Wooden Soldiers ready to invade Preston

Andy Lewis is already well-known around Preston’s music scene; whether it be from previous band ventures, solo performances or merely undiluted drunken antics. Either way, the soon to be 21-year-old singer songwriter seems hell bent on making a name for himself , and his new project ‘The Wooden Soldiers’ could be the ideal tonic.

“Can we make it half past one mate – I’m rough today.”
Already a day late for our interview, Lewis text message seems to encapsulate perfectly his attitudes to life and music; short, sharp and to the point – something he hopes comes across in the Wooden Soldiers’ sound:

“We’ve got about eight or nine songs ready to go and they’re all quality, upbeat, three minute pop songs,” explains Andy, “I wanted to have a four or five song set at first, but it would only have lasted about ten minutes.”

Enthusiastic

The Wooden Soldiers are Tom Walley on lead guitar, Ryan McEwan on Bass, Gareth Jones on drums and, of course, Andy Lewis on guitar and lead vocals. The band have only been together a few months but already, thanks to Lewis’ enthusiastic word-of-mouth advertising, they are creating ripples of anticipation even before their first gig:

“We’ve been rehearsing a while but just needed a drummer. So Gareth came in because I knew he was good from being in a band with him before. The other two are students, I used to see them knocking about a bit, so that’s how it came together.”

Despite the deep, sunken eyes and evident lack of sleep that is haunting Andy Lewis when Listen Up catches up with him on his lunch break, at no point does he come across as the stereotypical small town waster – he displays a certain, intriguing edge, whether or not it is all just front is yet to be seen, but Lewis does convey an uncanny intelligence and awareness of his chosen path:

“Anyone can write a ten minute dirge,” he aptly states as The Verve’s Drugs Don’t Work begins dripping through the pub’s speaker system. “Our music is quite punky but intelligent, I don’t like comparing our sound to other bands but I suppose we sound a bit like The Buzzcocks, or a livelier version of The Kinks, in the way that our music tells stories.

Health and Safety

“We’ve written most of it as a band with different members adding different parts, there’s only two of my old solo songs in there.”

Singer-songwriters have a tendency to lie back in the old cliché that they write music for themselves, and if people like it, then that’s a bonus. Andy Lewis, ironically working for Health and Safety, is the complete antithesis of this mould:

“Nah, that’s all bollocks, I’m in it for the money, I can play guitar and write good songs, so what’s the point in sitting in an office all my life?

“We’ll hopefully get out of this place soon. The next few months will be to get the name known around here, and then I’d ideally like to get to London.”

Although the streets of the capital are not always paved with gold, Lewis’ optimism is admirable and his determination will stand his band in good stead in the future.

The Wooden Soldiers debut gig can be seen at the 12 Bar on Church Street on July 8th 2004.

Written by Dan Jeoffroy

Photography: Dan Jeoffroy