Andrew Cashen Interview

Andrew is the primary songwriter and guitarist of Sweet Spirit.


What’s your favorite record and why?
I mean, I never had one favorite record. There is just too much out there. Here are some records that I remember listening to until they were unplayable.

T. Rex - Electric Warrior
The Stooges - S/T
Velvet Underground & Nico
Sparks - Kimono My House
Sam Cooke - Everything He Has Ever Done In His Entire Career Ever

I could go on and on but I feel like I'm just listing staples.

If you could get in tour bus with any band ever, who would it be, why, and what would it look like?
Motley Crue. Early Motley Crue. I don't know if the debauchery would be really really fun or just kinda depressing. Either way I'm sure you would have some stories to tell by the water cooler the next day, that or Jars of Clay.
    
What would you be doing now if you weren’t pursuing music?
Before I moved to Austin, I did Search Engine Optimization in Houston. Its one of those jobs where you sit in a tiny cubicle and contemplate suicide all day. So probably death. Death or Graphic Design I do have a degree in that.
   
To whom do you owe a huge thank you and why?
The Guilla-Teens. When I was 14 or 15 years old they were that local band that was magic. The way they looked, the way they sounded, the fact that they were only like 2 or 3 years older than us. The whole package was a light bulb that told me "you can actually do this". Before that moment, it just seemed so unattainable. I went back and found some of their music, its ok, not as good as I remembered but still held up pretty well. If any of the bands I've played in do that for someone else then it's worth it. Stay broke y'all.
    
Tell us about your best friend
This question is fucking stupid. I feel like I would answer it the same way I did the record question. I like my friends you know who you are, I probably like you even If you hate me, I even like people who are super annoying, they're still pretty interesting. I hate Big Head, that's the crack head who stole my bike.

What’s the most memorable encounter you’ve had with a complete stranger?
This Hummer, with tinted black windows, was in a parking lot that I was also smoking a cigarette in. This soccer mom gets out and runs into to a convenience store. Suddenly, I hear this really loud bass coming from the Hummer and I think to myself "damn soccer mom's a little gansta". Slowly, the back window rolls down. I thought the music was loud with the windows rolled up, but it was full on night club in the parking lot now. The windows rolling down also revealed that the music inside the Hummer was the Kool & the Gang classic "Jungle Boogie", and emerging from the window is a, couldn't be more than 4 year old, little girl who is dancing like Chris Tucker. She was staring at me like a boxer who just entered the ring. She had a "Do something Bitch, I dare you" face. I was having a pretty shitty day and that experience turned it around and stuck with me for a while afterwards.