June 16, 2025
Andy Ross is a pivotal part of OK Go, both band and online phenomenon. We speak with Andy on his career to date, upcoming works and a lot more. To listen / watch: Audio-only: click on the play button in the audio player above, or: Video: watch the embedded video below or check it and...
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I should put that on my tombstone.
Like someone in middle school wanted my haircut.
And it's good.
It's good.
Hello and welcome to the Keyboard Chronicles podcast for keyboard players.
I'm your host David Holloway and I'm thrilled as always to be here with you.
(00:22):
I've just finished a brilliant interview, brilliant because of the guests, not me, withMr.
Andy Ross from OK Go.
Now some of you out there are absolutely going to be familiar with OK Go.
They are renowned amongst many other things, including their amazing music for theincredible
videos that they do and please do if you're unaware of OK GO, check our show notes.
(00:46):
We'll link to some of the more iconic ones, although they're all worth checking out.
It's hard to overestimate how much complexity is in these videos, the amount of planningand effort.
Now we don't talk a lot about that because the music alone stands up incredibly well.
But so we talked to Andy about his career with OK GO, his musical upbringing.
(01:07):
his side projects and a lot more to his perspective on music more broadly.
So a lot to enjoy.
I'll let you jump in and I'll talk to you after the show.
(01:29):
Andy sir, it's an absolute pleasure to have you on the show and I particularly appreciatethe time you're taking because I believe you've just had a heavy day of rehearsal.
Yeah, we're about to hit the road next week.
Our first shows, I mean, really, it's our first shows in years.
We did do a few dates last summer.
So ah I almost don't count those because it was four and it was, it went by really fast.
(01:53):
But yeah, we're, we have a new record now.
And so these will be like the first like real dates of the new record.
And yeah, we have to like learn how to play our music, which is challenging.
Absolutely.
And have you missed it, Andy?
Do you miss the live playing where is it one of those grasses greener on the other sidethings that you miss it when you're not doing it?
(02:15):
Yeah, definitely.
Touring is really, it is really challenging.
And especially when you're doing longer runs, the first two weeks are always great and theshows are fun.
And then, you know, as it drives on, the shows are always fun, but you know, everythingelse about touring starts to suck.
And then, you know, when you do a whole record cycle, you're ready to not be on tour andnot go into a rock club for months.
(02:38):
um this one, you know, this last, after our last record, we, you know, um,
I don't know if you noticed about this, we make music videos for some of our songs and uhthey take a long time.
So, you know, our last record, we made a bunch of videos.
Those took months.
We toured a lot.
Then we did another show where we live scored the music videos.
(02:59):
We played in like sort of nicer rooms, more performing arts centers.
And, um, so we did that for a few years.
Then I had kids and Damien had kids around the same time.
And then there was this.
pandemic.
don't know if you remember that that moment.
So um it's it's we sort of this really our first record in 10 years.
(03:21):
um And we have been doing stuff, but we also haven't really been, you know, fully fullyactive.
So it's good.
It's It's to be back.
We're really excited to play shows.
We're really excited to play shows.
And we're we're hoping to get down to your neck of the woods next year.
And we're looking into that specifically.
So
(03:41):
Superb, very excited.
So, I mean, as you mentioned, you're about to do, think it's 20 something, close to 20dates around the US over the next couple of months.
What is the rehearsal process after so long?
Cause that's not easy, let alone you've got a new album to learn to play.
Right, right.
Yeah.
you know, there's some, I mean, there's a whole gear discussion there and we're stillgetting that set up.
(04:06):
You know, we're mostly using, you know, software, software instruments.
It's just the easiest thing to do.
And we have Kemper amps for guitars, which is also easy to do, but you know, we've got tobuild all those sounds from the record.
um
Some of that is, you know, we can use the same stuff we were using in the studio, but someof it is analog.
And so, you know, are we going to use an instrument from a library or are we going tosample it?
(04:31):
So we do sample a lot.
Sometimes our, um, you know, we, we've, we've worked the last three records with DaveFriedman, um, the producer who's done, you know, flaming lips, MGMT.
He creates like the most incredible sounding stuff.
So we just want, sometimes you just want to sample.
an instrument that we've recorded there.
So, you know, that just takes time and we're going through that in terms of like learningthe songs.
(04:59):
Some of the songs I will be able to play when I'm dead.
We've played so many times and it's just like, like there are neural networks in my brainthat are like concrete at this point.
And then the new stuff, you know, lot of our, our, reporting and sort of writing processis really like in Pro Tools.
(05:19):
Like we, we, you know, there's very, we'll come up with something on an, on a guitar or akeyboard or piano or something, but that's like the very first step.
once, once we start getting it into Pro Tools, the first bits, the first demo, we'rereally building in, in, in there.
And so we're layering on top and building in there.
So, you know, I think it comes out great, but then we have to learn how to play it.
(05:42):
though, you know, sometimes we get a little help from the computer to come up with someparts and then, um, it's like, my God, I, know, I just came up with this two handed
keyboard part that sounds great, but now I have to play this in front of people.
So there's, yeah, it's we're, we're, we're in it right now.
We're in it right now, but it's fun.
(06:03):
It's fine.
It's tiring.
It's
And so, and we're definitely going to talk about the album, just as far as how do youthink your rig is shaping up for this tour?
So you mentioned you quite understandably use lots of soft synths and so on.
So what's your go-to rig with OK Go that you tend to work up?
Yeah.
So we'll probably play everything out of live and it'll, you know, mostly we'll use a lotof native instrument stuff.
(06:30):
So it just, it's, it's been, it works well and you know, contact, can sample or we canuse, you know, whatever packages they have third party packages, all sorts of things like
that.
So we use massive a lot.
We, we do have some sort of more analog sense that are in there and some
(06:51):
special stuff here and there.
I mean, that's basically the package.
yeah, it's, you know, for lives, what people don't know about Spinal Tap is that it's adocumentary and it's not actually a fictional movie.
Everything that can go wrong will go wrong.
For us, we just want the thing that's gonna work every night and sound great.
(07:14):
ah you know, that's usually where we are.
And with Ableton Live, so do you have redundancy as far as a second backup rig to run theshow?
We do.
Yeah.
So, um, we, uh, we used to have like, you know, two, you know, audio interfaces and a DIbox that would, you know, fail over to the other one, but there's a new device called a
(07:37):
play audio, uh, one you or something like that.
I don't, I can't remember the name of the company off the head, but you, but you, it's,it's one audio interface that two computers plug into.
And so, you know, it will, it will handle all your MIDI ins and outs, distribute them toboth computers.
And there's one set of basically outputs that it'll fail over if the computer fails over.
(08:01):
It's a, it's a awesome piece of gear because it took our, you know, our keyboard rigplayback unit from this like huge rack.
It's like a, it's like literally it can fit in one rack space and you know, there's otherslike tables and things like that you can put in there, but it's.
It's so far it's worked in the four shows we played last summer, worked, but it's animpressive piece of gear.
(08:25):
If, you know, I know it's listening to that, that means something like that.
It works great.
Excellent.
And what controllers are you using when you're actually doing the playing?
Uh, we basically have, we're just using like audio controllers.
They're, they're just mini controllers.
There's, there's, there's not much anything special going on there.
(08:46):
I mean, you know, we'll go through a few of those in a tour cause you know, they're, getbanged up and then, know, that's another thing about being on the road.
You need stuff that you can just replace.
Um, so, um, yeah, that's, that's, that's it.
And let's talk about the latest album.
So, and the adjacent possible.
(09:06):
And I've talked about it in the intro, Andy, but it's an amazing album and the diversity,like always with OK GO is huge.
I mean, as you've already mentioned, you do some highly digital stuff.
There's some beautiful electric pianos vibes and stuff.
Just tell us about the approach to the album and the role you played as far as working upthe songs and your sound choices and so on.
Yeah, I mean, we started, we really were winding down the last record in that live videoshow that I mentioned before, in about 2018, 2019.
(09:40):
So that's really when we started working on a lot of these songs.
COVID really sort of blew a hole in the middle of that.
We had gotten about six to seven songs in a good spot, and then we really stopped.
Yeah, we just, we, we took the, you know, the shelter place stuff pretty seriously.
(10:02):
And, you know, no one was really in the mood to work on stuff.
it really took, you know, 20, 2021 is when we sort of opened things back up.
And the break actually was kind of good because you're able to look, we were able to lookat all the songs that we had started and be like, oh, now it's a little fresh.
We know where to go with a few of these things.
(10:24):
So.
