Art During A Pandemic: Birmingham's Andy Spain Releases New Album

BIRMINGHAM, AL — One of the brightest aspects of Birmingham over the last decade has been its growing music scene and the number of great musicians who call the Magic City home. One of the jewels within the Birmingham scene during that time has been Andy Spain — a somewhat quirky and uniquely creative songwriter who has just released a new album, Echosis, which was released Aug. 21.

Spain grew up in Jasper and was part of the Tuscaloosa music scene in the 1990s and has lived and played music in Birmingham for the past 22 years. When he's not making music, Spain works as a freelance digital media consultant.

"Music was a big part of my upbringing, and I've been writing songs and playing guitar since I was 13 when I dug my dad's old guitar out of a closet and started tormenting him with it," Spain said of his musical roots.

Patch caught up with Spain to discuss his latest project, what inspires his music, and what it's like making an album during a global pandemic:

How many albums have you put out?

Echosis is my 3rd full-length album, but I've also released an EP and a handful of singles. It's my first album in 7 years.

Who worked on/produced/contributed to this album?

I pretty much did everything myself, played all the instruments, produced the thing in my own studio, even created the cover artwork. Probably why it took me so long. But I also got inspiration and input from friends and other musicians.

How has the pandemic affected musicians like you? Not just in regard to playing live, but recording and writing music as well?

Well, I hadn't been playing live much when the pandemic hit, I took a long break to refuel and make the record. But it has affected my plans to promote the album. Touring and gigging are definitely out, so I'll have to be creative, which will involve live streams, virtual events, and begging.

As far as recording goes, I'm pretty self-contained, so if anything it gave me more time. I had planned to release this album in April, but whoops... Then I had to think whether it even made sense to release an album during all this. Add to that the concept and relevant themes of the record (isolation, tribalism, mental illness), I had to give it some serious thought. I spent the extra time refining the record to make it better, and just kind of waited until it felt right to release it.

Writing music is a different matter. At first, I thought, "wow, a global disaster... this should be really inspiring," but I honestly found it hard to write for the first couple of months of lockdown. I guess I just needed time to process, 'cos I'm writing a lot more these days. I'm already starting to cobble together songs for what might be my next album.

What are your musical influences?

I really like British rock — spacey, psychedelic stuff particularly. Beatles, Pink Floyd, Radiohead, and I'm also very much a lyric person so I dig Neil Young, Elvis Costello, Dylan. I like it when music takes me places and makes me think and feel things, so hopefully the music I make does that for other people.

What was the first album you ever purchased?

It was actually "Headhunters" by Herbie Hancock. The one with "Chameleon" on it. I was in marching band and we had learned it, so I wanted the tape. After that, I think it was either something by The Cars or Ozzy.

Spain's album Echosis is available on his website for purchase.