Andrew Varner

Artist Information

Biography

Exuberant, entertaining, and enigmatic are just a few words to begin to describe Andrew Varner. But summing him up in three paragraphs or less proves to be quite a challenge. His personality is as difficult to explain as the sound of his music, but both are unique and must be experienced to begin to understand. Honest yet cunning, down to earth yet snide, silly yet sophisticated, creative yet calculated, reverent yet rebellious, Andrew is a bit of a walking contradiction and he'd have it no other way.

First impression of Andrew? He’s very articulate and quite conversational, but his first studio effort paints a slightly different portrait. Entitled, “Make Believe,” his first EP seems to portray the picture of a shy but unruly schoolboy. Furthermore, his lyrics suggest that he's more of a seasoned songwriter than just some kid off the street. But don't let Andrew's boyish charm fool you. Under his playfulness and youthful facade, there's a songwriter that's every bit as sophisticated and refined as some of the best around. When it comes to story telling, he has certainly honed his craft. “I want to paint a picture without giving too much away,” says Andrew. His songs are straightforward and honest yet poetic and thought provoking. Without hiding behind too many metaphors or obvious prose, Andrew has an inherent ability to inject his emotion into music that propels listeners to a world of rich imagery. His sound is big and full, which is partly due to the production of his songs. While Andrew's piano playing is something to behold, he didn't want that to be the focus of the project that he's been working on for the past year in Nashville. “I consider myself a songwriter first. When we approached the direction of the production, I insisted that the music convey the subject matter, not necessarily my skill as a piano player and I think we achieved that. It's pop with a purpose.”

His stage presence is dynamic and unforgettable. You certainly can't deny his ability to draw a crowd. Smiling, interacting with the audience, he has a good on stage persona and it's apparent when you experience it firsthand. So what is his ultimate dream? Andrew's answer - “To play The Tonight Show.” What about after you play the tonight show? Andrew's answer - “Um, maybe the Super Bowl.” So after the Super Bowl, is that when the boy becomes a man? Andrew's answer - “Don't count on it.”

Instrumentation

Andrew Varner - Lead Vocals, Piano, and Synths
Nate Varner - Bass
Tom Davis - Guitar
Kasey Todd0-9 - Drums

Discography

"Make Believe" EP

Official Website

http://andrewvarnermusic.com

Audio

• Reruns and Leftovers
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• She Enjoys The Rain
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• Autumn Leaves
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• King and Queen
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• Let Me Down
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Lyrics

• Reruns and Leftovers
• Autumn Leaves
• She Enjoys The Rain
• King and Queen
• Let Me Down

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• Varner brothers striking all the right notes; will play at Defiance County Fair [+ Show ]
  

  By: Angela Assaf COLUMBUS -- Andrew Varner has endured enough breakups and heartaches in his life...By: Angela Assaf
  
  COLUMBUS -- Andrew Varner has endured enough breakups and heartaches in his life to fill an entire album.
  
  "I attribute it to the fact that I am naivé and quick to fall in love," said the 28-year-old graphic design major turned music artist from under a downward tipped black cabbie.
  
  A 1999 graduate of Tinora High School, Andrew recently released his first EP titled "Make Believe" he said, based on him being "a kid, and immature," when it comes to acting out under love's spell.
  
  The full album is on track to be completed in 2010.
  
  "Oh, oh oh. I get along quite well these days. Oh, oh oh. Sun still shines on my face," he croons in "Reruns and Leftovers," a jaunty piece expressive of his fresh piano, pop and rock style with just enough teenage angst worked in that it translates to the club floor. "Don't stand between me and the TV screen, No!"
  
  Andrew admits he always intended a career in music, but was afraid to take the risk.
  
  "I tried several different things. Through trial and error I realized that I have to pursue music if I want to be happy."
  
  At 23 he got up the nerve and moved to Nashville where he took a job working in a music store.
  
  "It took me about five years to get the connections. Then things started to happen. You have to pay your dues, or it's not genuine."
  
  The son of Fred and Barb Varner, he relates, "My Dad, being a businessman, always wanted me to do something that I could make money at. Now I'm making money and working on my music career. He is proud of my job."
  
  Andrew recently gave up his Nashville digs to promote his EP closer to home. He now works full-time as entertainment director at The Big Bang, an all-request bar in Columbus where he also plays four nights a week.
  
  He recently played out at Columbus hot spot The Conservatory and is booked for Sept. 2 at Skully's Music-Diner. "I'm getting calls to play gigs all over," he said and his name is just getting out there.
  
  Andrew had always pictured himself more of a drummer than anything else. (He also plays bass guitar, acoustic guitar and harmonica). More recently he said the piano has become his "emotional outlet" where he goes to write.
  
  His sound has been compared to bands like "The Fray and "Cold Play," but he is at present a band of one. However, that's all about to change.
  
  Andrew first walked into Nashville's infamous Tracking Room studio a solo artist.
  
  While recording "Make Believe" he and his producer, Zach Allen of Red Armor Records, made the decision to scrap the A-list of bass guitar players after laying down a couple tracks. Andrew brought in another Varner to play, his then 17-year-old brother, Nate.
  
  "Nate is the quintessential bass player. He finds the groove and fits it. He brought the songs that I have been writing to life and he didn't know that he was going to be playing them."
  
  One of the leading songs on "Make Believe" titled, "She Enjoys The Rain" Andrew said he had rolling out in his head for years looking for the "right inspiration." In the song he pours out his emotion in a palpable wave through tender notes and simple words. "Words will fall like rain, when you're sorry. They move across the drain, and they fall down. I'm pouring out again, and she knows it. And she enjoys the rain."
  