That's where we were then.
we started, so then we started finishing this song back up 2021, 22.
I don't know how much you know about the band and Damien, our lead singer, he directed amovie in 2022.
It was, it's called the Beanie Bubble.
(10:44):
was an Apple movie, big movie, big movie stars in it.
And.
So he was sort of, we had, I say the record was like 75 % done at that point.
And while he was working on the movie, Tim and I, the bass player, would go to his studioevery day and we'd be working on stuff.
(11:05):
And so there were sort of these parallel things all happening.
And then in 2023 and 2024, we got all the songs where we liked them and we started mixingthem with a few different producers.
had...
You know, this guy, Claudius Mittendorfer, amazing mixer, Tony Hoffer, we were before wehad Dave Friedman mix a few songs.
(11:28):
And we were really like where all the songs were going, but we, we realized that they wereall starting to sound like different things.
And last year we decided let's, you know, we've worked with Dave Friedman for the last twoprevious records.
Let's go to him for one final like mixing session.
He'll, you know, we, we,
(11:50):
believe strongly that he would be able to tie all the loose ends and pull it together.
And I think he did a great job and we're super happy with it.
yeah, I appreciate the compliment on record.
We're really happy with it.
I feel like it's really, I feel like we sound like the music we hear in our head.
(12:18):
And not that it wasn't like that way on the other records, but you know, I think that wewere maybe trying for certain different sounds on other records and experimenting with a
few things.
And I think that a lot of the songs on this record are just, you know, we wrote it, welike it, and we just followed the song into like what it was.
And I think it's a little mixed tapey.
(12:38):
I think it kind of goes all over the place, which, you know, we liked that.
I think, you know, if you listen to a Beatles record, they're
all over the place and I just I kind of like that kind of album and so yeah thank you.
It's absolutely amazing, Albin.
I think you're right.
The mix has brought it all together.
It's got huge diversity in depth, but sort of links together really well.
(13:01):
I've probably of all the songs, fantasy versus fantasy is one of my favorites, there'sjust, yeah, it's all the world.
Great, great music.
And I mean, you, you alluded to the, the videos, Andy, obviously those that already areaware of you are likely to be aware of you because of the videos.
And we'll certainly be linking our listeners and viewers to those.
But you, you mentioned the logistical process with that is enormous.
(13:22):
And you've released new videos just in the last couple of weeks.
I imagine that's actually more intensive in a lot of ways than the actual recording.
Yeah, yeah.
Although I wouldn't underestimate our ability for perfectionism on the recording side.
do, you mentioned Fanciers of Fantasy.
I want to go back one more because there's a part of the process that I omitted and thisis a keyboard show so I mention it.
(13:46):
Sort of in the last few months before we mixed the record, Damien when he did his movie,he did a lot of the film scoring at this studio called Band Rica here in Los Angeles and
they have a...
an old like 1920s theater organ from the era where they would, you know, it would besilent movies.
So they'd have a live organist do basically all the audio for, for the, the movie.
(14:11):
And so, um, you know, this was like a baby and, know, I mean, it's enormous.
It's like this, size of like a gym and the sound was so incredible, um, that we, wanted toget it on there.
So we,
We brought this guy Mark Herman in, who's Mark Herman, and he's one of the best theaterorganists in the world.
(14:34):
He does live shows where he'll do a live score of a silent movie, you know, now.
so we just wanted to like, we just opened up a session with him and told him the key andwe're just like, just play stuff.
you know, those theater organs are incredible.
There's so many different sounds that they can come up with.
(14:54):
It's like pipe organ.
And then, mean, you can do like a, even a road sound.
There's all this crazy, uh, percussive instruments in there.
And so in fancy versus fantasy, you can actually hear a lot of the, that organ in there.
And, um, he's pro that's probably on like four, four to six songs in the record.
(15:17):
And I think that those songs that.
organ and you know it's this amazing it's like there's nothing digital about it it's likethe most analog there's it's like literally air being pumped through this huge machine uh
it really it's really special and so yeah to all your to all the listeners out there gobuy a theater organ go go buy a you know 5 000 square foot warehouse and put a theater
(15:42):
organ in there and play with it but yeah it that was really fun to play too because
I mean, those things are so powerful and you just like, feel like you, you you have likea, like a rocket launcher or something that you can play music to.
So yeah, I definitely wanted to give a shout out to Mark because he, you know, he was, hewas fun to work with because you know, he, a lot of theater organists sort of improvised.
(16:04):
And so he was a great person to be like, no, try something else there.
And you know, try, try like, you know.
just going crazy with something and the vibes, know, do the vibes there, go, you know, doa scale there.
It was, was,
That's amazing.
So Mark, we're coming after you as a guest, number one.
And number two, I assume you're taking a theatre organ out on the road then if you'rerecommending everyone buys one.
(16:25):
Yeah, yeah, just gotta clear that past management, you know, might not fit in the trailer.
No, that's amazing.
you, Eddie.
That's brilliant.
And so I wanted to ask you obviously with how intricate either in the video sense, butalso these amazing albums and your live performances, has anything ever gone spectacularly
(16:46):
wrong for you that you can look back and laugh on it now?
I don't know if you've ever seen the documentary made about the Zero Gravity video that wemade.
The video came out great.
I'm super proud of that.
The process of that was like one of the most excruciating things that I think took yearsoff my life.
(17:11):
We shot that in Russia and it...
uh
Nausea is not like the right word to describe the feeling that in this thing.
And I didn't think that um I like roller coasters and thrillers.
I was like, this will be fine.
The first I went up, was so nauseated that the remaining 20 flights that we went on, I wasjust in this like perpetual state of anxiety and total terror that that um
(17:43):
that feeling would come back and just be there the whole time and that I'd have it for therest of my life.
I wouldn't, I don't know if I'm answering your question.
It wasn't, it wasn't, uh it wasn't a failure.
didn't, it didn't.
And in fact, it was one of our great videos.
So, but, but the process was, was really, really rough and usually they're more fun.
(18:03):
So yeah.
So that one was, that one was pretty bad.
That was pretty bad.
As someone who suffers from motion sickness, have my sympathies and I can only imaginewhat motion sickness means in that context.
It's another whole level.
It is pretty, it is pretty wild.
It's pretty wild, yeah.
That's great.
Um, and not great, but you know what I mean?
I do need to ask you've already mentioned Mark, Herman, but are there keyboard players outthere?
(18:28):
Well, actually let's go back to your musical upbringing.
So what got you into music in the first place?
So let's go back to, you know, all those years ago to your childhood.
What got you into it?
Yeah, so I grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts.
I don't know how familiar you are with second tier cities in the US, but it's sort of,it's near Boston, but it's about 40 miles west of Boston.
(18:50):
So musically it was kind of an interesting place to be a teenager.
There was like a pretty thriving metal and hardcore scene there, but that wasn't totallymy vibe as a teenager.
I was really, really into like classic rock.
Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page were my North Star.
(19:11):
I was really into The Beatles, was really into Hendrix, that kind of 60s rock.
Then I grew up, I was in high school in the 90s, that was Pearl Jam, Nirvana, loved allthe grunge stuff.
It was a good time to be a teenager.
because we weren't really, all the bands would go to Boston, they would skip Worcester.
(19:35):
And I wasn't into metal.
like, didn't like really, you know, go to a lot of like the indie bands that might've beentouring in Boston.
So, you know, I was really like a class classic rock kid until college where I went toschool in New York.
And that's when I sort of, that's when I like the more in, I was exposed to more of theindie rock and, and, uh, you know, things like that, but like,
(20:03):
My bandmates, Damien and Tim, know, they, Damien grew up in DC and then 80s and 90s.
So like that, that like punk scene, you know, like the fugazi and mind of threat and allthat.
Like he was so steeped in that.
know, Tim was really into like, you know, the British and, you know, British stuff in the80s, like, you know, psychedelic furs and like, stone roses, things like that.
(20:28):
So.
The three of us really do have like a pretty interesting mix of like a lot of stuff thatwe all still really like.
Yeah, I mean, I would say I still, you know, I have two kids now and I still, every day onthe way to school, we all get to pick a song and I'm still trying to get like Led Zeppelin
(20:50):
to work.
It has not worked.
They still just want to hear like Taylor Swift or Chaperone, which is fine.
That's great.
That's their right, but.
I'm still gonna play Led Zeppelin and they're still gonna complain about
Absolutely.
And they will learn eventually, I promise you.
That's amazing.
And so as far as the first instrument, as I said, you're a multi-instrumentalist to saythe least.
