Fred Andrews

Fred Andrews of Honeybrowne is realizing new heights both personally and professionally. He’s off a high-profile touring engagement with Pat Green and a wedding engagement to the lovely Anne Hudson. See why this country-rocker is Good For Nuthin’ in this edition of 20 Questions.

1. What’s new and on the horizon with Honeybrowne? Looking at going back in the Studio early fall. Going back to the East Coast in April. Getting married

2. I’m a fellow SWT Bobcat Alum, I don’t refer to it as Texas State. Maybe I’m getting old and set in my ways but it’ll always be SWT to me. Anyhow, tell us about the early days of Honeybrowne and your first band HCA a.k.a Harrison, Carter & Andrews? In hindsight, how bad were y’all? And what covers made the audience the rowdiest? We were horrible! But for some reason we always had a packed house at the Parrot and Gordos. We weren’t good enough to even play covers…so we had to write our own songs. Some covers we attempted were ‘Dixie Land Delight’ and the usual Robert Earl Keen & JackOPierce songs.

3. Word association. -Pat Green…Friend -Stoney LaRue…Funny Person, makes me laugh -Jack Ingram…My girl thinks he’s hot -Ryan Adams…Rip off artist w/ a lot of talent -Matt Dunnam…Don’t know -Django Walker…Everywhere -Bleu Edmondson…”You my Boy Bleu” -Phil Pritchett…Poo Poo P2

4. Tell us the stories behind the following songs. -Grey…Written as a 3rd Person perspective about the feelings of being cheated on. -Good For Nuthin’…Written in 5 minutes when Alex’s EX-fiancé thought he was good for nothing b/c he sat around eating and playing guitar all day. -Parkwood…Written for my parents about how happy and wonderful my home life was. Parkwood is the name of the street I grew up on. -First to Know…Identity crisis trying to find time to find yourself -A Lullaby…Written about my fiancé when we first started dating

5. Y’all did a leg on Pat Green’s latest tour, opening up for him in some new markets. How receptive were the fans in the new markets? And what was it like to live like a big rockstar for a few weeks? First of all…we are BIG rockstars! We had a lot of repeat visitors, so I think we did pretty good. Sold 300 CD’s of our new album to people that had never heard of us before the show. I think we got our job done, getting the crowd pumped up for Pat.

6. You grew up in a very musical family of musicians. What impact did that have on you eventually becoming a professional musician? How many instruments do you play? And how long have you been playing them? I got my first drum kit when I was 6. I played drums until I was 16. I gave all of that up to be a pole vaulter, which is what got me through college. I got injured Vaulting and decided to pick up the guitar when I was a Junior in College at SWT, I’ve been playing ever since. So, not really sure how much influence my family had on my career. I play guitar (8 years), piano (4 months), bass (1 Year), and drums (since I was 6).

7. You earned a Special Ed degree in college. Was there a course on screaming “Hey Lady! YAAAYYYY!”? And did you ever think about doing the real job thing and putting your degree to work? I actually did put my degree to work. I was a Special Ed teacher for a few years, and when the band started picking up a lot of gigs I decided a hung over teacher wasn’t what they needed. So I hung up teaching and concentrated on my music.

8. Set the record straight once and for all and tell the story behind choosing the name Honeybrowne for the band. We were opening up for Jack Ingram at Gordos in San Marcos. Greg and I were drinking heavily at the bar b/c we were nervous as hell, Mark Brown (owner of Gordos) needed a name for us, so Greg lifted up his beer and the coaster said ‘Honey Brown’ and as a joke, we started our first gig w/ the name Honeybrowne. Our friends actually never let us change it, it stuck. I actually wanted to name the band ‘Special Fred and the Short Bus Van’.

9. You worked with Merle Bregante on your first albums. How hard was it to invite someone new (Carlos Sosa) into your creative environment? We weren’t sure of where we were with the album and we needed a new perspective. After talking to Carlos, he was interested and really took the project to heart and brought life to it. Merle is our Father in recording music and Carlos is our artistic Brother.

10. Give us a favorite touring memory of the following towns/clubs. -Houston…Firehouse – every time is a good time -Dallas…28th of Jan. 2002 ‘Gypsy Tea Room’ SOLD OUT, Shade came back to play bass, Cody Canada/Blue Edmonson came out and we just tore the roof off the place. -Corpus Christi…I got my leg broken by 5 bouncers after playing w/ Pat Green. Both bands went to another bar, I was out of my mind and flipped off the DJ. SO, 5 bouncers descended on me and through me off a big speaker, kicked my ass, broke my leg, and threw me out the door. -Tyler…Do we play there????? -Ft. Worth…Can’t say much about Wood’s….Can Ya? We love our fans there. -College Station…Ag Kick Off 2002 -Lubbock…Blue Light w/ DREW…EVERYTIME. -Amarillo…One of our first gigs ever was at the ‘Golden Light’. That was the first time I ever met Jason Boland. To this day he is still one of my best friends -Gordo’s…First time we sold it out on a Tuesday, we were pretty happy about that. -Green Parrot…All a BIG BLURRRRR. I do remember when they locked all of us in there and called it “Club Parrot”, we drank and played til 4am. -Innkeeper’s…New Years 2004. Everyone came down to celebrate.

11. At one time y’all had a tour bus sponsored by Jaegermeister. Give us your best bombed out of your mind Jaeger experience. Every night spent w/ the Bolands is a fun Jaeger experience.

12. You’re engaged to the lovely Anne Hudson of 98.1 KVET in Austin. Without getting too personal, tell us a funny/embarrassing story of your early courtship. There was never an awkward moment. She was hard to get though. I’m a lucky man.

13. What’s one habit that you would like to break? Waking up in the afternoon.

14. Play promoter for a minute. What’s your dream tour? From the name, to the acts, to the rider. Lay it out. Dream tour would be with the U2 or Counting Crows. Each band member has their own bus.

15. Top 5 Influences on your music. -Van Morrison -Paul Westerberg -The Cure -Toad the Wet Sprocket -The Smiths

16. Has anyone ever told you that you look like Evan from the TLC show “While You Were Out”? Yes, gotten that several times.

17. Rapid Fire: -Anne Hudson or Sammy Allred…I’ll take ’em both -Warrant or Poison…Poison -Ray Charles or Rick James…I’m Rick James Bitch -Will Ferrell or Chris Farley…that’s a tough one -Cancun or Cozumel…Cancun -Dallas Cowboys or Houston Texans…Dallas Cowboys

18. Where do you see your band in 5 years? Where do you see Texas music in 5 years? Band: on our 10th album making a big come back like Aerosmith TX Music: Take over as the main stream Country

19. Favorite George Strait song. (everyone gets this, even the rockers). ‘Carrying Your Love with Me’

20. Compare/contrast the music you and your peers are making with the stuff that Nashville/LA are pumping out. Songwriting. We write our own music.

#FredAndrews