Carleton’s very own Andrew Waines is an aspiring musician based right here in Ottawa. After years of playing guitar in a local band where he performed at the Boots and Hearts Music Festival and Ottawa’s Bluesfest, Waines decided to take a stab at a solo career.
He began to post covers on YouTube including covers of “Starboy” by the Weeknd, “Blue Ain’t Your Colour” by Keith Urban, and “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen. In the coming months Waines will be releasing his first single “Lovin’ Carefully” to national radio. He sat down with The Charlatan to share his journey.
The Charlatan (TC): How did your journey begin? What got you interested in music in the first place?
Andrew Waines (AW): It was kind of the classic story where my brother was in the guitar club at school, so then obviously, I don’t know if it was a competition or admiration but I was like “Oh, I have to play guitar too now,” . . . So naturally I started taking guitar lessons from a local teacher by the name of Dan Hay and he was a phenomenal musician . . . I started playing with five other super talented musicians, and when you have people around you who are equally as good or even better than you, it forces you to push yourself to the limits . . . some of the highlight gigs were Boots and Hearts and Bluesfest, which were just insane because I was on the same stage as Blake Shelton and Luke Bryan . . . After that I started working on a solo career. From that point I started writing songs, and started making YouTube covers.
TC: Do you have a certain genre of music that you prefer to sing?
AW: I always find myself growing into new things. Genres are kind of becoming dead now, everything kind of just meshes together, but particularly I was raised on classic rock music so I naturally take a liking to kind of guitar-based, drum music so like country, blues, and pop-rock are what I really like so sing. The 1975 are a super cool pop-rock fusion that I really like. But, I do also like hip-hop like Drake, so I’m very open when I do covers because it’s fun to try things that you shouldn’t do.
TC: Can you walk me through your songwriting process?
AW: For me it starts with music, so I write with my guitar. I find that I can’t force a song or it just doesn’t come out the right way. It kind of has to be like whatever I’m going through, or something I’m thinking about, and it has to connect with the theme of song, or the feeling of the song. So I start with the music and then if there is anything on my mind that makes sense with the song, I’ll start writing and then usually I’ll get inspired by something I see or something I hear.
TC: I read that you were in Nashville recording your first single. What was that like?
AW: It was super cool! I don’t travel too much, so just going to Nashville was really cool. But it was great to meet with the producer that I have been working with because he is actually based out of Nashville, so I went down there and it was nice to put a face to a name. It was very professional, and the quality is just outstanding.
TC: How did you come across the opportunity of performing at Boots and Hearts?
AW: So it was to do with the country project—the band—I was in. It was growing successfully so we did this emerging artist showcase that we didn’t win, but we got reviewed by Boots and Hearts as being a promising act, so from there they reached out to us the next year and we were able to perform on the actual main stage. It was crazy to know that you were sharing the stage with artists like Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton.
TC: Who would you say is your biggest inspiration?
AW: I would say it comes down to a draw between Ed Sheeran and John Mayer, but maybe John Mayer by just a smidge. But I just really like the way they write. Their songs, I just find myself listening to them, and I think that their words are so well chosen and everything just works and for me it’s inspiring to see that when all the parts of the song come together it can really be something special.
TC: What’s it like balancing your music career with schoolwork?
AW: It is tricky. It’s a lot of work but my home support system, and my friend support system, and the support from the university are all so helpful, and if I need extra help I can ask for it. But it’s just about balance and planning out my days, like especially with school stuff I know it has to get done.
TC: What’s the dream? Are you hoping to make music your full-time career?
AW: The overall goal is just to be able to have a career as a musician, and be able to play shows and connect with the fans. All I do anyways is music and if I’m able to use that and spread a good message throughout the world just like my heroes Ed Sheeran, John Mayer, and Shawn Mendes then that’s what I would love to do—just be involved in music.
This Q+A has been edited for clarity and length.
– Photo by Trevor Swann
