Andy Hunter
Dance music and spiritual faith are rarely seen in the same circles. Britain's Andy Hunter manages to ride the balance between the two without alienating the former or tainting the latter. A lover of both music, and what he calls "his God," since the age of 14 Hunter has worked in a capacity that has allowed both those entities to blissfully co-exist.
Born in Leicester, in the Midlands, Hunter's educational aspirations were distracted by his sound engineering tendencies. Steered towards an opportunity to work with a sound company, Hunter left school and began teching for bands such as Suede and the Wonderstuff in the early '90s. During this time, he came across the New Generation Music and Mission (NGM) organization, who were looking for a traveling sound engineer to accompany their touring bands.
Moving to Bristol, in the Southwest of England in 1992, where NGM is based, Hunter began working for them. NGM's goals corresponded with those of Hunter's. Where NGM is a community mobilizing a new breed of missionaries to mix training, church planting, music and media, Hunter's intentions are to give people an opportunity to find out about God in a non-stereotypical, preach-free way.
In 1996, Hunter became a youth worker in Bristol, working with young people with no prospects. Developing roots in the community, and cutting down on traveling allowed him to buy turntables and start deejaying. A club night for under-18s was set up by him for the very people he was working with during the day. Learning his skills at that club for a couple of years, it was at this time that he also began developing his studio skills. The youth organization he was involved in was art-based with one of the fields of training being studio production.
"I always wanted to be in bands and be on stage," says Hunter. "I played guitar, but I got more into the sound and lighting because I wasn't a great guitar player. I loved putting music on before the bands came on so I became interested in deejaying, thinking it would be great to inflict my taste on people without the band coming on and breaking it up."
Settling into working at the now-defunct, notorious Lakota club in Bristol in a production capacity as well as deejaying in some of the pre-club bars, Hunter joined forces with Robbie Bronniman and Ray Goudie of Hydro around the time of their second album, Aborigination. Further honing his production skills and translating the music live, Hydro had a few solid remixes, among them, ones for Hope Recordings' Starcase.
Splitting up Hydro to focus on solo projects, Hunter moved to Swansea in South Wales in 1999. Starting up a drum 'n' bass night called Absolute Drum 'n' Bass (from 1999-2000), Hunter expanded the sounds to include progressive house, techno and trance. He also was a regular at Escape, the main club in South Wales alongside the likes of Judge Jules and Alistair Whitehead.
Beginning work on a drum 'n' bass-centric project called Trip with partner Martin King, they had a full-length release in 1997 entitled Cultural Shift. Along the atmospheric, melodic lines of drum 'n' bass in the Good Looking Records style, Hunter still occasionally works as Trip.
Deejaying steadily around Swansea, and intermittently on the Christian circuit, the now 28-year-old Hunter began work on Andy Hunter in 2000. Focusing on the writing of the album for a year and a half, the start was at a studio in Swansea where his wife runs a community project that has a studio set-up with half Hunter's gear and half community equipment. After getting down the basics, he came to Nashville to work with producer Ted T. (most notably of Jewel fame) to perfect the more musical side of things.
A combination of all of Hunter's eclectic musical leanings from progressive house to trance to drum 'n' bass to ambient moods, Andy Hunter, doesn't stay in one place. Incorporating his influences ranging from material on Good Looking Records to Roni Size/Reprazent, Chicane, Leftfield and Underworld, Andy Hunter, runs the gamut. Solid, pounding beats make up the backbone of the uplifting compositions. High energy, powerfully constructed rhythms storm through the tracks as sung, spoken and rapped words encourage the listener along. Intricate breakbeats and inventive keyboard work give the cuts a unique bent. Strong melodies are ever-present holding the entire work together. Featuring the vocals of Christine Bird on the stirring "Amazing," and Hunter's own vocals on "Wonders Of You" and "Radiate," all his musical objectives have been met.
"I wanted an album that would create an atmosphere," he says of Andy Hunter. "I wanted it to be really good production. I wanted a sonically good album that expresses my faith, if you like, but not in a ramming down people's throat way. My expression of my love for my God. I'm not into proselytizing at all, but the album was born out of my love for my God and that's where the music comes from. [It's] about a journey. That's why it goes fast and goes slow and picks up again."
Planning on interpreting Andy Hunter live, there have been some showcases featuring Ted T. on computers and keyboards, a percussionist, Christine Bird on vocals and Hunter himself deejaying plus a painter, Lane, creating art as the music was being performed. Working on expanding the show to include full drums, a mixing desk and running the entire operation live, in the meantime Hunter is expressing himself through deejaying.
Still working with displaced youths and keeping a hand in the operations of NGM, Hunter uses his position to help people find their way. At the same time keeping his head together while involved in the crazy and unstable world of dance music. |
