Andrew Parker-Renga (APR)

Artist Information

Biography

Andrew Parker-Renga (APR)’s music is a blend of 90s alternative, Counting Crows/Pearl Jam/Dave Matthews Band and contemporary singer/songwriters like Damien Rice and Ryan Adams. He has been on two national tours and performs over 50 shows a year primarily in the New England area.

Accompanying himself on acoustic guitar, his performances are interactive, recording grooves he beat-boxes on the fly and layering parts on top of it. Listeners are always surprised to see one man on stage and hear a wall of sound. He can, also, command an audience with his just his voice and guitar.

Andrew currently lives in Medford, Massachusetts where he is working on his next album Issue 5 to be released in 2012.

About Issue 4: Portraits

With the release of his latest record, Issue 4: Portraits, Andrew Parker-Renga (APR) has created a “finely honed, artistically savvy collection,” -Dan Bolles, Seven Days. The record is a huge step both artistically and creatively from his last, Issue 3: Emily, focusing on his vocal delivery and melody.

Each track is a snapshot of Andrew’s “considerable talents” as a singer ranging from lush quiet tones, on Portrait, to heavenly falsetto, Sun, to gut wrenching growl, Drawing Dead, to touching, Twenty-Five. As Dan Bolles writes in his review of Portraits: “(Portraits) should propel the singer into the upper echelon of local songwriting talent.”

Rooms Played

Illinois
The Elbo Room – Chicago
Uncommon Ground – Chicago

Indiana
The Abbey – Indianapolis
Birdy’s – Indianapolis
Lazy Days – Indianapolis

Massachusetts
Big City – Allston
Great Scott’s – Allston
Harper’s Ferry – Allston
Café 57 – Ashburnham
Bill’s Bar – Boston
The Bullfinch Yacht Club – Boston
Kennedy’s Midtown Grill – Boston
The Sweetwater Cafe – Boston
The Times – Boston
The Rack – Boston
Washington Street Music Festival – Brookline
All Asia Cafe – Cambridge
Toad – Cambridge
TT the Bears – Cambridge
The Compound- Fitchburg
Fitchburg State College – Fitchburg
Gardner Ale House – Gardner
William’s Restaurant – Gardner
The Milky Way – Jamaica Plain
The Gulu Gulu Cafe – Lynn
Muse – Nantucket
Lincoln Street Coffee House – Newton
Perks Coffee – Norwood
The Red Onion – Otter River
Marina Bay Beach Club – Quincy
Mocha Maya’s – Shelburne Falls
Johnny D’s – Somerville
The Sky Bar – Somerville
Java Hut – Worchester
Tammany Hall – Worchester
McNally’s – Westminster

New York
Hoffman Lane Bistro – Cooperstown
CBGBs – New York City
Kenny’s Castaways – New York City
The Lucky Cat – New York City
Rockwood Music Hall – New York City
Pete’s Candy Store – Williamsburg-Brooklyn-NYC
Lovin’ Cup – Rochester
Funk N Waffles – Syracuse

Ohio
Howard’s Club H – Bowling Greene
Rhos Street Café – Cincinnati
Travonna Coffee – Columbus

Pennsylvania
Grape Room - Philadelphia
Bloomfield Bridge Tavern – Pittsburgh
Milk Boy – Bryn Mawr (Philly)

Virginia
Private Party – Blacksburg

Vermont
Tamarak Grill – Burke Mountain
1/2 Lounge – Burlington
Acoustic Lounge (Parima) – Burlington
City Hall for Jazz Fest – Burlington
Nectars – Burlington
Red Square – Burlington
The Radio Bean – Burlington
The Skinny Pancake – Burlington
Speaking Volumes – Burlington
Night Crawlers – Colchester
The Lincoln Inn – Essex Junction
Johnson State College – Johnson
The Hub – Johnson
Manchester Bar and Grill – Manchester
Mulligans – Manchester
The Perfect Wife – Manchester
Pink’s Alley – Manchester
The Langdon Street Cafe – Montpelier
The Bee’s Knees – Morrisville
Shelburne Steak House – Shelburne
Club Karib – St. Albans
Higher Ground – South Burlington
Marsala Salsa – Waterbury
Monkey House – Winooski

West Virginia
The Purple Fiddle – Thomas

Wisconsin
Java Cat – Madison
The Frequency – Madison
Cafe Centraal – Milwaukee
Up and Under – Milwaukee
North Branch Music Festival – Wabeno

Instrumentation

Andrew Parker-Renga (APR) - Vox/Acoustic/BeatBox

Discography

Issue 1: Thomas and the Man in the Chair (2006)
Issue 2: The Decision (2007-Never released)
Issue 3: Emily (2009)
Issue 4: Portraits (2010)
Live at Nectar's 10.01.11

Links

• Facebook
• MySpace
• YouTube

Audio

• Movie Star New Stereo Bounce 2
  Listen  
• Portrait
  Listen  
• Drawing Dead
  Listen  
• Emily
  Listen  
• APR - After 7 Years 10.01.2012 Nectar's Clip
  Listen  

Lyrics

• Movie Star to Someone
• Portrait
• Drawing Dead

Video

The Tide

Photo Gallery

Press

• Review of Portriats [+ Show ]
  

  It’s common among the young and prodigiously gifted that emotional maturity is slower to develop tha...It’s common among the young and prodigiously gifted that emotional maturity is slower to develop than natural abilities. With a series of increasingly promising EPs released over the last few years, local songwriter Andrew Parker-Renga has offered listeners an enlightening glimpse into his growth as an artist. The most recent such snapshot, last year’s Issue 3: Emily, though flawed, suggested Parker-Renga was mere steps away from putting it all together and corralling his considerable gifts. And his newest recording, Issue 4: Portraits, is proof positive that he has done just that. It is a finely honed, artistically savvy collection that should propel the singer into the upper echelon of local songwriting talent.
  
