THE TALK TONIGHT PODCAST

TRANSCRIPT

00:00:20
LEE HOUSE: Sunny day. Is. Welcome to another episode of The Talk Tonight podcast. Recently, I was absolutely thrilled to be joined by one of the most exciting singer songwriters in the United Kingdom at this moment, Andrew Cushin. We talked about his songwriting process and how he puts his songs together the structure, the words, the thinking behind it all. It was really interesting to hear. We talked about him working with the legend that is Noel Gallagher, who produced his latest single, Where’s My Family Gone? Watch. You can hear on his Spotify. The links will be out on my stories and in my posts for this episode. And we talked about touring, coming back and his beloved Newcastle United. It is a fantastic chat with a fantastic young man, really inspirational for any young people out there listening about songwriting. This is a great episode, so sit back, enjoy. And it’s The Talk Tonight podcast. Welcome to another episode of the Talk Tonight podcast. Thanks to everyone who listens to the last episode, it was great to get your feedback. I’m absolutely delighted to be joined by one of UK’s rising songwriters, Fantastic Future ahead of him. Andrew Cushin. Welcome to the podcast. Nice to have you on.

00:01:48
ANDREW CUSHIN: Thank you very much for having us here. Thank you very much. It’s great.

00:01:51
LEE HOUSE: It’s great. I’ve been looking at lots of sort of new and up and coming artists coming and you stuck out a mile with your recent single. So we just wanted to talk a little bit about your creative process, you know, in that songwriting sort of soundscape that you’ve been creating in your recent single. So tell me, let’s get right into it. Song writing for you. What makes a good song? Andrew for you? What is it that stands out about it?

00:02:15
ANDREW CUSHIN: Uh, there’s got to be a meaning to the song. I kind of. I kind of listen to tunes. If there’s. If there’s no hidden meaning or if you don’t take anything away from the, from the lyrics in it. And I think it’s got to be a good, a good melody. You don’t want a song that’s going to be too slow. And that’s kind of all it is, to be fair, I think, you know, when it comes to me, I tend to resonate more with lyrics than than a melody or anything like that. So if a song’s got good lyrics and it’s been written well, then, um, then yeah, that’s a good song in my eyes.

00:02:45
LEE HOUSE: But I’ve seen like in some of the interviews that you’ve done, you’ve talked about and I know that I know we’ll come on to a bit about Noel and stuff, but he’s mentioned it a lot as well. And I know that some of the bands that I like, Kelly Jones as well, has mentioned it, that it’s this shorter period of time seems to be the best songs that kind of come together. So I’m a songwriter myself and I’ll just do it in my spare time and stuff, but I find that as well. What is it about this, you know, this 20 minute to 30 minute that when it comes together, it’s just the ones that stay with you? How do you think that is?

00:03:16
ANDREW CUSHIN: Yeah, I mean, the best songs for me, you know, it’s such a cliche thing to say, but they really do just fall out of the sky. I mean, the best songs that I’ve got. You haven’t taken longer than 15, 20 minutes to write. And I think it’s just because I think you just latch on to that little bit of magic. Do you know what I mean? And I know that. Where’s my family gone, for example? You know, every every line just followed the the the previous one. Do you know what I mean? There was no there was no going back and rewriting verses for that song or or trying to think of, you know, another chorus or anything like that. The best songs are the ones that resonate the most with people I feel are just the ones that, you know, you you crack on with start to finish and they’re done within, you know, 20, maybe 25 minutes at the max. You know, that’s not to say that, you know, a song that takes a little bit longer won’t be as good. But I just find that, you know, if you can write a song in ten, 15 minutes, you know, there’s definitely a lot of magic there. I think it’s because, you know, you’re not second guessing yourself. Yeah, I think it’s always one of them things. I know that Noel said it about, you know, when he wrote Wonderwall and don’t look back in anger and stuff. If he had said, you know, he said if he had had an idea of how big those songs were going to be, then he never would have finished them. Do you know what I mean? Because you’re constantly second guessing lyrics and what you can do better. But I think when you’re sat down with a guitar and you’re just expressing your emotions and stuff, you know, you’re not really bothered about how it’s going to sound on a on a record. You’re just you’re just sort of getting it out of you. And I think that’s the that’s the magic.

00:04:43
LEE HOUSE: How important do you think, Bill You know, I’ve heard it from a few songwriters in the past. I think Fran Healy from Travis was in an interview and he said that. How much do you think the importance is believing in what you’re you’re singing, You know, believe in what you’re writing about. Some people can, you know, songs can put words together that might not mean anything. But how important do you think that is about a song?