  "Andrew takes everything from his experiences and can relate it to a song," said Nate about his one of three brothers. He chalks up their chemistry in music to their shared family experience growing up and being on the same "brain wave."
  
  "We're both Top 40 pop kids by default," explained Andrew. "Our parents had eclectic taste in music -- everything from the Doobie Brothers to Michael Jackson to Kenny Rogers and the Village People."
  
  When Andrew was nine he recalled his father enticed him into taking piano lessons while on a trip to the mall to look at electronic keyboards. "He promised to buy me the most expensive one in the store if I would learn to play. I ended up with a $5,000 instrument."
  
  Nate began "deciphering" music and how it was made from a young age as well and picked up his first bass guitar when he was 13 so he could jam with his older brother, Ben.
  
  After getting the basics down pat, he went out and started exploring and recording his own music. He joined up with a local band gleaning all he could from leader, Eluid Arce, a name well known to the local music scene.
  
  Andrew joined the band "Town Crier" for a stint before turning to a solo career.
  
  "Our sound is becoming more uniquely 'us' than 'me,'" said Andrew about their current project.
  
  "We are feeding off the musicians that we have around us. It has had a huge impact on the structure and direction of the music and opened up the possibilities of what we could become."
  
  For information about Andrew Varner's music and performance venues visit www.andrewvarnermusic.com.
  
  
  
  
  
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• Andrew Varner, "Make Believe" [+ Show ]
  

  Since returning from Nashville to his Ohio homeland in January, Andrew Varner has paid his bills as ...Since returning from Nashville to his Ohio homeland in January, Andrew Varner has paid his bills as one of the piano maestros at Big Bang. New EP Make Believe shows his talents aren't limited to reinterpreting others' hits on the fly. This is straight-up, unapologetic pop music for the masses, but it unfolds in a surprising variety of ways.
  
  "King and Queen" is like a playful take on The Fray, while the moaning guitar line tacked on "She Enjoys the Rain" transforms the track into something greater. "Let Me Down" quickens the pace almost like Columbus chargers Miranda Sound, and "Reruns and Leftovers" swings like the All-American Rejects gone ebony-and-ivory.

Setlist

Originals:
Autumn Leaves
King and Queen
How To Be Alone
Let Me Down
Reruns and Leftovers
She Enjoys The Rain

Cover Songs:
All Shook Up
#41
500 Miles
A Whole New World
All She Wants To Do Is Dance
Amarillo By Morning
American Pie
Another Brick In The Wall
Ants Marching
Baby Got Back
Bad Bad Leroy Brown
Baton Rouge
Be With You
Beer For My Horses
Bennie And The Jets
Big Love
Black Water
Blister In The Sun
Blue Suede Shoes
Born To Be Wild
Brick House
Brown Eyed Girl
Cab
Cecilia
Chattahoochee
Chicken Fried
Clocks
Come On Get Higher
Crash Into Me
Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Crocodile Rock
Crush
Dirty Laundry
Dixieland Delight
Don't Bring Me Down
Don't Stop Believin
Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow
Dreams
Eight Days A Week
Electric Feel
End Of The Innocense
Everybody Wants To Rule The World
Everybody's Changing
Family Tradition
Fresh Prince Of Bel Air
Friends In Low Places
Get Ready
Get What You Give
Gimme Some Lovin
Gin And Juice
Go Your Own Way
Got To Get You Into My Life
Great Balls Of Fire
Green River
Gypsy
Hang Me Up To Dry
Hang On Sloopy
Head Over Heels
Heart Of The Matter
Hey Jude
Hold Me
Hold On Tight To Your Dreams
Holiday Road
Honky Tonk Woman
Hospital Beds
Hotel California
Hound Dog
I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That
I Just Wanna Fly
I Love This Bar
Ice, Ice Baby
It's Still Rock And Roll To Me
Jack And Diane
Jailhouse Rock
Jessie's Girl
Johnny B. Goode
Joy To The World
Keep It Loose, Keep It Tight
Kids
Kodachrome
Laid
Landslide
Lean On Me
Let's Get It On
Let's Stay Together
Lights
Livin On A Prayer
Love Shack
Loves Me Like A Rock
Margarittaville
Meet Virgina
Mustan Sally
My Girl
My Life
Ob La Di, Ob La Da
Old Time Rock And Roll
Only The Good Die Young
Paradise By The Dashboard Light
Piano Man
Pour Some Sugar On Me
Proud Mary
Proud To Be An American
Rhiannon
Rock & Roll All Night
Rocketman
Rockin' Robin
Santeria
Satellite
Saw Her Standing There
Sex On Fire
Silver Springs
Sister Gold Hair
Sittin On The Dock Of The Bay
So Much To Say
Somewhere Only We Know
Soul Meets Body
Start Me Up
Stay
Summer Of '69
Sunday Morning
Suzie-Q
Sweet Caroline
Sweet Child Of Mine
Sweet Home Alabama
Tainted Love
Take It Easy
Takin It To The Streets
The Fireman
The Joker
The Scientist
This Love
Tiny Dancer
Too Much
Tripping Billies
Tusk
Twist And Shout
Use Me
Use Somebody
Viva La Vida
Walking In Memphis
What I Got
What I'd Say
What Would You Say
Whole Lotta Shakin
Wonderwall
Wrong Way
Yellow
You May Be Right
Your Heart Is An Empty Room
Your Love
Your Song

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