We recently connected with Andy Hanson and have shared our conversation below.

Andy, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The most meaningful project for our band has been learning how to write, rewrite, and produce compelling and meaningful songs. Compelling songs in that they connect to what it truly means to be a human being. We tend to walk a fine line between heavy and dark moments all while celebrating triumphant and meaningful positives throughout our exsistence. We want to write songs that celebrate both of those places and that has been the most rewarding project to date.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

The members of Wyblue have all been in creative situtations throughout our lives and all have come together with what cumulated into this group. We are musicians wanting to push the boundaries of what truly honest music is.

For me specifically, I have no official musical training besides being part of volunteer groups in college and high school. I have always been creative and realised over many years of trying new and different avenues of creation that writing and performing songs provided the missing piece in my life that I knew I needed but could never put my finger on. To date I have been writing, rewriting, and scrapping songs that no longer make the cut for over 15 years. Most songs have been less then ideal but I have really grasped onto the notion that to find the best songs, one has to write past the mediocre ones. That has proven helpful as we have released two EP’s this year (2022) and are some of the best songs from my past and have only improved exponentially with the advent of the band Wyblue.

We have a very interesting, but extremely powerful dynamic in our band. Because I have no official musical training I knew it would be important to find people who are in fact excellent stewards of the language of composition, music theory, and what makes a compelling song from a technical standpoint. Rose Mish, our violin player and backing vocalist, has official training in music and is who I send my songs to first. Her ear and thought processes is different then mine and really helps hone in the ideas I have into a more succinct piece of writing. Our drummer, Nicholas Adams, is also is a trained musician and is so so good at knowing how to convey energy in a song and when silence in a song is actually more potent.

I am most proud of our ability to collaborate on songs that are honest, truthful, and real. If people haven’t heard our music before, for lack of better words, tend to place it somewhere between Bob Dylan and Dave Matthews Band, with a little Indie Rock/ Folk sprinkled on top.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I feel that many people don’t notice the impact of music and artists on their everyday life and daily process. Without creatives and artists, society fails to wrestle with the positives and negatives of life in a constructive way. We become too apathetic and okay with menotany. Wyblue is trying to elevate the importance of learning experiences tied to celebration of self-improvement. Society would only benefit from more art with a similar goal.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Personally I want to develop Wyblue into something that I can offset some daily expenses with. Essentially becoming a job. Whether it is a part time job, or the dream, a full time job. To me that is the ultimate sense of pride and satisfaction with a job.

Another key goal is to create art that resonates with people and offers some assistnace in making sense of the world. The world is hard and life experiences are difficult to fully embrace. Working with others can be hard, especially if conversations and topics are difficult. We like to say,” conversations are hard. Music can help.”

Contact Info:

• Website: www.wybluemusic.com
• Instagram: @wybluemusic
• Facebook: @wybluemusic
• Twitter: @wybluemusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcMybbSqOcY_IPgTqYvzSvQ

Image Credits
Andy Hanson, Avonlea Hanson, Alex Carnes