00:05:04
ANDREW CUSHIN: Oh, of course. Yeah. I think it’s yeah, I think it’s more important than anything. I think we’ve seen it with artists such as Amy Winehouse, you know, you know, singing and writing what you believe. And it’s it’s everything. If you don’t believe what you’re singing about and you don’t believe what you’re writing about, then how can you expect, you know, three, four, 500 people at a gig to to believe it as well? You know, I think, um, I think 100% I don’t I don’t necessarily think you know, I remember when I first started writing songs and, and there was people saying, you know, to make it easier for you write about things you know about. I don’t necessarily think that’s the case. I think you’ve just got to write about things you love or write about things you care about. Um, and like I say, and if it in, in if you believe it when you’re writing it, then that’ll come across in the performance and coincidentally it’ll come across, you know, when you perform it live and, and when and when the punters can hear it. And you know I’ve always said the biggest thing for me is, you know, in terms of making music, I’ve, I’ve not came from money or anything. I’ve never had, you know, a great deal of cash in my wallet or money in the bank or anything like that. So, you know, I’m not doing this for any kind of money benefit. I’m not doing this because I want a job in music. I’m doing this purely because, you know, I believe in the songs that I’m writing. And I know that, you know, some fans and stuff, they tend to believe in it as well. And, you know, when somebody comes over to me after a gig and they say, you know, that that that song has really made a difference to my approach on on an aspect of life, you know, that’s that’s fucking great for me. That’s the reason I do it. So I’ll always write about things that I believe in. I think I think the moment that you stop enjoying it, obviously that’s a big deal. You know, when you, you know, you’ve got to enjoy writing songs. But I think when you stop believing in what you’re writing about, you know, I think that’s maybe times when you should possibly put the guitar back in, you know, maybe just have a couple of weeks off.

00:06:50
LEE HOUSE: Yeah, move away, have a bit of time away, a bit of isolation. That’s what I see a lot. We get little comments about like young people who are coming through and obviously you’re still, you know, speaking to you like you’re the elder statesman. But in terms of really young folk coming in their teenage years starting to write songs, I see a lot of stuff coming through that they they will write a song. Maybe they’ll do it quickly, maybe they’ll do it a bit longer, but they’ll go back to it, maybe in a couple of days and they’ll play it back to themselves. Or they think, Oh, I just don’t like that and they’ll discard it. What would be your advice to sort of young people who are struggling with that sort of part of songwriting?

00:07:24
ANDREW CUSHIN: Well, I mean, I used to do the same. If I’m being truthfully honest. I used to. You know, the worst thing for me was if I’d wrote a song and I wasn’t too keen on it a couple of days later, I generally would it would be that thing of just ripping up the paper and just sort of forgetting about it. It wasn’t till it wasn’t until I worked with Noel and I, and I asked him how many songs he had unfinished, and he said, You know, he’s got songs, you know, from back in the 90s that maybe still aren’t finished, or he’s had songs that, you know, have taken ten, 15 years. And I said, Well, if the songs weren’t for me, I tend to just throw it out. And it was a little bit amazed by that. He said, No, you should. You should definitely keep everything. So that’s what I do now. So I’ve got songs that I haven’t finished. I’ve got songs that I’ve started and need to finish, but songs that need little tweaks. So I think if there’s anybody listening to this that, um, that, you know, in that same kind of boat where they kind of seem to finish a song, you know, I definitely don’t think, you know, scrap it because I’ve, I’ve found in the last couple of songs that I’ve written, um, you know, there’s been a part missing from a track that I’m writing. And then I’ve looked at old songs that perhaps I haven’t finished, and I’ve been able to pull a chorus out of there or pull a, you know, a few, a few lines for the verses or sort of stuff. So I think, you know, maybe just keep a hold of everything that you’re working on because you don’t you don’t know when it’s going to come in handy. It might come in handy in a couple of weeks. It might come in handy in a couple of years. But it’s definitely worth holding on to.

00:08:46
LEE HOUSE: It’s a big it’s a big thing I’ve struggled with Andrew, is that, you know, but I’ve learned that a little bit. To go back and just even like I’ve seen you said in an interview that there was maybe just a line that you’ve kept that could start off another song or you could put it into another song. So there’s always maybe a little bit of that idea that you had. You might not love it, but there might be a line in there that you could take on to like another, you know, another bit of your songwriting. So I think no mention that around. I think Lock All the Doors was on his High Flying Birds sort of album, and he had that from back in the 90s. It was just unfinished. So great advice, great advice to kind of to keep keep going down that route and just save everything in your notes. So be massive and it’s all done on. Do you work on iPhone on your notes or is it do you like to write or typewriter? How do you do it?

00:09:32
ANDREW CUSHIN: If I’m being honest, I mean, I’m only 21. I’ve been writing songs since I was 16. The older I’ve got, I’ve got incredibly lazy now to the point where I will just type the song up in the notes on my phone. But it does it does do me head in a little bit because I’m a little bit OCD in my ways. So if song’s not finished in my eyes until I’ve wrote it down on a bit of paper and put it in my big book of songs, I’ve got about 6 or 7 songs that I’ve finished, all done. But I just I can’t be bothered to write them on a bit of paper. I just can’t it be fucking horse. So I’ve got, I’ve got them all. So if I was to lose me phone, you know, I’m losing quite a few songs as well, so I probably should write them down. That’s what.

00:10:11
LEE HOUSE: I do. I get it in the phone and then like, I’m the same as you. Once I write it in the book, I write. That’s it. Final, I date it, I put a date on it, I take a picture of it. I just save it away, back it up just in case. Because I’ve lost books or stuff like I’m not. I just write for for myself, me and my friend. I’ve been writing for a lot of years and we just kind of just like do it for fun and try and put out little bits here and there. But yeah, it’s a, I’m a bit OCD as well. Like I don’t like it too much of my notes because I get lost in it all. It’s crazy.

