artist Andy Stevens

If ever there was a poster boy for musical indecision, Andy Stevens, a hardworking songwriter from Saint John NB, Canada could be a prime contender. In recent years Andy has dipped his hand into many different genres ranging from acoustic love ballads with his White Rabbit persona to spaced out prog rock with the band Born Under Satellites and even some mind-numbing heavy metal with We, The Undersigned, with whom he is currently a member.

At the ripe young age of 26 he may finally be arriving at a place where his sonic thirst may be quenched as a solo artist with his latest full length recording “Awakening” on Sandbar Music. His new offering contains 10 songs of delicious easy to listen to rock with the obvious intent right out of the gate to reach for a higher level of  musical sophistication, not to mention a wider audience than his debut release The Glorious Blindfold.

“I just wanted to write some fun rock ‘n roll songs and basically force myself to tread new lyrical ground than where I’ve been in the past.  I feel like I’ve achieved that.” says Andy when asked what he was trying to accomplish with the new album.

Invaluable contributions to the record came from two of Saint John’s outstanding musicians. Playing drums is Clinton Charlton who is both a songwriter and performer in his own right as well as being the drummer for local folk/rock group the Penny Blacks.   Adam Kierstead, guitarist for  Saint John’s own Hospital Grade plays bass on the record. He is perhaps the most versatile multi-instrumentalist the old port city has to offer.  

“The lyrics and wordplay are breezy, but with a desperate overtone of 'what have we done here...’ ”
- Marc Henwood, 103.5FM The Pirate

 “These songs are well-written modern pop songs that would easily slide onto the playlist of both commercial radio and more open-minded venues like CBC Radio 3 Podcast and campus radio.”
- Nelson Hansen, HERE magazine