(21:13):
What was your sort of first involvement with instruments and then deciding you maybe liketo make a living out of it?
Yeah, so like I said, I love Zeppelin and I just, know, they're the guitar band.
So I had to get a guitar.
I had to learn how to play it.
And this was like early 90s.
So like the internet was not really a thing, but I was sort of a computer nerd and therewere things called bulletin boards, which you dial up a moat.
(21:39):
You have a modem, you dial up and it would be like local.
It would be like in your area and like people could put files on there and download files.
And on this one server, there were these things called tabs, which is in, it's like aneasier notation for guitar players.
And a lot of them were wrong.
A lot of them were written by, you know, novice guitar players.
(22:00):
And, but that was like my first exposure to.
Tabs.
So, so, or, or any kind of like music notation.
So I could actually learn how to play the guitar cause it was easier to read.
And I would just come home from school and play my guitar for.
six to eight hours a day.
was the only thing I wanted to do.
I eventually ended up learning every Led Zeppelin song, including like most of the solos.
(22:25):
I mean, I couldn't play them with like the right feeling or the right, you know, not allthe right notes.
um But it's okay.
I mean, Jimmy Page is so sloppy.
It's like, whatever, you just have to kind of, you just got to kind of feel it and you'refine with with Jimmy Page.
But yeah, and and so
You know, that leads to finding other kids at school that also like, you know, bands andmusic and, you know, had some awful high school bands, but it was the best thing ever.
(22:54):
And that went into college.
In college, I got really into classical music, actually.
I went to Columbia and they actually make you every, the part of their core curriculum isyou have to take a Western music class.
And so, you know, obviously that's a huge portion of that's on classical music andclassical period.
And I got really into it.
(23:14):
I, that's, that's when I was like, I should learn how to play piano.
Cause I, you know, I like this.
So, uh, I started taking, you could take, could actually take piano lessons from theschool.
You could take it as a class.
And so I started with that and I've been off and on with sort of classical piano lesson inmy adult life.
(23:38):
The off is a lot more, a lot more than the on just because of
There's not enough hours in the day to practice.
But yeah, I'm a big fan of classical and yeah, I love playing what I can play in that.
to ask any favourite classical artist, are there some that particularly float your boat?
(24:02):
Like in terms of composer or.
It's hard to, it's hard to think that anything's happened since Bach.
mean, it's like, uh, you know, if it's, if it's later than him, do we really need to hearit?
Um, so yeah, I mean, I, uh, love Bach and, I think, uh, like Beethoven's piano sonatacatalog is like.
(24:28):
Absolutely incredible.
mean, it's.
I like to, I was like a picture of Beethoven writing some of this stuff.
mean, it just sounds like the most tortured mind ever, but, but he eventually got to likethe most incredible music ever.
And, uh, I mean, Beethoven really sits like right at the point where things get a littleoverly romantic for me.
(24:52):
Um, I mean, not to, you know, so much of that stuff is incredible, brilliant.
love it, but Beethoven is like the
is like the incredible emotion, but not too much in a bad way, if I said that right.
um
(25:13):
That's probably where I would.
So that's great.
And I do need to ask about your movement into actually more that full time work.
So I'm also keen for you to mention in passing Secret Dakota Ring, just getting into thatmore full on band and then obviously joining OK Go.
Sort of what was the transition from school to, wow, I'm actually doing this for a living.
(25:34):
Yeah, so I went to school for, I got like a engineering degree as a computer science, Iwas an electrical engineering major, computer science minor.
So I graduated, I mean, I graduated in a good time for having that kind of degree.
So I lived in New York and I was doing, I worked at a startup in New York, which wasgreat.
It was a good job, but you know, I wanted to do music.
(25:54):
So I would be in band in New York on the side and I eventually.
quit the job to start a recording studio with this other buddy from Columbia.
And we had no idea what we were doing with music production.
Like we scraped together to buy like the cheapest Pro Tools rig.
We set up in Long Island, like near his house and recorded like high school bands.
(26:16):
We were just clueless, but we had a lot of heart and we were pretty good musicians.
So we could play, you know, bass and drums for people that just to sing our song or as wecome in.
And so we did that for a while.
Like that was kind of like what we did to get by.
And the problem is you're recording other people, which sometimes is not, you know, notthe, not the greatest, a lot of nice people, but, so, around the same time, I, for
(26:48):
personal reasons, I wanted to move to LA.
So I moved to Los Angeles and, uh, as you know, I was just about to start either.
looking for a studio job or looking for another programming job, honestly, because Ididn't really have anything.
A friend called and said, one of the friends that I had recorded in New York called andsaid, oh, do you know that band OK Go?
(27:10):
The original guitar player just quit.
And they're looking for someone like, you would be perfect for that pan.
And so I was like, OK.
And they were on Capitol Records.
I did the whole audition and it was me versus like 35 other guitarists and came down toone-on-one with this other person.
(27:33):
And we had to do like the whole audition in front of like the label and the A &R guy andthe PR and everything.
And I guess I got the job.
So that's the path to doing this full time.
In a sense, like, you know, I definitely,
(27:55):
I had an amazing opportunity presented to me, but the years doing the studio andpracticing at home, it didn't feel like I didn't put the work in.
No, not at all.
No, absolutely.
And I do need to mention to our listeners and viewers on a recent Instagram post, Ibelieve you celebrated a birthday around five or six weeks ago, Andy, and someone posted a
(28:16):
comment that they loved you so much in middle school.
They took a photo of a smudgy photo of you to their hairdresser and asked for the samehaircut that you had.
I thought that was amazing.
That's how well you fit it in.
Yeah, I mean, I've had some good hair moments.
I've had some good hair moments.
Yeah, that was funny.
I mean, that's really, yeah, I should put that on my tombstone.
(28:39):
Someone in middle school wanted my haircut.
That's right.
It's good, it's good.
Now I know we've got to let you go in a little while Andy, but we do have some standardquestions and number one, I feel like you've already done it with Mark Herman, but just
tagging a keyboard player.
Is there a keyboard player out there that you've always admired that you'd love to hearmore about their story?
(29:01):
the going at Led Zeppelin, I John Paul Jones is the bass player, but he's a great keyboardplayer.
And some of those songs I've tried to learn like no quarter and I was like, I don't know.
I can't, I can't do that.
But, uh, there's a, there's a contemporary classical pianist right now that I absolutelyadore named Viking or Olufsen.
(29:25):
He, I saw him play.
He just did the Goldberg variations.
that was, he just did a world tour playing the Goldberg variations, which I did not see,but I saw him on a previous tour where he was doing a sort of a Mozart program, which
Mozart's fine, but he, it's an hour and half program and he came out and in the program,there's an intermitten says intermission, but he comes out and he says, this will be one
(29:52):
and a half hours, no intermission.
So I hope you went to the bathroom.
And I was like, my God.
Um,
And he just, played like, it was, I don't know, maybe 15.
It wasn't just Mozart.
He mixed in a few other contemporaries, but it was incredible.
and I mean, there's a, he does arrangements of classical pieces where he'll sort ofmodernize them or he'll play like a, play like a classical piece on like a, old upright
(30:21):
piano.
that's kind of beat up so it's like a little bit out of tune and it just sounds reallycool.
He has an arrangement of a Bach organ sonata, I think it's the E minor one, that is likeso emotional.
It's like incredible.
I definitely recommend him.
If Classical Music's at all your thing, I would check him out.
(30:42):
He's incredible.
We definitely will check him out.
Thank you.
And I do need to ask you to just from uh a personal creative output, I assume that you'restill writing the odd song yourself and, and, know, do you have plans of anything
personally putting out outside of okay go.
I mean, I've I've had a tentative plans to put out a another solo record.
(31:05):
I think the last one was 2008 or something.
There's a lot of songs that are close to finished on my computer, but it's uh yeah, Imean, always writing and always writing for the band.
And hopefully there will be another another another record at some point.
I appreciate you bringing that up.
Yeah, I appreciate it.
(31:28):
Very happy to and now we have the dreaded desert island discs question Andy so if you hadto pick five albums to take to a desert island what would they be?
my goodness.
Five?
Okay.
Well, would definitely, I'm only going to give myself one Let's Gap on record.
So it'll probably be Led Zeppelin 2.
(31:49):
Cause I think that has the best riffs.
Does a box set count?
Yeah, yeah, you can get away with a box set, that's fine.
Alright, I would do the Richard Goode Beethoven piano sonata collection.
No.
I have to do a Beatles record.
