroom" CD is now available at last! Most of you have probably never seen or heard it at all, and even if you had, you would find it very different now. The sound has much more punch and clarity, thanks to the remastering work done by Colin Mitchell. Colin is the bass player with the Smog Brothers, who I also play with (we are still working their album), and he also works as a sound engineer at Bernie Becker’s Recording and Mastering Studio. I also added two extra tracks, originally recorded a couple of years after the album. Thanks to my talented and hard-working girlfriend, Teresa Stein, the artwork is totally changed, with new and old photos added, plus complete credits and acknowledgements. I think it looks and sounds great, and reaction to it has been very enthusiastic so far. In fact, I am so encouraged that I am planning to do some gigs to promote it. I have some musicians lined up already to help me out with this - details coming soon. By the way, every copy in this batch has been personally signed by my own right hand, so snap up your copy ASAP!

Finally got back to gigging with Made In Japan. It has taken a year for Hiro, Phil and I to find a new bass player and drummer willing and able to put in the work needed to play Deep Purple music. Fortunately we found Jim and Frankie, who are both great musicians, and, equally important, easy to get along with.

Next month we have some gigs with The Chris Thompson Band, always a great pleasure for us, as well as the audience it seems. (Check the recent review in All Access magazine here!). We have only done one gig since last October. Chris is always busy anyway, but he has been extra busy finishing his new CD with Norwegian guitarist Mads Eriksen, called "Rediscovery". It is really amazing, all kinds of different styles of music and performers, held together with a very uplifting story. It has just been released in Norway, and the rest of the world will be hearing it soon. By the way, in addition to a new version of "You’re The Voice", it includes another song I co-wrote, called "Do It For Love".

I recently wrote an article for the Manfred Mann’s Earth Band website, recounting all my connections with that band, including writing a song for them, meeting and working with Chris Thompson, successfully getting my friend an audition with them etc. It will be online any day now at www.platform-end.co.uk

Well, I hope you are all doing fine. Keep checking in at the official AQ Loungeroom website -- lots of things going to be happening. Oh, and don’t forget to order your signed copy of Legend In A Loungeroom, I think you will enjoy it!

Cheers!

Andy Q.

January 8th, 2004

First of all, Happy New Year to one and all! Let’s all have a great 2004!

Spent most of the time recently working on the website with Teresa, who has done a great job, as you can see. We will be adding more things as we go, so bear with us.

I have been rehearsing with Made In Japan. We have a new bass player, Jim, who is working out well. He is taking the place of Jeff, who moved to North Carolina. It has taken us several months to find someone good enough to fill his shoes. Also, after having temporary drummers for a while, we are currently auditioning, and hope to have a permanent one very soon. We should be gigging again before long.

The Chris Thompson Band should have a live CD available in the near future. Our friend, Mike Peterson, recorded our last 2 gigs in October. We are currently listening through everything, so we can choose the best songs. What I have heard so far sounds great, in fact better than it seemed while we were actually playing it! I know Chris is happy with it too.

More news to follow, so you’ll have to visit the loungeroom again soon!

Cheers!