Matt Andes (Guitar, Vocals)
Matt Andes grew up in Chatsworth, Ca.
and along with his older brother Mark, and Mark's best friend Jay
Ferguson, attended Chatsworth High School. His career in music began
when Mark and Jay persuaded him to form a garage band with the two
of them, Mike Fondelier and Denny Bruce, and then enter a local "Battle
Of The Bands" Contest , which they overwhelmingly managed to
win! As a spoof of the 60's, the band was named "The Matt Andes
Twist Combo" for the contest, but the guys later settled on "Western
Union".
After that, Jay and Mark ended up joining
Spirit and Matt spent the summer in South Dakota, as a beekeeper's
assistant. From there, it was on to the prestigious Chouinard
Art Institute so that Matt could hone his considerably creative
talent in another direction - painting. During this time, Barry
Hansen, a longtime friend with a well known alter ego named Dr.
Demento, introduced Mark , Matt and Jay to John Fahey, and John
liked one of Matt's paintings so very much that he traded some
of his previous recordings that he had there at the house for
it! The three subsequently ended up backing John on two tracks
on his album "The Yellow Princess".
Matt still stayed at Chouinard for a few years pursuing his course
of study as an artist until Jay and Mark came back along again
and talked him into joining the new group that they were currently
forming. Several names were kicked around and rejected, such as: "The
Gorgeous Superbs" , "The Ones Considered", "Curly's
Girls" and "New Shoes". If you haven't realized
it already, this is the band that ended up finally being named
after the Chuck Berry song about a meddlesome monkey that craftily
escapes a pursuing lion - none other than "Jo Jo Gunne!" Matt stayed on for three out of four of Jo Jo Gunne's
albums. One of his most memorable times was when they were touring
with Sly and The Family Stone and Sly's guitarist was unavailable
at show time. They came back to the dressing room asking to borrow
a guitar - and the guitarist, too! Matt played that night with
Sly And The Family Stone onstage! After leaving Jo Jo Gunne, Matt
began to travel. He first went to Mexico, and helped his dad Keith
guide a small boat back from the Sea Of Cortez in a harrowing journey.
Next was a trip to South Africa with John Locke, playing with Albert
Hammond, then on tour to Europe with Mark joining them, and he
then lived for several months on the Caribbean island of Montserrat,
still hanging out with John. In 1976, Matt played on the Spirit album "Farther
Along", and did some limited shows with them. In 1981, Matt again played with singer/songwriter
Albert Hammond. Several years later, he and Mark teamed up once
again and performed with Gene Clark and the Firebyrds, on offshoot
band of The Byrds. Next, taking another break from his musical
life, Matt chose to live in Playa Del Rey, Ca. and worked refurbishing
boats, making wooden furniture,and concentrated once again on his
painting. He also did some session work on an album with Peter
Noone of Herman's Hermits, David Briggs and also on old pal Randy
California's album Euro-American. He also got married, became a
father of a daughter and son, then divorced, and life continued
pretty much in the same vein for awhile. Next, he joined Mark and Todd Smallwood in a band
called Little Brother. Matt and Tom wrote a haunting melody called "Into
The Blue" that is a tribute to Randy California, and was sung
at Randy's memorial service. Matt's now grown daughter Rachel,
also performed with this group. A several year stint with country folk singer Eliza
Gilkyson in the late '90's gave Matt some more work, including
several albums and some more touring. In 2002, Matt played with '"one of the best
guitar players, ever!"', Andrew Hardin. He's really proud
of having been chosen to work on Andrew's CD "Just Like This
Train." And now, he's back once again with Jo Jo Gunne,
and couldn't be happier. When the recording of the new CD was finished,
he flew back to the serenity of the Texas Hill Country ranch that
he shares with his lady, where he tends to the land and all that
live and grow there - tame and wild, flora and fauna. Matt's main
hobby is building and flying remote controlled airplanes, and he
still creates all kinds of art.
Bio courtesy of Matt Andes & Leigh
Crutchfield |