So, I mean, that is a really, really tough one.
(32:10):
We have had people choose the Beatles box set as well.
Yeah, yeah, that's a cheat.
I can't do that.
I can't do that because you know, Beethoven didn't write albums So, you know, we got tokind of put them on.
Let's see.
I would probably do Revolver.
Oh man, that's such a tough one.
Do you would you do you have a Beatles record?
Yeah, Revolver are the white album.
(32:32):
I actually am a bit of a fan of Let It Be for some reason as well.
Interesting thing.
Did you, did you watch, did you watch the full?
Yep.
it was so great.
It was so great.
Like it was, it was so boring, but so not boring at the same time.
was like, it was, yeah, that was so fun.
Yeah.
I probably still go with revolver.
That's three.
(32:52):
Let's see here.
I mean, I, I do have to do something from the nineties.
Uh, I'm going to throw a little bit of a curve ball in here.
I'd probably do the first raging as the machine record.
because I think that that is an album of incredible guitar riffs.
is.
Yeah, the guitar playing in that is great.
And then I think I'll go back to Classical for my fifth choice.
(33:16):
We're a four, right?
I'll go back to Classical and if I had to pick something from Bach, it would probably bethe Brandenburg Concertos.
I'd probably want those.
But that's a tough one too, man.
We're not even getting into performances of those pieces.
I know I understand.
No, I appreciate that.
Good picks.
(33:38):
our last one, Andy's actually a 10 parter.
So we call it the quick fire 10, 10 short and sharp questions.
So first album, you actually recall hearing as a child or whenever that had a real impacton you.
Oof, recall hearing.
Guns N' Roses is apt type for destruction.
Which is an interesting thing to hear when you're like five years old.
Absolutely, absolutely.
(33:59):
Before a gig, what's your most important ritual?
What do you need to do to feel sort of settled before you go on stage?
Good question.
like to...
I like to stretch out.
I like to stretch out backstage and just sort of get my shoulders and arms relaxed.
Great.
I think I know the answer to this one based on your qualification, but if you hadn't beena musician, what do think your career choice would have been?
(34:24):
Yeah, I'd be uh a programmer.
I'd be a computer programmer.
Nothing wrong with that.
Favorite tour you've ever done, if that's possible.
Favorite tour?
There's a lot of good ones.
We did a tour of Brazil once where this is crazy.
was with Jose Cuervo.
I don't know who he was.
I think it might've been Damien from the band that came up with this idea where they havethis like Cuervo van that would drive into like a really crowded plaza.
(34:54):
Like in Brazil in the summer, all the plazas just have like thousands of people in them.
And the front would open up and we'd be there and we'd play like five songs and drive off.
uh, and we did that.
So we did this, we did it in like Rio and, and, we did it in Sao Paulo and some otherPorto Alegre or so, so whatever.
People were like so confused.
(35:17):
Cause like, you know, I'm sure like some people knew who you were, but a lot of people inBrazil had no idea who we were.
they're worried have this, we're wearing these like white suits and playing rock music inthe middle of street.
That was really fun.
Touring Japan is always so fun.
um Great fans and the crews over there are so great.
They measure out where you put your amp on the ground and it's always in the right place.
(35:39):
ah
I think Brazil and Japan are great picks.
Yeah, yeah, those are good.
Those are fun.
And is there a most memorable gig, again, a big call, but is there one gig that reallystands out for you that you constantly do go back to?
We played a festival in South Korea that it was, the crowd was huge and they were justlike so excited and like they knew all the words and it was super hot in the summer and it
(36:07):
was so fun.
yeah, that was, that was, that was really, really great.
I'll go with that.
I think it was the Pentaport Fest in South Korea.
It was great show.
Great one.
Name a song that you used to love, but you've now played it to death so it happily neverplayed again.
Oh, again, we checked.
Or a song I've listened to too much.
(36:27):
Yeah, anyone that you've played, yeah.
Yeah, well, one of the songs we played in our set is called Do What You Want.
And we've played it every show that I've been in the band and it's a really fun song toplay.
It's a rocker.
That is like the song I'm referring to.
I said I'll be able to play it in the grave because it's so burned in there.
(36:49):
Just a supplementary question though as a player myself, even with songs like that, haveyou ever had those doubts in the lead up to counting in where you go, I can't remember how
to play this.
Of course.
Yeah, totally.
We've had it with, you know, Here It Goes Again is sort of like the, you know, our biggestsong, the one that was in the treadmill video.
And we've screwed that song up more times than any other song.
(37:12):
And it's, it's one of the simpler songs too.
I mean, it's like a four chord song and, and like, we'll just be in the middle and someonewill mess up and then we'll be like, wait, where were we in this song?
Yeah, no, totally, totally that, that it happens.
It happens on those more because you're paying attention less because you know if a songis hard and and You haven't played it as much you're gonna be paying attention more.
(37:37):
So exactly definitely happens
That's a great encouragement for the rest of us.
Favorite music documentary or movie?
Do you have one that you sort of, you've already mentioned Spinal Tap, not as adocumentary.
documentary.
um I'll go back to the Beatles one.
I really like that.
I mean, the fact that it was so long, you really got to get in there.
(37:59):
Yeah, that was great.
Name one thing you'd like to see invented that would make your life as a keyboard playereasier.
Sounds like for you it's already been invented Andy and that the unit you mentioned beforethat has the failover in a nice beautiful little rack, you know, it doesn't get much
better than that.
(38:20):
That one definitely helps.
I'm trying to think if I mean, I can't invent like AI in my brain that makes me playbetter, right?
That goes against-
you get that?
Look, it's no, you can do that.
Yeah.
Um, yeah, I'll go, I'll go with that.
Right.
I wish I, I wish I was, I wish I was a better player.
I'm sure everyone does.
(38:40):
I'm sure I did.
But you know, the, the, the amazing thing about keys and piano is like, you really cancreate an incredible amount of music, you know, with, with a guitar, you're really, both
your hands are working on the same note, you know, 99 % of the time, whereas, you know,
(39:01):
with a keyboard, with a piano, can, you you've got it all right there.
And so I just wish I was better.
I wish I was a better player.
yeah, that invent, invent a brain that's better at this.
That's what I'm gonna invent.
We definitely buy that.
And last but not least, Andy, your favourite non-musical activity or hobby, what keeps yousane outside of music?
(39:25):
Well, I'll do the pre-kids and the post-kids because you know, got to save the kids.
It's all it's got to be the kids, right?
And it is it is legitimately the kids.
But, know, I like I like I'm kind of a golfer.
I like golfing.
I realized that, you know, because it's such a such an infuriating, stupid game.
Like, why do do this?
I realize it's the only thing I do where I'm outside for four hours and I like don't lookat my phone.
(39:50):
And so it's like, I don't even know if I like this thing.
I like
just being in the state of mind that's not so connected to a screen and I'm outside.
So yeah, that's, I'll go with that.
Excellent.
Andy, I can't thank you enough for your time.
said, particularly after a hard day of rehearsing, we're thrilled to see you out on tour.
(40:11):
By the time our viewers and listeners are watching, this should be sort of at leasthalfway through the tour.
But if you do get the chance, definitely go and check out OK Go.
And I'm trying not to get too excited about you may end up down under Andy, but can'tthank you enough for your time.
It's my pleasure.
Thank you so much for having me.
It was really fun.
yeah, we really want to get down there.
We have great fans down there.
(40:33):
yeah, I can make a 99 % promise we'll be there in 2026.
And there we have it.
I hope you enjoyed that interview with Andy.
It was certainly amazing talking to him.
(40:54):
I've been a fan of OK GO since pretty much they started the treadmill video he mentioned.
As I did say in the introduction, do check the show notes.
It's incredible, let alone everything else that's been produced musically and visuallysince.
So again, thank you for listening and enormous thanks to Andy for his time.
I do hope we do catch him down under.
(41:14):
It'd be lovely to see him.
uh Big shout out to our gold and silver supporters, the wonderful Mike Wilcox at MidnightMastering.
If you need some great mixing and mastering services at a reasonable price, Mike's theguy, midnightmastering.com.
Theamazingmusicplayer.com forums, Dave Bryce and the team there.
If you do like talking keyboards in a forum style like I do, definitely jump in there andhave a look.
(41:39):
The wonderful Tammy Katcher from Tammy's Musical Stew.
Thank you so much, Tammy, for your ongoing and long-term support.
It's greatly appreciated.
And last but definitely not least, the wonderful Dewey Evans from the Sunnyland of Wales.