00:10:36
ANDREW CUSHIN: Yeah, well, that’s it, man. I mean, for me, being so young, I’m very old fashioned in my ways in the sense that, you know, everything does need to be written down because I just. I kind of. I kind of believe that something’s going to stay in the cloud, you know, forever. Whereas if I’ve got a bit of paper, I can just put it in a drawer and I know where it is.

00:10:56
LEE HOUSE: So where do you just. Let’s touch on just before we go back to some of the songwriting stuff, touch on some of your influences you’ve mentioned before in interviews about Donovan, Bob Dylan, Noel, obviously Paul Weller and the Beatles. Is that is that through your your dad in that? Is that for your family that you grew up with? Oh yeah.

00:11:14
ANDREW CUSHIN: I think, um. Particularly come from the east end of Newcastle and stuff. And you know, my dad had a very working class upbringing as well and you know, music was a big part of his life and music was a big part of my mom’s life as well. And so I suppose you only listen to and you only get into the music that your mom and dad listen to, you know what I mean? And I was just fortunate that, you know, I was brought up on it. On a menu of Paul Weller and Oasis and the Beatles. Not so much Bob Dylan in in Donovan and Neil Young and all. I kind of found them sort of for myself. But I mean, I was definitely a lot of Paul Weller playing in the house was always a lot of Oasis. And, you know, I think my dad was very, um, he was very much fond of anybody with an acoustic guitar, to be honest. He was a big Damien Rice fan, so. So, so I’ve, I’ve grew up on a lot of Damien Rice as well, who, again, is a massive lyricist and a big inspiration. So, um, yeah, I suppose it was just any artist that was associated with an acoustic guitar, but I definitely love the likes of Bob Dylan and Neil Young and Donovan and all them, Don McLean.

00:12:24
LEE HOUSE: Yeah, just great songwriters, just storytellers. That’s the thing I love about it. It’s just like, you know that every song you listen to, there’s going to be, you know, it’s going to take you away somewhere and stuff. So and obviously know as well, which let’s get on to a bit better know now for anyone that doesn’t know your your last single Where’s My Family Gone. You worked with. No I know that story goes that you can correct me that your manager had a contact there and he got the songs to. No, I mean, when did when was the first time you kind of heard about his interest to come and record with you and produce?

00:12:56
ANDREW CUSHIN: Um, first got in touch in 2009. I mean, I want to say, and that was just through leasing them, the, the video of Waiting for the Rain at a local gig. I think it was my second ever gig and he was in touch from then. He was he was obviously very much behind the scenes and stuff and he helped out with the record label and he was introducing me to people and and you know, he was giving me advice on the songs and giving me advice on songwriting and stuff like that. And we never, you know, there was never a plan for him to produce the record or anything like that. The first two singles, It’s going to get better. I’m Waiting for the Rain. You know, I was so naive. I’d never been in the studio before. Those two singles were just live performances, you know, There was no overdubs or anything. They were just live performances. There was no click track or anything like that. It was literally just played off the cuff and in a in a little studio in Surrey. We then we then wanted to step up the production and stuff for Where’s my Finally Gone? And we, and we emailed Noel just asking him if he knew any producers that that that would be keen on on on working with us for where’s my family gone. And to everybody’s surprise me he he put his name in the in the um in the ring and said and said that he’d produced it which obviously I was never going to turn down. Yeah. I mean not only that, but you got the high flying birds involved and you know, they came and played played session musician for the, for the track. And it was just it was an amazing it was it was an amazing experience. But beside, you know Noel Gallagher producing your record which is unbelievable and it’s something that, you know, I’ll it’s it’s something that I’ve cherished for the rest of your life. But it was a great opportunity for me just to thank him for everything that you had done behind the scenes as well. You know, I mean, it was it was a good it was a good opportunity just to be able to sit down with him and just to be able to say, listen, you’ve you’ve you’ve given me an opportunity to change my life. Now, You know, the whole producing of the record was just a bonus. But it was great. He played he played bass on the on on the track and he done the guitar solo. He also done backing vocals. He’s banged on the drums and the keys and, you know, it was it was mixed with with one of his mates, a strange boy. And, and yeah, it was just it was just a really, really good experience. I think we’re in there for five days. And I mean, we’ve still been in close, close conversations with him and stuff since then. You know, I’ve been up to his studio and stuff since then and met some of these guitars, played at some of his new tracks and yeah, it’s great. It’s a he’s a, he’s a, he’s a proper bloke, man. He’s a, he’s a good lad.

00:15:31
LEE HOUSE: He’s absolutely. Mega. Have like somebody like that you could lean on for advice and things as well. In terms of like the song, we always say that if anyone’s not heard that we’ll get all the winks out with the podcast. Got a check out. It’s an absolute top tune. Where’s my family gone? What? Give us an insight, if you can, on the sort of you know, I think you’ve mentioned before that he helped with some of the maybe the structural changes in the songwriting. What was it about that? What did he make you think about when he was in the studio with you in terms of your songwriting?

