On face value, Flower Mound High grad Andrew Tinker just might be the most
unlikely pop musician in North Texas.
Considering just his endeavours as a youth — classical training in French horn and performing with the Texas Boys Choir — it's not easy to imagine Tinker fronting a band as singer/keyboardist in local clubs and bars.
But his music education didn't stop with classical. In addition to poring over his father's collection of classic rock and pop music, Tinker was influential in forming one of the area's best-known groups — The Polyphonic Spree.
At the age of 15, Tinker joined the group. He performed French horn on the
band’s first two albums, which earned critical acclaim and international
awards.
In 2003, Tinker traded the tour bus and the Spree robe for
campus life and enrolled in the College of Music at The University of North
Texas. As he studied, he continued to make music with his group the GoodNights,
earning local recognition as he honed his style.
The 2007 UNT graduate recently released his
first full-length disc, It Takes the
World. The well-received album is decidedly poppy, which comes as no surprise for a
musician who admits he can sing along to the entire recording of Jesus Christ Superstar, and who does a
strong cover of Britney Spears’ Toxic.
In recent months, he has appeared on 91.7 KXT radio, and he
and his band were in the final three of The Sound and the Jury contest, in
which hundreds of bands competed for a coveted spot performing at the Austin
City Limits Music Festival.
Tinker recently traded e-mails for an interview. If you like
what you read and hear (check those links!), you can see Andrew Tinker live at
9 p.m. this Thursday at the Boiler Room in Denton.
In addition to
performing on KXT, your song “Nineteen” is being played regularly on the
station. Is that song at least in part autobiographical?
Well, it did snow on Valentine’s day once, and I remember having a snowball
fight with my girlfriend at the time, and I think we were 19 that year... but
aside from that little bit, the events and sentiments expressed in the song are
my romanticized recollections of young love. They’re my musical description of
the freedom my friends and I were experiencing; we felt like grown-ups while
wholeheartedly enjoying the innocence of our youth. It was the best of both
worlds.
Your time with The
Polyphonic Spree is impressive, especially considering you were only a
teenager. How did Tim DeLaughter and Co. influence you musically and
personally?
Probably the greatest lesson I learned from participating in The Polyphonic
Spree is that the superstar musicians on festival stages, magazine covers, TV
shows, etc. are real people. And I figured that if I practiced and studied and
grew as a musician, someday I could be singing to a crowd of thousands. Playing
with Polyphonic inspired me to think big.
What’s the best advice you’ve received
from a musician?
Probably the best advice I got from a musician must have come from one of my
band or choir directors somewhere along the way... “Drink lotsa water.”
What advice would you offer a teen who's
interested in making a living in pop music?
Growth often has moments of discomfort, but that’s also true of a lot of great
music.
What are your fondest memories of Flower
Mound and high school?
My senior year we collected enough students to put together a music theory
class. It turned out to be a really fun class and it ended with my first real
score — Periwinkle’s Waltz, for solo
horn and string orchestra. I played the horn solo for the only performance of
it, which was in the cafeteria during the orchestra class period. The audience
consisted of the music theory class and a band director, who recorded it as I
recall, but to my knowledge, both the recording and score have been lost,
although I still kinda remember the horn melody.
Who are your biggest influences?
When I was a kid, I used to listen to a lot of Stevie Wonder, Elton John,
The Who, and the original cast recording of Jesus
Christ Superstar (to which I can sing every word). Those were my favorite vinyls
in my dad’s collection, and they’ve definitely ended up being some of my
biggest influences.
What inspires you to sing and write
songs?
Oh man, all kinds of stuff. Things I see, ideas I’ve been pondering, maybe a
little tidbit I read somewhere or another, dreams even. Once I get an idea for
a song though, I usually inflate it a bit to make it more dramatic or funny or
stylized or whatever.
What are your professional goals?
I’d like to win a Grammy. But I don’t really have an artistic motivation for
wanting one, it just seems like a pretty good symbol of musical success.
Anything else people should know about
you?
I don’t mind asking for help, and right now I’d like some help with booking and
promoting more shows. I’m also looking for a story that would make a good
musical or opera. And if anyone reading this would like to help me with either
of those tasks, or just so happens to be a wealthy patron looking for a musician
to sponsor, please contact me via Facebook, Twitter, or Myspace at your
earliest convenience. Thanks!
• Andrew Tinker on Myspace
• Andrew Tinker on Twitter
• Andrew Tinker on Facebook
• Watch Tinker’s in-studio KXT performance