Lovely to have you on board as always, Dewey.
Most importantly, thank you to all of you out there for listening.
We'll be back in a couple of weeks and until then, keep on playing.
I should put that on my tombstone.
Like someone in middle school wanted my haircut.
And it's good.
It's good.
Hello and welcome to the Keyboard Chronicles podcast for keyboard players.
I'm your host David Holloway and I'm thrilled as always to be here with you.
(00:22):
I've just finished a brilliant interview, brilliant because of the guests, not me, withMr.
Andy Ross from OK Go.
Now some of you out there are absolutely going to be familiar with OK Go.
They are renowned amongst many other things, including their amazing music for theincredible
videos that they do and please do if you're unaware of OK GO, check our show notes.
(00:46):
We'll link to some of the more iconic ones, although they're all worth checking out.
It's hard to overestimate how much complexity is in these videos, the amount of planningand effort.
Now we don't talk a lot about that because the music alone stands up incredibly well.
But so we talked to Andy about his career with OK GO, his musical upbringing.
(01:07):
his side projects and a lot more to his perspective on music more broadly.
So a lot to enjoy.
I'll let you jump in and I'll talk to you after the show.
(01:29):
Andy sir, it's an absolute pleasure to have you on the show and I particularly appreciatethe time you're taking because I believe you've just had a heavy day of rehearsal.
Yeah, we're about to hit the road next week.
Our first shows, I mean, really, it's our first shows in years.
We did do a few dates last summer.
So ah I almost don't count those because it was four and it was, it went by really fast.
(01:53):
But yeah, we're, we have a new record now.
And so these will be like the first like real dates of the new record.
And yeah, we have to like learn how to play our music, which is challenging.
Absolutely.
And have you missed it, Andy?
Do you miss the live playing where is it one of those grasses greener on the other sidethings that you miss it when you're not doing it?
(02:15):
Yeah, definitely.
Touring is really, it is really challenging.
And especially when you're doing longer runs, the first two weeks are always great and theshows are fun.
And then, you know, as it drives on, the shows are always fun, but you know, everythingelse about touring starts to suck.
And then, you know, when you do a whole record cycle, you're ready to not be on tour andnot go into a rock club for months.
(02:38):
um this one, you know, this last, after our last record, we, you know, um,
I don't know if you noticed about this, we make music videos for some of our songs and uhthey take a long time.
So, you know, our last record, we made a bunch of videos.
Those took months.
We toured a lot.
Then we did another show where we live scored the music videos.
(02:59):
We played in like sort of nicer rooms, more performing arts centers.
And, um, so we did that for a few years.
Then I had kids and Damien had kids around the same time.
And then there was this.
pandemic.
don't know if you remember that that moment.
So um it's it's we sort of this really our first record in 10 years.
(03:21):
um And we have been doing stuff, but we also haven't really been, you know, fully fullyactive.
So it's good.
It's It's to be back.
We're really excited to play shows.
We're really excited to play shows.
And we're we're hoping to get down to your neck of the woods next year.
And we're looking into that specifically.
So
(03:41):
Superb, very excited.
So, I mean, as you mentioned, you're about to do, think it's 20 something, close to 20dates around the US over the next couple of months.
What is the rehearsal process after so long?
Cause that's not easy, let alone you've got a new album to learn to play.
Right, right.
Yeah.
you know, there's some, I mean, there's a whole gear discussion there and we're stillgetting that set up.
(04:06):
You know, we're mostly using, you know, software, software instruments.
It's just the easiest thing to do.
And we have Kemper amps for guitars, which is also easy to do, but you know, we've got tobuild all those sounds from the record.
um
Some of that is, you know, we can use the same stuff we were using in the studio, but someof it is analog.
And so, you know, are we going to use an instrument from a library or are we going tosample it?
(04:31):
So we do sample a lot.
Sometimes our, um, you know, we, we've, we've worked the last three records with DaveFriedman, um, the producer who's done, you know, flaming lips, MGMT.
He creates like the most incredible sounding stuff.
So we just want, sometimes you just want to sample.
an instrument that we've recorded there.
So, you know, that just takes time and we're going through that in terms of like learningthe songs.
(04:59):
Some of the songs I will be able to play when I'm dead.
We've played so many times and it's just like, like there are neural networks in my brainthat are like concrete at this point.
And then the new stuff, you know, lot of our, our, reporting and sort of writing processis really like in Pro Tools.
(05:19):
Like we, we, you know, there's very, we'll come up with something on an, on a guitar or akeyboard or piano or something, but that's like the very first step.
once, once we start getting it into Pro Tools, the first bits, the first demo, we'rereally building in, in, in there.
And so we're layering on top and building in there.
So, you know, I think it comes out great, but then we have to learn how to play it.
(05:42):
though, you know, sometimes we get a little help from the computer to come up with someparts and then, um, it's like, my God, I, know, I just came up with this two handed
keyboard part that sounds great, but now I have to play this in front of people.
So there's, yeah, it's we're, we're, we're in it right now.
We're in it right now, but it's fun.
(06:03):
It's fine.
It's tiring.
It's
And so, and we're definitely going to talk about the album, just as far as how do youthink your rig is shaping up for this tour?
So you mentioned you quite understandably use lots of soft synths and so on.
So what's your go-to rig with OK Go that you tend to work up?
Yeah.
So we'll probably play everything out of live and it'll, you know, mostly we'll use a lotof native instrument stuff.
(06:30):
So it just, it's, it's been, it works well and you know, contact, can sample or we canuse, you know, whatever packages they have third party packages, all sorts of things like
that.
So we use massive a lot.
We, we do have some sort of more analog sense that are in there and some
(06:51):
special stuff here and there.
I mean, that's basically the package.
yeah, it's, you know, for lives, what people don't know about Spinal Tap is that it's adocumentary and it's not actually a fictional movie.
Everything that can go wrong will go wrong.
For us, we just want the thing that's gonna work every night and sound great.
(07:14):
ah you know, that's usually where we are.
And with Ableton Live, so do you have redundancy as far as a second backup rig to run theshow?
We do.
Yeah.
So, um, we, uh, we used to have like, you know, two, you know, audio interfaces and a DIbox that would, you know, fail over to the other one, but there's a new device called a
(07:37):
play audio, uh, one you or something like that.
I don't, I can't remember the name of the company off the head, but you, but you, it's,it's one audio interface that two computers plug into.
And so, you know, it will, it will handle all your MIDI ins and outs, distribute them toboth computers.
And there's one set of basically outputs that it'll fail over if the computer fails over.
(08:01):
It's a, it's a awesome piece of gear because it took our, you know, our keyboard rigplayback unit from this like huge rack.
It's like a, it's like literally it can fit in one rack space and you know, there's otherslike tables and things like that you can put in there, but it's.
It's so far it's worked in the four shows we played last summer, worked, but it's animpressive piece of gear.
(08:25):
If, you know, I know it's listening to that, that means something like that.
It works great.
Excellent.
And what controllers are you using when you're actually doing the playing?
Uh, we basically have, we're just using like audio controllers.
They're, they're just mini controllers.
There's, there's, there's not much anything special going on there.
(08:46):
I mean, you know, we'll go through a few of those in a tour cause you know, they're, getbanged up and then, know, that's another thing about being on the road.
You need stuff that you can just replace.
Um, so, um, yeah, that's, that's, that's it.
And let's talk about the latest album.
So, and the adjacent possible.
(09:06):
And I've talked about it in the intro, Andy, but it's an amazing album and the diversity,like always with OK GO is huge.
I mean, as you've already mentioned, you do some highly digital stuff.
There's some beautiful electric pianos vibes and stuff.
Just tell us about the approach to the album and the role you played as far as working upthe songs and your sound choices and so on.
Yeah, I mean, we started, we really were winding down the last record in that live videoshow that I mentioned before, in about 2018, 2019.
(09:40):
So that's really when we started working on a lot of these songs.
COVID really sort of blew a hole in the middle of that.
We had gotten about six to seven songs in a good spot, and then we really stopped.
Yeah, we just, we, we took the, you know, the shelter place stuff pretty seriously.
(10:02):
And, you know, no one was really in the mood to work on stuff.
it really took, you know, 20, 2021 is when we sort of opened things back up.
And the break actually was kind of good because you're able to look, we were able to lookat all the songs that we had started and be like, oh, now it's a little fresh.
We know where to go with a few of these things.
(10:24):
So.
That's where we were then.
we started, so then we started finishing this song back up 2021, 22.
I don't know how much you know about the band and Damien, our lead singer, he directed amovie in 2022.