00:15:59
ANDREW CUSHIN: So, I mean, lyrically there was nothing to improve on, and that’s not me sitting being big headed, but a lot of my lyrics have got hidden meanings and stuff like that, and I like to think that all of my lyrics tend to resonate with somebody or other. Um, yeah, I know that I can write a decent chorus. I know that I’ve got a good, a good chorus in it, which is all this amazes me because I was fucking useless at English in school. But yeah, I know I’ve got a good ear for a melody and I can put a decent chorus together. And I’ve I’m a decent lyricist when it comes to verses, but the thing that I used to struggle with was the structure of the song. So I’d always know that, you know, there’d be a verse and a chorus and a verse and a chorus, and then I’d kind of struggle. After that. There’d be no reason. Direction. So, no, you know, he gave us a lot of advice and he showed us a couple of things in terms of middle eights in bridges and instrumental breaks. Yeah, because that was something that I wasn’t including in my songs. And you know very well, you know. Oh, a Lot was, was an instrumental break. So whereas My Family Gone, that was a song that was, you know, again talking back to giving yourself 15, 20 minutes to write a song. That song was written in 20 minutes in a hotel room in Leeds about an hour before I had a gig. Wow. And and I was never that’s actually a video of it somewhere on Facebook. I think Lee took it and I’m sitting down with a guitar and I’ve got the pad on my knee and I had just been written then and I’m playing it for the first time and he got it. So that’s quite a magic moment. But um, but there was no instrumental break in that track, you know, because I just didn’t know where to fit one in. So that was actually something that we’re doing in the studio. There was no instrumental break, and then by the time we got the instrumental break, Noel Noel said, How would you feel about having a guitar solo? And I think my response was something along the lines of, Well, I’ll have one if you’re playing it, which of course, you know, if Noel is offering to put a guitar solo on your track, you’re not going to turn it down. And that was quite a tricky thing to do actually, because, you know, we couldn’t think of a part that would kind of really suited the song. The guitar solo was actually done so in the studio for five days, we’re left on the Friday and he had put a rough guitar solo down. I’ve still got a rough mix, which has got a different solo on, but he actually went back to the studio by himself and done my guitar solo, you know, on one of the days he had off. So again, he was giving up more of his free time and stuff, which is good.

00:18:20
LEE HOUSE: He seems that way in terms of I’ve seen him on a lot of recent interviews actually with his sort of volume one that’s coming out of the high flying Birds. He’s been talking about that and bands that he likes and stuff like that. So it’s great to see giving up his time to I think Kelly Jones mentioned that a lot as well about Paul Weller and stuff that and AC DC and stuff. It’s like the next generation, like giving them guitars, giving them equipment or anything like that, just to say, Look, it’s your time to shine sort of thing. So what I really loved about Noel and what you said about him was that was actually more from yourself. Andrew When you said, you know, you knew it was time to work, you weren’t there to be a fanboy. You had your little, you know, introduced to know, you know what, That’s a great mindset to have. You talk a bit, a little bit about what you were thinking in terms of like just getting in and working and crafting.

00:19:06
ANDREW CUSHIN: Of course, because I mean, you know, it was not it wasn’t an anomaly that, you know, this was the first time that I’d spoken or anything. I’d been building up a relationship with Noel from 2019. So, you know, I’d been virtually in contact with him. So I want to see all the time. But at least once a month, maybe once or twice a month, you know, by the time that Newcastle would play Man City, it would be a little bit more. But it was. I didn’t feel such a strange at whom I’d never met him, but I’d spoken to him and I’d spoke to him on the phone and I wasn’t going in there as a fanboy as such. You know, I was a big fan of Oasis and I was and I was a fan of I was a fan of, you know, his work and all that kind of stuff. But I really did just want to go and do this song justice. This was the first song that was coming out under Virgin EMI and, you know, I needed to do a good job. I was only 20 years of age. I wasn’t a great guitarist. I’d written this song in a hotel room and I didn’t think too much of it, to be honest. And I thought, I’ve got to I’ve got to not only thank him for everything that he’s done, but I’ve got to show him that I’m not a chancer sort of thing. Yeah. And, um. And I’d like to think that I’ve done that sort of the best of my ability at the time.

00:20:19
LEE HOUSE: No, I mean. I think. I was just waiting to say I think like it’s a good again, a good bit of advice for a young person coming through. And I know that you talked about that before, about that now that knows kind of, you know, left you with that song. You’re like, now I need to go and graft like for a young person that I think sometimes these days it’s you know I might sound a bit older when I’m growing up it was, you know, you’d go with your record. I would go to the store and buy the record, be here now, queued to get it like everyone else did that day and all these great albums that came out along the years. Do you think it’s been lost a little bit? How do you feel about the, you know, you can graft any way at all possible, get your music out there, but how do you feel about maybe like the situation now? We’ve got Spotify and it’s all it’s not so much about singles. It’s it’s it’s just about streaming. And how has that changed the way you and your manager have worked?

