Andy Till - Reviews

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The Life of a Session Musician - By Claire Robinson.

Most bands at some time or another need a session musician for a range of reasons, it could be a member of the band is sick and can’t perform, that they need a fuller sound in the studio, or that they want a bigger instrumental section on tour. Whatever the reason when they call in a session musician they want someone who can hit the ground running and do a good job at the same time. Session Musicians in effect are the contract staff of the music world. We decided to find out what makes a session musician tick so I’ve had a chat with Andy Till a UK session musician.

Claire: How did you get into session work?
Andy: I started out as the bassist in a soul & Motown / party band called PP & The Floorshakers touring professionally around the U.K. After three or so years I made te move to do more freelance work, doing live sessions with various professional touring bands. I made quite a few contacts meeting other musicians/bands and I've been contacted when they need a session bass player and approached for a lot of the work live touring, studio and writing work.
Before becoming professional I was semi-pro doing pubs and clubs, I knew I wanted to become a session player and freelance playing with various different bands and playing lot's of different styles of music when I was starting out as a bass player.


Claire: Would you say it is lucrative work?

Andy: Yes, it is lucrative work, depending on who you play with, at what level and if you’re a session musician who writes and gets royalties. I make enough at the level I session at within the professional bands, tribute bands, function and working bands.
Sometimes it varies from session to session and what bands can afford to pay. I'm happy making enough and feel very fortunate and lucky to make music my full time living. Although I'm always working on getting the more lucrative work all the time, that kind of work is normally with the big name players.


Claire: You must have made some famous contacts, can you tell us about one or two of them?

Andy: I've made contacts and worked with great musicians who have session-ed with some great names from popular music John Lennon, Brian Ferry, The Nolan's, Freddie and the dreamers, The Love Affaire, Jimmy James and others.


Claire: Do you find yourself working with the same musicians time and again?

Andy: I do work with a lot of the same musicians, I have also made some great friends along the way! There is a pool of session musicians I tend to work with a lot, although there are a lot of different musicians turning up and playing all the time. It changes though, I can work with the same musicians a lot and others I’ll work with on a one off session then not work with them again.


Claire: How about funny/memorable moments? Any you would like to share?

Andy: The most funny and memorable... doing session work in a live backing band doing a UK tour in an old Ford transit van one winter. It was freezing sleeping in this transit van going around the country with a backing band. I find it funny as people think being a musician and working in show business is glamorous, if only they experienced those four weeks in a transit! I will always find that a memorable time!
Another funny moment walking on stage and falling in the pit, it hurt, but was a funny one for the other musicians!
Looking back there is always something to make you smile in this job.


Claire: There must be bad things about it though?

Andy: Breaking down on the motorway at six in the morning on the way to a session/gig, although I got to the gig on time in the end!
The worst things are mainly things like late nights followed by early mornings and when things go wrong on the road!


Claire: One for the budding session players out there…what sort of person suits your line of work?

Andy: A people person is good at this type of work who gets on well with everyone as you meet a lot of different people, someone who turns up on time, plays well and plays what is asked; basically an all round great player. If it's doing live session work and touring someone who can travel long hours, handle late nights and early mornings. Someone with a good professional attitude and manner and doesn't mind staying away from home from time to time.


So there we have it, a bit of insight into the world of being a session musician! Thanks to Andy for taking time out to speak with me. If you want to know more about the life of a session player Andy’s website is a good place to start www.andytill.com.

T Mobile Advert Campaign 2009 - 2010.

The final installment of T-Mobile’s series of advertisements starring Josh Ward, who took up the challenge of putting together a superband using only his mobile phone, has been released.

The ad – the video for Josh’s Band’s song, ‘Come with Me’, – debuted on Channel 4 during the entire three-minute ad break for ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ at 21.30 on January 15, 2010.

The spot is the culmination of Josh’s Band campaign from T-Mobile, which followed Josh Ward as he created a superband using only free texts and internet on his mobile.

Previous instalments of the ad have seen Josh on his travels around the country, recruiting band members at gigs in Manchester, Birmingham, London and Edinburgh.

The final TV advertisement showcases the end of Josh’s journey as he performs his debut song, ‘Come with Me’, which was released by Universal as a single on Monday, January 11, 2010. In total, 1,107 band musicians were involved in the writing and recording of the track.

“In our earlier ‘Life’s for Sharing’ campaigns we created moments that people could share. This time we challenged Josh to show how using just his phone he could share his dream of setting up a band,” said Head of Brand and Communications, T-Mobile UK, Lysa Hardy.

“It’s been fantastic to see how fans have interacted with the T-Mobile brand and helped shape the direction of this campaign – which culminates in this final ad spot, celebrating the bands incredible journey right the way up to their single release."