It was, it's called the Beanie Bubble.
(10:44):
was an Apple movie, big movie, big movie stars in it.
And.
So he was sort of, we had, I say the record was like 75 % done at that point.
And while he was working on the movie, Tim and I, the bass player, would go to his studioevery day and we'd be working on stuff.
(11:05):
And so there were sort of these parallel things all happening.
And then in 2023 and 2024, we got all the songs where we liked them and we started mixingthem with a few different producers.
had...
You know, this guy, Claudius Mittendorfer, amazing mixer, Tony Hoffer, we were before wehad Dave Friedman mix a few songs.
(11:28):
And we were really like where all the songs were going, but we, we realized that they wereall starting to sound like different things.
And last year we decided let's, you know, we've worked with Dave Friedman for the last twoprevious records.
Let's go to him for one final like mixing session.
He'll, you know, we, we,
(11:50):
believe strongly that he would be able to tie all the loose ends and pull it together.
And I think he did a great job and we're super happy with it.
yeah, I appreciate the compliment on record.
We're really happy with it.
I feel like it's really, I feel like we sound like the music we hear in our head.
(12:18):
And not that it wasn't like that way on the other records, but you know, I think that wewere maybe trying for certain different sounds on other records and experimenting with a
few things.
And I think that a lot of the songs on this record are just, you know, we wrote it, welike it, and we just followed the song into like what it was.
And I think it's a little mixed tapey.
(12:38):
I think it kind of goes all over the place, which, you know, we liked that.
I think, you know, if you listen to a Beatles record, they're
all over the place and I just I kind of like that kind of album and so yeah thank you.
It's absolutely amazing, Albin.
I think you're right.
The mix has brought it all together.
It's got huge diversity in depth, but sort of links together really well.
(13:01):
I've probably of all the songs, fantasy versus fantasy is one of my favorites, there'sjust, yeah, it's all the world.
Great, great music.
And I mean, you, you alluded to the, the videos, Andy, obviously those that already areaware of you are likely to be aware of you because of the videos.
And we'll certainly be linking our listeners and viewers to those.
But you, you mentioned the logistical process with that is enormous.
(13:22):
And you've released new videos just in the last couple of weeks.
I imagine that's actually more intensive in a lot of ways than the actual recording.
Yeah, yeah.
Although I wouldn't underestimate our ability for perfectionism on the recording side.
do, you mentioned Fanciers of Fantasy.
I want to go back one more because there's a part of the process that I omitted and thisis a keyboard show so I mention it.
(13:46):
Sort of in the last few months before we mixed the record, Damien when he did his movie,he did a lot of the film scoring at this studio called Band Rica here in Los Angeles and
they have a...
an old like 1920s theater organ from the era where they would, you know, it would besilent movies.
So they'd have a live organist do basically all the audio for, for the, the movie.
(14:11):
And so, um, you know, this was like a baby and, know, I mean, it's enormous.
It's like this, size of like a gym and the sound was so incredible, um, that we, wanted toget it on there.
So we,
We brought this guy Mark Herman in, who's Mark Herman, and he's one of the best theaterorganists in the world.
(14:34):
He does live shows where he'll do a live score of a silent movie, you know, now.
so we just wanted to like, we just opened up a session with him and told him the key andwe're just like, just play stuff.
you know, those theater organs are incredible.
There's so many different sounds that they can come up with.
(14:54):
It's like pipe organ.
And then, mean, you can do like a, even a road sound.
There's all this crazy, uh, percussive instruments in there.
And so in fancy versus fantasy, you can actually hear a lot of the, that organ in there.
And, um, he's pro that's probably on like four, four to six songs in the record.
(15:17):
And I think that those songs that.
organ and you know it's this amazing it's like there's nothing digital about it it's likethe most analog there's it's like literally air being pumped through this huge machine uh
it really it's really special and so yeah to all your to all the listeners out there gobuy a theater organ go go buy a you know 5 000 square foot warehouse and put a theater
(15:42):
organ in there and play with it but yeah it that was really fun to play too because
I mean, those things are so powerful and you just like, feel like you, you you have likea, like a rocket launcher or something that you can play music to.
So yeah, I definitely wanted to give a shout out to Mark because he, you know, he was, hewas fun to work with because you know, he, a lot of theater organists sort of improvised.
(16:04):
And so he was a great person to be like, no, try something else there.
And you know, try, try like, you know.
just going crazy with something and the vibes, know, do the vibes there, go, you know, doa scale there.
It was, was,
That's amazing.
So Mark, we're coming after you as a guest, number one.
And number two, I assume you're taking a theatre organ out on the road then if you'rerecommending everyone buys one.
(16:25):
Yeah, yeah, just gotta clear that past management, you know, might not fit in the trailer.
No, that's amazing.
you, Eddie.
That's brilliant.
And so I wanted to ask you obviously with how intricate either in the video sense, butalso these amazing albums and your live performances, has anything ever gone spectacularly
(16:46):
wrong for you that you can look back and laugh on it now?
I don't know if you've ever seen the documentary made about the Zero Gravity video that wemade.
The video came out great.
I'm super proud of that.
The process of that was like one of the most excruciating things that I think took yearsoff my life.
(17:11):
We shot that in Russia and it...
uh
Nausea is not like the right word to describe the feeling that in this thing.
And I didn't think that um I like roller coasters and thrillers.
I was like, this will be fine.
The first I went up, was so nauseated that the remaining 20 flights that we went on, I wasjust in this like perpetual state of anxiety and total terror that that um
(17:43):
that feeling would come back and just be there the whole time and that I'd have it for therest of my life.
I wouldn't, I don't know if I'm answering your question.
It wasn't, it wasn't, uh it wasn't a failure.
didn't, it didn't.
And in fact, it was one of our great videos.
So, but, but the process was, was really, really rough and usually they're more fun.
(18:03):
So yeah.
So that one was, that one was pretty bad.
That was pretty bad.
As someone who suffers from motion sickness, have my sympathies and I can only imaginewhat motion sickness means in that context.
It's another whole level.
It is pretty, it is pretty wild.
It's pretty wild, yeah.
That's great.
Um, and not great, but you know what I mean?
I do need to ask you've already mentioned Mark, Herman, but are there keyboard players outthere?
(18:28):
Well, actually let's go back to your musical upbringing.
So what got you into music in the first place?
So let's go back to, you know, all those years ago to your childhood.
What got you into it?
Yeah, so I grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts.
I don't know how familiar you are with second tier cities in the US, but it's sort of,it's near Boston, but it's about 40 miles west of Boston.
(18:50):
So musically it was kind of an interesting place to be a teenager.
There was like a pretty thriving metal and hardcore scene there, but that wasn't totallymy vibe as a teenager.
I was really, really into like classic rock.
Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page were my North Star.
(19:11):
I was really into The Beatles, was really into Hendrix, that kind of 60s rock.
Then I grew up, I was in high school in the 90s, that was Pearl Jam, Nirvana, loved allthe grunge stuff.
It was a good time to be a teenager.
because we weren't really, all the bands would go to Boston, they would skip Worcester.
(19:35):
And I wasn't into metal.
like, didn't like really, you know, go to a lot of like the indie bands that might've beentouring in Boston.
So, you know, I was really like a class classic rock kid until college where I went toschool in New York.
And that's when I sort of, that's when I like the more in, I was exposed to more of theindie rock and, and, uh, you know, things like that, but like,
(20:03):
My bandmates, Damien and Tim, know, they, Damien grew up in DC and then 80s and 90s.
So like that, that like punk scene, you know, like the fugazi and mind of threat and allthat.
Like he was so steeped in that.
know, Tim was really into like, you know, the British and, you know, British stuff in the80s, like, you know, psychedelic furs and like, stone roses, things like that.
(20:28):
So.
The three of us really do have like a pretty interesting mix of like a lot of stuff thatwe all still really like.
Yeah, I mean, I would say I still, you know, I have two kids now and I still, every day onthe way to school, we all get to pick a song and I'm still trying to get like Led Zeppelin
(20:50):
to work.
It has not worked.
They still just want to hear like Taylor Swift or Chaperone, which is fine.
That's great.
That's their right, but.
I'm still gonna play Led Zeppelin and they're still gonna complain about
Absolutely.
And they will learn eventually, I promise you.
That's amazing.
And so as far as the first instrument, as I said, you're a multi-instrumentalist to saythe least.
(21:13):
What was your sort of first involvement with instruments and then deciding you maybe liketo make a living out of it?