00:21:08
ANDREW CUSHIN: Yeah, if I’m being honest, it’s a bit of a pain in the arse, I think. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take any skill to release music now, you know, I think you go back to sort of what you were saying there, back, back to when you were a kid and you know, you weren’t going to get an album in the shops or or get an album online, you know, unless you were a talented musician, you know, I mean, I could write a song now. And recorded on my iPhone to the worst quality possible and uploaded to Spotify and YouTube and call it my next single. You know, it doesn’t take any great skill to do that. And so I think a lot of the magic’s lost in that respect. You know, I think Spotify is a really useful tool. I don’t know anybody that doesn’t use it. I think it’s got pros and cons. I think one of the cons is that, you know, anybody can flood the market with songs, whether they be good or bad or what. And in terms of the whole. I mean, we’ve got this whole TikTok generation of songs now. Hammer which. You know, again, just blows my mind in the worst possible fucking way because it’s like, you know, you’re hearing remixes and sea shanties and fucking songs about Friday being played on the fucking radio, and it’s like, That’s not music, you know what I mean?

00:22:19
LEE HOUSE: I can’t fucking do it. I can’t do it anymore.

00:22:21
ANDREW CUSHIN: It’s, it’s, it’s, it’s such a shame because everybody that you speak to, they all say the same thing as what I’m saying. Every time I walk into a bar, every time that I go to speak to people and they say, what’s you know, I had my radio playing, I know it all. It’s all the tick tock at the minute until the seizure and everybody agrees with you that it’s shit. So it gets me thinking, Well, who’s making the decisions to keep this going? You know what I mean? Because I can’t be a lot of people that are appreciating the music that’s being played on the radio that just can’t be, you know? And I think I think you’ve got stations like Radio X and, you know, Radio two from time to time and Radio six maybes on the odd occasion. You know, that still play some great music and still still support local acts and local, you know, local bands and stuff. And, you know, unfortunately, man, we didn’t get a lot of success with Where’s My Family Gone? It doesn’t really funny, you know, It doesn’t well in Italy and you know we got a little bit play on Radio X what kind of stuff? And I love Noel for what he’s doing. I really do. But his name wasn’t going as far as I would have thought it would have in terms of when you’re, you know, you go to Radio X and you say, Listen, Noel Gallagher has produced my last song. Obviously I wasn’t doing this radio pluggers and there’s any way we could get it on. I don’t know, maybe John Kennedy’s exposure would be Bloody hell, Noel’s produced this, of course we’ll get it on. But then you’d go to a radio station that’s been playing remixes all week and you say, Well, Noel Gallagher’s produced a song and a lot of them are coming back with things, right? And. And it’s like, incredible. You’d rather be playing, you know, fucking remix that somebody’s doing in their bedroom, you know, high as a kite probably, you know, to a fucking sea shanty or to the to that. What’s that Russian song. Fucking Rasputin song. I mean how that’s charted, you know. Yeah. Anyway, that’s, that’s another conversation. But yeah, I was really shocked. And I just think, I think Spotify is just a useful tool, but I just think the market’s flooded now with shit music. It’s such a shame.

00:24:18
LEE HOUSE: What’s, what’s hard for me to see And it fucking does my head and I don’t. I come off social media quite a lot and really just to get a break. But you probably notice that I know you’re on Instagram every second post. It used to be every 5 or 6, but now it’s every second or third post. It’s a sponsored post by a musician. And I wasn’t the one last night. I was I was in bed and I was like, my wife a listen to this. Fuck. It was awful. Like, I’m not like saying they weren’t, you know, the song was all right, but it was like, like you said, anybody could just record something in their bedroom, get it out, and then pay pay Instagram and Facebook money to promote it. And then it floods the market and when there’s real. So I think like and I know you’ll probably agree, we need gigs back. We need guys like you out playing festivals, playing like we’ve got a guy up in Scotland who’s done it all himself. He doesn’t have a manager, he doesn’t have a label. You know, he. Well, I don’t think he’s not got anything major behind him. He doesn’t get radio play apart from Scottish stations. Gerry Cinnamon – he’s just done it all himself and he just gigs, gigs, gigs and he creates a movement. And I know you’ve mentioned that before about, you know, you’ve got your album, but you want to wait, you want to build up your flow and you want to get a bit of buzz and stuff like that. So tell us a bit about the I know we’re kind of still coming out of the Covid situation, but what’s the future hold for you in terms of gigs and stuff?

