Ruly Mix: Andrew Huang
It’s the day after the most romantic day of the year and I thought we could all use a little reminder to cherish our loved ones every day of the year. This month’s Ruly Mix artist, Andrew Huang, has provided a great song inspired by the day he married his wife. It is also a great, sunny upbeat track that reminds those of us in winter climates right now that warmer days are coming soon.
Read on for more about Andrew and his music.
What is your musical background? When did you begin playing/writing music? What instruments do you play?
From almost as early as I can remember, I was playing and listening to classical music. Radio pop started to creep in as I approached the age of 10, and soon after discovering the bass guitar at 12 my mind was opened to the worlds of rock, jazz and hip-hop.
I have a bit of formal training in piano, guitar, bass and theory, but am completely self-taught in terms of writing and recording and all of the other instruments I play. “What instruments do you play” is a difficult question for me to answer because while I’m comfortable in my own way on many instruments – for instance, banjo, ukulele, mandolin, drums, glockenspiel, melodica – for all I know I could be doing everything all wrong!
At 15 I decided that writing and recording songs was going to be the most important thing in my life, and since then have dedicated most of my free time to honing those crafts.
What inspires you generally when you are writing music?
Inspiration can come from anywhere. A major theme in my songs is love, but many also touch on political, religious or societal issues that I’ve heard about through the news or that have affected my life in some way. I like to write songs about both the real people in my life and fictional characters and stories I dream up; about large and loft ideas as well as the mundane things we all experience.
An extra tap into inspiration that is uniquely mine is a hilarious website I’ve been running for several years, where visitors are daily suggesting song ideas to me. The majority of them are not that inspiring, but some have induced me to write songs – that I end up liking a fair bit – about the strangest things, from robots in love to energy drinks to sea anemones to brushing your teeth. It’s worth a visit: http://songstowearpantsto.com
Tell us about September 6th. What were you thinking about when you composed this?
September 6th is my anniversary. I started writing the song a few months before getting married and finished it a few months after. It’s the sappiest thing ever, but simply put the song is a celebration of the life and love I have with my wife. I actually wrote the whole song just about our wedding day, but realized later that it will apply to every September 6th that ever comes around for us – particularly the line “I always knew we’d make it this far.” The first half of the song is kind of cute and talks about how much we enjoy being together, and the second half is a rejoicing explosion of singing, latin percussion, bouncy guitar and two drum kits.
This month’s theme is about obsessive compulsive disorder and its relationship to excessive tidiness. Do you classify yourself as a neat-freak? How much chaos and disorder can you/do you tolerate in your own life?
I’m pretty on top of keeping things in my environment clean and neat, though I don’t think anyone would call it excessive. When I get immersed in my work, my studio degrades into more and more disarray, but I always get everything tidied and organized again before beginning another project. I might be a compulsive hand-washer though…
Click the picture below to play or right-click to download Andrew’s track, “September 6.” (If the picture is not working for you, you can also download by clicking here.)
To respect the rights of the musician, please comply with the simple Ruly License terms below.
Ruly License: You may download and play any Ruly Mix song for your own personal use so long as you keep the voiceover tags intact indicating the name of the artist and that the song came from beruly.com. Businesses may also download this song to play as background music in their establishments so long as the voiceover tags remain intact. Any other uses of the song (such as in videos, etc.) must be pre-approved by the musician. Questions about license permissions can be addressed to info@beruly.com.
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Previous Ruly Mix artists: Ben Harris, George Vlad, Samuel Pushpak, Danny Stewart-Smith (“Maintain Focus”), Danny Stewart-Smith (“The Flow”), Danny Stewart-Smith (“Insights”), Danny Stewart-Smith feat. Evin Gibson, Joe Hanley, Jamie Smith, Rajiv Agarwal