Yeah, so like I said, I love Zeppelin and I just, know, they're the guitar band.
So I had to get a guitar.
I had to learn how to play it.
And this was like early 90s.
So like the internet was not really a thing, but I was sort of a computer nerd and therewere things called bulletin boards, which you dial up a moat.
(21:39):
You have a modem, you dial up and it would be like local.
It would be like in your area and like people could put files on there and download files.
And on this one server, there were these things called tabs, which is in, it's like aneasier notation for guitar players.
And a lot of them were wrong.
A lot of them were written by, you know, novice guitar players.
(22:00):
And, but that was like my first exposure to.
Tabs.
So, so, or, or any kind of like music notation.
So I could actually learn how to play the guitar cause it was easier to read.
And I would just come home from school and play my guitar for.
six to eight hours a day.
was the only thing I wanted to do.
I eventually ended up learning every Led Zeppelin song, including like most of the solos.
(22:25):
I mean, I couldn't play them with like the right feeling or the right, you know, not allthe right notes.
um But it's okay.
I mean, Jimmy Page is so sloppy.
It's like, whatever, you just have to kind of, you just got to kind of feel it and you'refine with with Jimmy Page.
But yeah, and and so
You know, that leads to finding other kids at school that also like, you know, bands andmusic and, you know, had some awful high school bands, but it was the best thing ever.
(22:54):
And that went into college.
In college, I got really into classical music, actually.
I went to Columbia and they actually make you every, the part of their core curriculum isyou have to take a Western music class.
And so, you know, obviously that's a huge portion of that's on classical music andclassical period.
And I got really into it.
(23:14):
I, that's, that's when I was like, I should learn how to play piano.
Cause I, you know, I like this.
So, uh, I started taking, you could take, could actually take piano lessons from theschool.
You could take it as a class.
And so I started with that and I've been off and on with sort of classical piano lesson inmy adult life.
(23:38):
The off is a lot more, a lot more than the on just because of
There's not enough hours in the day to practice.
But yeah, I'm a big fan of classical and yeah, I love playing what I can play in that.
to ask any favourite classical artist, are there some that particularly float your boat?
(24:02):
Like in terms of composer or.
It's hard to, it's hard to think that anything's happened since Bach.
mean, it's like, uh, you know, if it's, if it's later than him, do we really need to hearit?
Um, so yeah, I mean, I, uh, love Bach and, I think, uh, like Beethoven's piano sonatacatalog is like.
(24:28):
Absolutely incredible.
mean, it's.
I like to, I was like a picture of Beethoven writing some of this stuff.
mean, it just sounds like the most tortured mind ever, but, but he eventually got to likethe most incredible music ever.
And, uh, I mean, Beethoven really sits like right at the point where things get a littleoverly romantic for me.
(24:52):
Um, I mean, not to, you know, so much of that stuff is incredible, brilliant.
love it, but Beethoven is like the
is like the incredible emotion, but not too much in a bad way, if I said that right.
um
(25:13):
That's probably where I would.
So that's great.
And I do need to ask about your movement into actually more that full time work.
So I'm also keen for you to mention in passing Secret Dakota Ring, just getting into thatmore full on band and then obviously joining OK Go.
Sort of what was the transition from school to, wow, I'm actually doing this for a living.
(25:34):
Yeah, so I went to school for, I got like a engineering degree as a computer science, Iwas an electrical engineering major, computer science minor.
So I graduated, I mean, I graduated in a good time for having that kind of degree.
So I lived in New York and I was doing, I worked at a startup in New York, which wasgreat.
It was a good job, but you know, I wanted to do music.
(25:54):
So I would be in band in New York on the side and I eventually.
quit the job to start a recording studio with this other buddy from Columbia.
And we had no idea what we were doing with music production.
Like we scraped together to buy like the cheapest Pro Tools rig.
We set up in Long Island, like near his house and recorded like high school bands.
(26:16):
We were just clueless, but we had a lot of heart and we were pretty good musicians.
So we could play, you know, bass and drums for people that just to sing our song or as wecome in.
And so we did that for a while.
Like that was kind of like what we did to get by.
And the problem is you're recording other people, which sometimes is not, you know, notthe, not the greatest, a lot of nice people, but, so, around the same time, I, for
(26:48):
personal reasons, I wanted to move to LA.
So I moved to Los Angeles and, uh, as you know, I was just about to start either.
looking for a studio job or looking for another programming job, honestly, because Ididn't really have anything.
A friend called and said, one of the friends that I had recorded in New York called andsaid, oh, do you know that band OK Go?
(27:10):
The original guitar player just quit.
And they're looking for someone like, you would be perfect for that pan.
And so I was like, OK.
And they were on Capitol Records.
I did the whole audition and it was me versus like 35 other guitarists and came down toone-on-one with this other person.
(27:33):
And we had to do like the whole audition in front of like the label and the A &R guy andthe PR and everything.
And I guess I got the job.
So that's the path to doing this full time.
In a sense, like, you know, I definitely,
(27:55):
I had an amazing opportunity presented to me, but the years doing the studio andpracticing at home, it didn't feel like I didn't put the work in.
No, not at all.
No, absolutely.
And I do need to mention to our listeners and viewers on a recent Instagram post, Ibelieve you celebrated a birthday around five or six weeks ago, Andy, and someone posted a
(28:16):
comment that they loved you so much in middle school.
They took a photo of a smudgy photo of you to their hairdresser and asked for the samehaircut that you had.
I thought that was amazing.
That's how well you fit it in.
Yeah, I mean, I've had some good hair moments.
I've had some good hair moments.
Yeah, that was funny.
I mean, that's really, yeah, I should put that on my tombstone.
(28:39):
Someone in middle school wanted my haircut.
That's right.
It's good, it's good.
Now I know we've got to let you go in a little while Andy, but we do have some standardquestions and number one, I feel like you've already done it with Mark Herman, but just
tagging a keyboard player.
Is there a keyboard player out there that you've always admired that you'd love to hearmore about their story?
(29:01):
the going at Led Zeppelin, I John Paul Jones is the bass player, but he's a great keyboardplayer.
And some of those songs I've tried to learn like no quarter and I was like, I don't know.
I can't, I can't do that.
But, uh, there's a, there's a contemporary classical pianist right now that I absolutelyadore named Viking or Olufsen.
(29:25):
He, I saw him play.
He just did the Goldberg variations.
that was, he just did a world tour playing the Goldberg variations, which I did not see,but I saw him on a previous tour where he was doing a sort of a Mozart program, which
Mozart's fine, but he, it's an hour and half program and he came out and in the program,there's an intermitten says intermission, but he comes out and he says, this will be one
(29:52):
and a half hours, no intermission.
So I hope you went to the bathroom.
And I was like, my God.
Um,
And he just, played like, it was, I don't know, maybe 15.
It wasn't just Mozart.
He mixed in a few other contemporaries, but it was incredible.
and I mean, there's a, he does arrangements of classical pieces where he'll sort ofmodernize them or he'll play like a, play like a classical piece on like a, old upright
(30:21):
piano.
that's kind of beat up so it's like a little bit out of tune and it just sounds reallycool.
He has an arrangement of a Bach organ sonata, I think it's the E minor one, that is likeso emotional.
It's like incredible.
I definitely recommend him.
If Classical Music's at all your thing, I would check him out.
(30:42):
He's incredible.
We definitely will check him out.
Thank you.
And I do need to ask you to just from uh a personal creative output, I assume that you'restill writing the odd song yourself and, and, know, do you have plans of anything
personally putting out outside of okay go.
I mean, I've I've had a tentative plans to put out a another solo record.
(31:05):
I think the last one was 2008 or something.
There's a lot of songs that are close to finished on my computer, but it's uh yeah, Imean, always writing and always writing for the band.
And hopefully there will be another another another record at some point.
I appreciate you bringing that up.
Yeah, I appreciate it.
(31:28):
Very happy to and now we have the dreaded desert island discs question Andy so if you hadto pick five albums to take to a desert island what would they be?
my goodness.
Five?
Okay.
Well, would definitely, I'm only going to give myself one Let's Gap on record.
So it'll probably be Led Zeppelin 2.
(31:49):
Cause I think that has the best riffs.
Does a box set count?
Yeah, yeah, you can get away with a box set, that's fine.
Alright, I would do the Richard Goode Beethoven piano sonata collection.
No.
I have to do a Beatles record.
So, I mean, that is a really, really tough one.
(32:10):
We have had people choose the Beatles box set as well.
Yeah, yeah, that's a cheat.