00:25:33
ANDREW CUSHIN: I mean, I’m fortunate that all the gigs that we had in 2020 that got cancelled have been pushed back. They’ve been pushed forward to this year. So, um, you know, every gig that we lost last year, we’ve, we’ve, we’ve got this year Leeds and Reading Festival. We’re just waiting on that last confirmation. We’ve been through all the barriers for that so that looks really likely. We’ve got Boardmasters festival, you know we’re playing there with Sam Fender, we’ve got Tramlines Festival, you know, we’re playing alongside the Kooks and stuff. Victorious festival. We know we’re up and down the country. I think we’ve got I think it’s 48 or 49 gigs. That’s gigs and festivals confirmed for the rest of the year. We’re playing at Newcastle Academy on the main stage. You hit the North supporting the seagulls and Dma’s. We’ve got a support gig with the Dma’s It just there’s so many. Obviously I’ve got the boiler Shop gig, which is the headline in Newcastle, so that’s, that’s sold out. That’s 1200 tickets we’ve got, we’ve got a massive gig that I cannot announce yet, but we’ve, we’ve had a massive, massive headline gig booked for next year. So I kind of do that. That’s like over two 2000 tickets. Wow. Um, so it’s huge. And it does go to what you were saying there, that whole Gerry cinnamon thing, which, you know, you can’t tell me that. You know, he was a TikTok star. He was a streaming artist when he first came out. It’s just not the case. I think Gerry Cinnamon’s biggest, biggest attribute is is is the way he performs live. You know, he’s a live artist. And and and, you know, and I’m and I’m kind of the same. I mean, I’m not going to put myself in the same boat as Gerry Cinnamon, of course. But in the sense that, you know, I wouldn’t do very well on TikTok. You know, I’m not what you call a streaming artist. I don’t make, um, you know, my songs aren’t as commercial as a fucking sea shanty, you know what I mean? So. So I’m not going to have a lot of success in that regard. But in terms of selling tickets and stuff, you know, that’s how Gerry Cinnamon got where he was. He was he was slowly but surely building up a local following. And then that became, you know what? Which became national.

00:27:20
LEE HOUSE: You don’t want me. Fair play to that boy. Whatever his name is. I think he’s from he’s from Scotland. I was watching the Brits the other week and he was on the Brits. Like he’s had this one song. I just wonder, like I said, my friends, is like, well, what is he going to bring out next? Because it’s. Yeah, where does he go from there? He’s been over he’s had this moment of like, fame and and it’s like, what does he do next? Because it’s just is it going to be as big as what he did? So I think doing what you’re doing, the authenticity of the songs and like you said at the start singing about, I want to hear about what you’re believing. I don’t want to hear about, like, boats floating down the river about cheese or whatever I want to hear about. Like, yeah, you’re talking about your growing up some of the hard times that you had. I get that from some of the like where’s my family gone and stuff like that. And obviously you talked about Sam Fender. He writes from that ilk as well of like like he’s got an amazing song. Um, he’s talking about his mate that he grew up with and his mates family just went to hell. And it was like just amazing, like the sort of songwriting. You said you’re going to be supporting Sam as well. Do you take a lot of inspiration from him being from your area and stuff?

00:28:23
ANDREW CUSHIN: We’ve got a couple of festivals of Sam. I’ve been round to Sam’s house and stuff. He’s a lovely lad. He’s, um. I was lying in bed one morning. I got a phone call and answered the phone. It was Sam who had got my number off somebody, you know, he’s been very supportive as well. He’s a, he’s a, he’s a really good lad. And, um. Yeah, he’s. He’s just a nice kid. I think everybody from Newcastle is quite a supportive community come from Newcastle and I know just about what you said that. Yeah I’ve seen, I’ve seen him on the Brits and I’m not here to make any enemies of people. But I do agree with what you’re saying. It’s like, you know, I don’t want to listen to people sing about boats and ships either, but unfortunately that that’s the stuff that sells now. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. And it is such a shame. It is such a shame because I bet that bloke I bet that kid, you know, probably fucking got a load of great songs, you know what I mean? That’s the thing that it’s doing well is this song about concealing the ship and it’s like, Well, you pirate me. What the fuck’s going on? I mean, it’s. It’s not. It’s not. It’s not great, mate. It’s not great. But, yeah, I mean, good luck. He’s doing more. He’s doing better than I am streaming wise.

00:29:22
LEE HOUSE: Hey, you know, again, I suppose fair play. I mean, taking these opportunity and see what happens for him. But let’s finish on more of a positive. When are we going to see you up in Scotland? When when are we going to get you up here?

00:29:33
ANDREW CUSHIN: Well, mate, funny enough, I’ve got, um. When is this going out?

00:29:37
LEE HOUSE: This will be going out in the next week or so, mate.

00:29:40
ANDREW CUSHIN: Well, that being going out after Monday. Yeah. Oh well then. So this would have already been announced. So we are playing King Tut’s in Glasgow on the I believe it’s the 18th of September. But don’t hold us to that. I’m not 100%, but the dates will be out on Monday, the, um, 24th of this month. So Monday coming as we’re doing this podcast, which will obviously already be out, but all those tickets are going to be available on my website. We’re also hoping to do Edinburgh in the future. Um, well, I’ve got a couple of gigs and festivals and stuff up in the Scotland area. I don’t know, off the top of your head. King Tut’s would be great.

00:30:21
LEE HOUSE: Yeah. Get yourself to Dundee as well. Massive obviously. Kyle Falconer and the view from that area. There’s a good, good music scene there as well. So but yeah. How do you feel about, you know, obviously we know the story. We’ve seen it all in Supersonic about where Oasis started. How do you feel about going to play where one of your sort of mentors and heroes has started? It’s a great venue, mate. You’ll love it. You’ll love it. The atmosphere is electric.

