Andy Stochansky
is a Canadian singer-songwriter who was signed to RCA U.S. He first started out as one the most wanted drummers in the Canadian music scene during the early 1990s, at one point playing with 8 local Toronto bands. "I would take my drums to a bar on Queen St (a live music haven in Toronto) then pack them up and jump on the streetcar to get to my other 2 shows that night".
His popularity caught the attention of songstress Ani DiFranco. Living just south of the border in Buffalo, New York, she asked him to not only record on her albums but also be her touring co-pilot. "The connection was immediate, what you heard on stage years later, sounded like that from day one at that audition above my grandmother's grocery store," says Stochansky. "We kind of looked at each other and immediately knew there was something very special there." The live shows grew from small town University cafes of 15 people to eventual world tours.
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ANDY STOCHANSKY TICKETS
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Solo Recording Career
"We had been playing over 150 to 200 shows a year for 7 years and I finally started to want other things," he said. He switched instruments, taking up guitar and piano, and released his solo debut album,
RadioFusebox
, in
1999. The response to "Fusebox" was immediate. Music pundits everywhere were calling it one of the best CDs of the year. Joan Anderman from the
Boston Globe called him "the best thing at SXSW" and
David Byrne from the
Talking Heads was quoted as saying he was a fan. "It was quite shocking, because I had no idea it would connect with audiences like this. My agenda for Fusebox was that I wanted to make a soundtrack-sounding CD with lyrics. All the samples had to be homemade and the lyrics had to read as poems as well. I needed to get this type of CD out of my system."
"It took a while to make and even though all these accolades were pouring through, I wanted to switch gears and make a pop album. The day after my final Fusebox Tour show in Vancouver I started writing something on the long drive home that would set me on course for the next few years. I wanted something with hook. I wanted feel good music. I wanted something which made people move, so I wrote
Stutter
and that opened the flood gates". He quickly had 25 new songs and wanted to let anyone hear them. He was approached by an independent promoter in
California who wanted to know if he would play 6 shows in and around
Los Angeles in February of
2000. On the second night of that tour in Los Angeles, Stochansky decided to play all his new songs. "What happened that night was movie material," he said. He and manager/wife Lisa Whynot were approached by 3 different record companies, all wanting to sign him. One of the companies was
RCA Victor.
In the summer of
2002,
5 Star Motel
was released. Two songs, "Wonderful (It's Superman)" and "Stutter," received considerable radio attention and tours were planned, but the events of September 11 2001 brought these plans to a halt. Undeterred, Stochansky kept writing: "Anywhere, anytime I would have the guitar in my hands or steal away with headphones and mini keyboard I was truly addicted".
5 Star Motel
was produced by
Tom Rothrock, but Stochansky chose
Goo Goo Dolls frontman
Johnny Rzeznik to produce his follow-up album,
100
. Rzeznik heard Stochansky's demo tapes which were floating around the Los Angeles music elite. The producers already vying to produce him were
Stone Temple Pilots brothers Robert and Dean DeLeo. Stochansky chose Rzeznik, who seemed to have a serious love for the music and an understanding to take it to the next level. According to Stochansky, Rzeznik warned him, "the critics would eat me alive for working with him," but Stochansky chose to go forward with the project anyway, saying, "that's when I said, great, let's get started!".
100
never saw its release on the RCA label. A restructuring of the RCA record company, along with the firing of the very people who signed him, put Stochansky out on his own. The first would-be single from 100, entitled "Shine," was covered by
Australian Idol competitor
Shannon Noll. The song was a huge number 1 hit, selling over a million copies. A second single, "House of Gold", received huge radio success for Stochansky himself when released in Canada on Canadian independent label Linus. Shannon would have another Top 10 single again the following year when he covered another Stochansky song from the same CD, "Loud", a song Stochansky calls his response to his self-imposed pressure when it comes to lyrics. "I just wanted to stop slaving in fetal position when I write lyrics and just wanted something akin to candy....and it felt so damn good to play."
Stochansky now lives in Los Angeles writing for other artists. "Shine" has been used for Hollywood film Better Than The Steins as well as rugby commercials in the
United Kingdom. "On The Radio", a brand new never-released song, has been used in the American
TV series
Brothers & Sisters. Australian artist
Damien Leith had a top ten single with one of Stochansky's songs, "22 Steps", and also made an appearance in the soap
Neighbours, portraying an
Irish singer/songwriter singing the song in 'Charlies Bar' in
2008. "Summertime" is slated for radio release for
Canadian Idol winner
Brian Melo. "Sorry" is slated for Damien Leith's new CD in
2009. Electro Pop band
Cassette Kids have 2 of Stochansky's songs slated for release as singles: "Spin Another Record" and "Game Player".
Discography
- While You Slept
(1996)
- Radio Fusebox
(1999)
- Five Star Motel
(2002)
- 100
(2005)