I can't do that.
I can't do that because you know, Beethoven didn't write albums So, you know, we got tokind of put them on.
Let's see.
I would probably do Revolver.
Oh man, that's such a tough one.
Do you would you do you have a Beatles record?
Yeah, Revolver are the white album.
(32:32):
I actually am a bit of a fan of Let It Be for some reason as well.
Interesting thing.
Did you, did you watch, did you watch the full?
Yep.
it was so great.
It was so great.
Like it was, it was so boring, but so not boring at the same time.
was like, it was, yeah, that was so fun.
Yeah.
I probably still go with revolver.
That's three.
(32:52):
Let's see here.
I mean, I, I do have to do something from the nineties.
Uh, I'm going to throw a little bit of a curve ball in here.
I'd probably do the first raging as the machine record.
because I think that that is an album of incredible guitar riffs.
is.
Yeah, the guitar playing in that is great.
And then I think I'll go back to Classical for my fifth choice.
(33:16):
We're a four, right?
I'll go back to Classical and if I had to pick something from Bach, it would probably bethe Brandenburg Concertos.
I'd probably want those.
But that's a tough one too, man.
We're not even getting into performances of those pieces.
I know I understand.
No, I appreciate that.
Good picks.
(33:38):
our last one, Andy's actually a 10 parter.
So we call it the quick fire 10, 10 short and sharp questions.
So first album, you actually recall hearing as a child or whenever that had a real impacton you.
Oof, recall hearing.
Guns N' Roses is apt type for destruction.
Which is an interesting thing to hear when you're like five years old.
Absolutely, absolutely.
(33:59):
Before a gig, what's your most important ritual?
What do you need to do to feel sort of settled before you go on stage?
Good question.
like to...
I like to stretch out.
I like to stretch out backstage and just sort of get my shoulders and arms relaxed.
Great.
I think I know the answer to this one based on your qualification, but if you hadn't beena musician, what do think your career choice would have been?
(34:24):
Yeah, I'd be uh a programmer.
I'd be a computer programmer.
Nothing wrong with that.
Favorite tour you've ever done, if that's possible.
Favorite tour?
There's a lot of good ones.
We did a tour of Brazil once where this is crazy.
was with Jose Cuervo.
I don't know who he was.
I think it might've been Damien from the band that came up with this idea where they havethis like Cuervo van that would drive into like a really crowded plaza.
(34:54):
Like in Brazil in the summer, all the plazas just have like thousands of people in them.
And the front would open up and we'd be there and we'd play like five songs and drive off.
uh, and we did that.
So we did this, we did it in like Rio and, and, we did it in Sao Paulo and some otherPorto Alegre or so, so whatever.
People were like so confused.
(35:17):
Cause like, you know, I'm sure like some people knew who you were, but a lot of people inBrazil had no idea who we were.
they're worried have this, we're wearing these like white suits and playing rock music inthe middle of street.
That was really fun.
Touring Japan is always so fun.
um Great fans and the crews over there are so great.
They measure out where you put your amp on the ground and it's always in the right place.
(35:39):
ah
I think Brazil and Japan are great picks.
Yeah, yeah, those are good.
Those are fun.
And is there a most memorable gig, again, a big call, but is there one gig that reallystands out for you that you constantly do go back to?
We played a festival in South Korea that it was, the crowd was huge and they were justlike so excited and like they knew all the words and it was super hot in the summer and it
(36:07):
was so fun.
yeah, that was, that was, that was really, really great.
I'll go with that.
I think it was the Pentaport Fest in South Korea.
It was great show.
Great one.
Name a song that you used to love, but you've now played it to death so it happily neverplayed again.
Oh, again, we checked.
Or a song I've listened to too much.
(36:27):
Yeah, anyone that you've played, yeah.
Yeah, well, one of the songs we played in our set is called Do What You Want.
And we've played it every show that I've been in the band and it's a really fun song toplay.
It's a rocker.
That is like the song I'm referring to.
I said I'll be able to play it in the grave because it's so burned in there.
(36:49):
Just a supplementary question though as a player myself, even with songs like that, haveyou ever had those doubts in the lead up to counting in where you go, I can't remember how
to play this.
Of course.
Yeah, totally.
We've had it with, you know, Here It Goes Again is sort of like the, you know, our biggestsong, the one that was in the treadmill video.
And we've screwed that song up more times than any other song.
(37:12):
And it's, it's one of the simpler songs too.
I mean, it's like a four chord song and, and like, we'll just be in the middle and someonewill mess up and then we'll be like, wait, where were we in this song?
Yeah, no, totally, totally that, that it happens.
It happens on those more because you're paying attention less because you know if a songis hard and and You haven't played it as much you're gonna be paying attention more.
(37:37):
So exactly definitely happens
That's a great encouragement for the rest of us.
Favorite music documentary or movie?
Do you have one that you sort of, you've already mentioned Spinal Tap, not as adocumentary.
documentary.
um I'll go back to the Beatles one.
I really like that.
I mean, the fact that it was so long, you really got to get in there.
(37:59):
Yeah, that was great.
Name one thing you'd like to see invented that would make your life as a keyboard playereasier.
Sounds like for you it's already been invented Andy and that the unit you mentioned beforethat has the failover in a nice beautiful little rack, you know, it doesn't get much
better than that.
(38:20):
That one definitely helps.
I'm trying to think if I mean, I can't invent like AI in my brain that makes me playbetter, right?
That goes against-
you get that?
Look, it's no, you can do that.
Yeah.
Um, yeah, I'll go, I'll go with that.
Right.
I wish I, I wish I was, I wish I was a better player.
I'm sure everyone does.
(38:40):
I'm sure I did.
But you know, the, the, the amazing thing about keys and piano is like, you really cancreate an incredible amount of music, you know, with, with a guitar, you're really, both
your hands are working on the same note, you know, 99 % of the time, whereas, you know,
(39:01):
with a keyboard, with a piano, can, you you've got it all right there.
And so I just wish I was better.
I wish I was a better player.
yeah, that invent, invent a brain that's better at this.
That's what I'm gonna invent.
We definitely buy that.
And last but not least, Andy, your favourite non-musical activity or hobby, what keeps yousane outside of music?
(39:25):
Well, I'll do the pre-kids and the post-kids because you know, got to save the kids.
It's all it's got to be the kids, right?
And it is it is legitimately the kids.
But, know, I like I like I'm kind of a golfer.
I like golfing.
I realized that, you know, because it's such a such an infuriating, stupid game.
Like, why do do this?
I realize it's the only thing I do where I'm outside for four hours and I like don't lookat my phone.
(39:50):
And so it's like, I don't even know if I like this thing.
I like
just being in the state of mind that's not so connected to a screen and I'm outside.
So yeah, that's, I'll go with that.
Excellent.
Andy, I can't thank you enough for your time.
said, particularly after a hard day of rehearsing, we're thrilled to see you out on tour.
(40:11):
By the time our viewers and listeners are watching, this should be sort of at leasthalfway through the tour.
But if you do get the chance, definitely go and check out OK Go.
And I'm trying not to get too excited about you may end up down under Andy, but can'tthank you enough for your time.
It's my pleasure.
Thank you so much for having me.
It was really fun.
yeah, we really want to get down there.
We have great fans down there.
(40:33):
yeah, I can make a 99 % promise we'll be there in 2026.
And there we have it.
I hope you enjoyed that interview with Andy.
It was certainly amazing talking to him.
(40:54):
I've been a fan of OK GO since pretty much they started the treadmill video he mentioned.
As I did say in the introduction, do check the show notes.
It's incredible, let alone everything else that's been produced musically and visuallysince.
So again, thank you for listening and enormous thanks to Andy for his time.
I do hope we do catch him down under.
(41:14):
It'd be lovely to see him.
uh Big shout out to our gold and silver supporters, the wonderful Mike Wilcox at MidnightMastering.
If you need some great mixing and mastering services at a reasonable price, Mike's theguy, midnightmastering.com.
Theamazingmusicplayer.com forums, Dave Bryce and the team there.
If you do like talking keyboards in a forum style like I do, definitely jump in there andhave a look.
(41:39):
The wonderful Tammy Katcher from Tammy's Musical Stew.
Thank you so much, Tammy, for your ongoing and long-term support.
It's greatly appreciated.
And last but definitely not least, the wonderful Dewey Evans from the Sunnyland of Wales.
Lovely to have you on board as always, Dewey.
Most importantly, thank you to all of you out there for listening.
We'll be back in a couple of weeks and until then, keep on playing.
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