00:30:43
ANDREW CUSHIN: Yeah, I mean, I’ve never been I’ve played Glasgow three times. I think I’ve played at the garage, played somewhere. I played, yeah, I think I’ve been there about 2 or 3 times. But um, yeah, I’ve never played touch any, you know, it’s, it’s so iconic for, for the whole Oasis story, but you know, so not even that if you go online, you know, you can find Lewis Capaldi playing in In Touch, you can find Sam Fender playing a gig In Touch, Jake Bugg’s playing, you know, all these acts. You know, I feel like it’s a place that you’ve got to go and play Now, if you’re, you know, if you kind of want to be on the rise. And yeah, it’s such an iconic venue, but it’s going to be great. It’s going to be great. We’ve got, um, the support won’t be announced yet, but it’s a local lad support who I’m sure you’ll know quite well. Um, so, yeah, it’s going to be brilliant, mate. It’s going to be really, really good.

00:31:25
LEE HOUSE: What you do is if you get obviously touch or go, well, that’ll go magic. And then when you come back to Scotland next, go and play the Barrowlands because that’ll be, that’s, that’s a dream for every sort of young Scottish artist. I think to see that crowd in that floor moving when everyone’s. Boats and so exciting times ahead. Let’s just chat about to finish up a bit of light-heartedness. Newcastle United. What a season. I mean, a lot of fans, I know that Newcastle fans, they want Bruce out.

00:31:51
ANDREW CUSHIN: They said, What a season.

00:31:52
LEE HOUSE: Well, yeah, in terms of in terms of it’s been a roller coaster for years. I mean, I’m a Celtic fan, so we’ve had a we’ve had a bit of a terrible season. But do you want Steve Bruce a ticket to go?

00:32:06
ANDREW CUSHIN: I mean, yeah, I wouldn’t say what a season. I think unfortunately first game of the season, would beat West Ham. And you know, you’ve got Callum Wilson up front. You’ve got Allan Saint-Maximin, Neil at the in in the middle of the park and stuff. You know, I was I was so I was so positive and, you know, I was really excited. I honestly thought we might have been able to push for the top ten. And lo and behold, the same old Newcastle shines through and, you know, injuries and, you know, getting beat off brightness, you know, it was, it was, it was looking, you know quite, quite, quite scary actually for one point I thought it might have went back down and it seemed to turn a corner in April which somehow awarded Steve Bruce, um, you know the manager of the month, which, you know, still baffles my mind. I have no idea how he won that. But yeah, I mean, if we win, if we win on obviously we won last night Sheffield tonight one nil. It was a good game to watch. Um, if we beat Fulham, I think we’ll finish on 45 points, which is it’s amicable, you know, It’s all right. It’s not too bad. I think we’re definitely to bring in Joe Willock and I think we need a couple of more players as well. And we need to make sure that we can hold on to the likes of Saint-Maximin. Um, yeah, I just think we need to build a little bit more, to be honest. And obviously, you know, when you’ve got a club run by Mike Ashley, it’s always going to be, it’s always going to be tricky as we’ve seen over the last.

00:33:24
LEE HOUSE: Well yeah, he’s, he’s well known as an asset stripper and he seems to have done that with use at times. But Newcastle United as a team in a city you need a trophy. You need you need a cup don’t you. You need something to get the fans back on board and I always seem to think Newcastle don’t always go for it so much in the cups. They always seem to just go out of the earlier stages and things like that. But yeah, you need a trophy for that city, don’t you?

00:33:48
ANDREW CUSHIN: Well, I mean. We played Brentford this season, you know, the quarterfinals and we’re, you know, we’re, we’re going away to Brentford and I think, you know, we’re here, we’re going to the semi-finals and we even got beat off Brentford man, it’s like it’s it’s a tough it’s a tough job to support Newcastle made. It really is. But unfortunately the problems lie right at the right at the head mate I think if what they get an owner in that you know I’m not going to speak too much about investment because you know he has put money in. He’s he has put his hand in his pocket. But unfortunately, I don’t feel like he’s got any love for the for the club or for the city. You know, we’ve seen you’ve seen the owners at Leicester, you know, and how they’ve unified the whole community. And you know, then they’re not just investing, but they love this city and they love the club and, you know, the love, the love, the fans and all that kind of thing. And there’s that kind of mutual respect between the fans, the players and the in the owners. And we just don’t have that in Newcastle, you know, we really don’t. Um, which, which is a shame because, you know, I don’t know if you’ve been to Newcastle, but you know, Saint James’s Park is bang smack in the middle of the city centre and.

00:34:50
LEE HOUSE: Oh it’s amazing. I’ve been there. I’ve been there. I’ve been there with Celtic for a few friendly games and it’s, it’s an unbelievable stadium.

00:34:57
ANDREW CUSHIN: Yeah, it’s great. It’s great. And you know, it’s that whole, you know, you don’t really get it anywhere else, you know, it’s that whole thing of, you know, you’re going to the bars in the town before the match and you know, it’s right in the city centre and it’s a great stadium and it’s it’s a good day out. And it just it just doesn’t it doesn’t deliver as much as it should do. Do you know what I mean? Back in the glory days, you know, that was that documentary on Sky One about the entertainers. Yeah. It’s like we are so, so fucking far away from that team and so, so far away. There’s nothing, you know, -3 or 4 players, you know, there’s nothing entertaining about about watching Newcastle.

00:35:33
LEE HOUSE: And even back then. Like Andre, you had boys like they were, they were in the Entertainers documentary, but like John Beresford and boys like that, that just gave you everything. And Steve Watson, like local lad, just like he would play everywhere. I remember he used to play up front or play right right side of midfield or out in the wing. But guys, I think with some of the signings that come in, you lose a bit of that maybe heart. And I know you’ve got a local lads is it Holy finish up. Is it anyone coming through we should watch out for. I know you had the Dummett guys, the two brothers come through and things like that. I can’t remember the names but.

00:36:03
ANDREW CUSHIN: Longstaff, yeah. Sean and Matty. Yeah. Good players on there. Um, has anyone coming through? What’s that young lad called again? Um. Oh, there’s that young lad who plays for what he called. Um. Hang on. I will be fine. The name. Um. This is the fortunate thing about doing this on WhatsApp. I can just click onto Google, have a little bit of a yeah, just have a little bit of a look through me and oh, God, you know, it’s going to kill us, mate. It’s going to kill us. I’ve got to remember his name before we go off. I’ve just got to. Even if we pause the fucking interview.

00:36:41
LEE HOUSE: Don’t worry. I’ll do all the time. I need to go amount of times I go on Wikipedia and I find out a player and I go, I want to know how many appearances. I’m obsessed by it. Like, I love looking him stuff. To find out who it is.

00:36:52
ANDREW CUSHIN: I’ll find him. I’ll find him. Don’t you worry about that. Give a look. Come on. Where is he? Where’s this kid? Has this child. This next big star. I mean, this is ridiculous. This is absolutely ridiculous. Where the fuck is he?

00:37:08
LEE HOUSE: And just while you’re looking. Any words for the Markham’s last night they got beat to nil by Lincoln.

00:37:13
ANDREW CUSHIN: I watched that game actually it was it was it was a good comedy affair. It was a good comedy affair. I sat in the bar and one of the lads that was I was out with and he’s a Sunderland fan, so I had the Newcastle game, I won’t tell you in the Sunderland game on the other, and I just remember pissing myself laughing as the second goal went in. Elliot Anderson is the lad was a who’s one to look out for, you know, he’s a really good player. He’s a really, really good player. He’s I think he played a couple of games this season, but no, he’s really good, really, really talented player. I think he’s one that we’ve got to hold on to as well and maybe try and turn him into a Premier League starter, I suppose.

00:37:49
LEE HOUSE: Well, let’s. Hope for better seasons for both our teams and I hear a rumour that we might be facing U’s in pre-season. So maybe, maybe get down and get a night out in Newcastle, hopefully if we’re down with you guys. So there’s a rumour going about this morning, so we’ll see if that comes to fruition. But just want to say a massive, a massive thank you, Andrew, for taking some time out of your your day. I know you’re you’ve got a lot of stuff coming up. You’ll be shooting a new video and things that are coming up as well, aren’t you? You’ve got a new some new songs and stuff to come. What about the album? When can we expect that from you too? Before we finish.

00:38:22
ANDREW CUSHIN: The album was going to be a little bit of a while. I mean, obviously I’ve always said, you know, I’d like to boost the following and stuff. I think this year in particular, it’s not so much about releasing music as it is, as it is gigging. The first two singles, you know, I didn’t really get a gig. I haven’t really gigged, “Where’s My Family Gone” because it was released in the lockdown and stuff. So I definitely think I’m just going to concentrate on gigging those songs. We’ve got the music video this weekend for the next single. That’ll probably be it for this year, and I think an album realistically, maybe 20, 23, somewhere around there. I think it would be maybe a good idea to get an E.P. out in 22 and then possibly look at an album in 2023. I’m only young.

00:38:58
LEE HOUSE: I’ve plenty of time, mate. You go out one at a time, go out, enjoy yourself first and do all that and gigs and that’ll be amazing. And we look forward to seeing you in Scotland and hopefully we’ll maybe get we’ll get a catch up before that gig at Tut’s. That would be superb.

00:39:12
ANDREW CUSHIN: Definitely.

00:39:12
LEE HOUSE: Thanks so much for your time. I really appreciate it and all the best for the future and all the songs that are coming.

00:39:19
ANDREW CUSHIN: No problem. Thank you very much.

00:39:20
LEE HOUSE: Thanks.

00:39:26
LEE HOUSE: What a colossal chat that was with Andrew Cushin. There’s no doubt in my mind he is going to go on and be a huge success. His drive, his determination, his passion, and his amazing song writing already at a young age, producing songs like “Where’s My Family Gone”, which you can listen to on his Spotify. All the details about on the Talk Tonight podcast posts and stories and also his tour dates as announced on the podcast. You can now come and see him if you’re in Scotland at King Tut’s and hopefully in Edinburgh as well. And there’s a lot of other dates. He’s putting a lot of festivals. So check out Andrew Cushin on Instagram and across social media to find out more details about how you can buy tickets. But make sure you get out and see him. He’s a super talent. Thanks again to everyone who’s got in touch recently. There’s more podcasts coming very, very soon. Starting to record more over the next few weeks. So thanks for all your support. Thanks for listening in. Keep sharing, keep leaving comments. We’re only on Instagram. It’s the Talk Tonight podcast. I’ll see you very soon.