  After a short, sweet instrumental intro track, the EP gets under way in earnest with “Portrait.” Light ripples of acoustic guitar swirl gently above deep, ringing tones. Parker-Renga reintroduces himself as an uncommonly blessed vocalist, delivering hushed tones with tactful restraint. Perhaps the most unfortunate failing from the Berklee-trained singer’s earlier work was a tendency to favor ornate vocal bluster when a lighter approach was more prudent. He suffers no such folly here; this performance is measured and cool, though still compelling and emotionally charged.
  
  “Sun” is next. Parker-Renga’s delivery here is fragile but bristles with an undercurrent of angst. APR has an obvious affinity for Omaha-based indie giant Conor Oberst, and his performance bears that out. However, the song rises above mere hero worship in a way the material on Emily did not. Particularly on the song’s achingly pretty chorus — complete with a stunning burst of vocal harmonies, and a fine turn from multi-instrumentalist Zack duPont — it’s clear the songwriter’s compositional chops have evolved in step with his emotional maturation.
  
  “Drawn Dead” is a smoldering charmer. Keyboardist Peter Krag frames APR’s gusty musings with sly organ lines that shimmer against purposefully driving acoustic guitar. Here the singer unchains himself and indulges his elite vocal chops. The effect, especially given the previous calculated restraint, is eminently satisfying.
  
  The EP closes on “Twenty-Five.” In less capable — or perhaps younger — hands, the tune would veer close to gushy, romantic schmaltz. But the elegance and vulnerability of APR’s delivery and simple, straightforward wordplay prevent the tune from devolving into contrived melodrama. It’s a fine end to a command performance from a local songwriter finally in full control of his substantial talents.

• RENGA JENGA [+ Show ]
  

  ...I’m sorry to report that Andrew Parker-Renga’s Acoustic Lounge Songwriter’s Night at Parima will ......I’m sorry to report that Andrew Parker-Renga’s Acoustic Lounge Songwriter’s Night at Parima will be put on hold following this Thursday’s installment...APR’s contribution to Burlington’s singer-songwriter scene has been significant. Though he’s been here for little more than a year, he’s made his time count, hosting a remarkable array of local and regional tunesmiths during that time. The series has provided something of a cornerstone for up-and-coming talent and notable names alike. It will be missed.... Dan Bolles,

• Dashboard Confessional [+ Show ]
  

  Twenty-three-year-old singer-songwriter Andrew Parker-Renga is still clawing his way through the str...Twenty-three-year-old singer-songwriter Andrew Parker-Renga is still clawing his way through the struggles of a recent Berklee graduate. He’s moved in and out of crumbling Allston apartments, tracking guitar parts in bedrooms and basements. He’s been shafted on payouts, has scrapped countless hours of session tape, and has shuffled through a roster of musicians in search of the right band. When we met for a beer at the Green Briar just two weeks before his CD-release party back in February, he was still recording vocals.
  For anyone else, this might be due to poor planning. For Parker-Renga, who recently played his first headlining slot at T.T. the Bear’s and has shows booked for the Sky Bar on July 26 and back at T.T.’s on August 16, it’s simply the strain he puts on his voice — a combination of channeled frustration and a habit of letting his emotions get the better of him. “I blew out my vocal cords the other day. Had to stay home from work all day and drink tea.”
  
  It’s not surprising: eyes closed, fists clenched, neck and jaw muscles tensed, he summons every ounce of energy when he sings live. Although his music is a mash-up of alt-rock and folk (somewhere on the spectrum between Nick Drake and Dashboard Confessional), at times it sounds as if he might have taken voice lessons from Sammy Hagar.
  
  The intensity of his vocals may seem disingenuous, but there’s nothing phony here. On his debut EP, Issue 1 (Inked Sound), he comes out beatboxing and riffing. He’s hardly the next Rahzel, but what comes across is the way he embraces his eccentricity. A skinny, scruffy, ex-hippie from the Midwest, he’s not afraid to let his quirky personality emerge. The five tracks tell his life story through a series of intimate portraits and vignettes. “Daylight” charts the journey of troubled Thomas Ashmore. “A pulsing light paints the waiting room,” Parker-Renga sings, barely above a whisper. “A young man cries wearing a mother’s kiss/Frustrated and afraid he sits alone.” Haunted by an apocalyptic vision, Thomas seeks the help of a therapist who offers him drugs. So is the song autobiographical?
  
  “I was Thomas, but I’m not him anymore. The lyrics to the original song were ‘Lyin’ face down/Strung out on the carpet floor/I turn my head just to breathe.’ It was about when I had this breakdown about growing up. They gave me these drugs, and when I took them, my mind shut off and I wasn’t creative. It freaked me out.”
  
  This kind of honesty is commonplace in his lyrics. And though he tends to flesh out his arrangements live — frequently with a bass player and drummer — on Issue 1 he’s accompanied only by hand percussion and vocal overdubs, so his voice seems much more raw and exposed. “What does it mean to be saved?” he shouts, as he contemplates whether Thomas will take the pill.
  
  Yet he’s able to make personal lyrics feel universal. “JonBoy” is about a conversation he had with a high-school friend. “All of my friends kept talking about moving back to Indianapolis. Jon was branching out, and my friends hated him for it. The song is about loving a place and not wanting to leave. He knows he has the potential to have a positive impact on the world, but the most important thing to him is his home, and that’s where he’s going to stay.”
  
  On “Twenty-two,” Parker-Renga confronts his own sheltered upbringing. “When I wrote the song in college, I realized I’d been given so much in my life to get me to that point. I was struggling with the fact that I didn’t do the work to get what I had. I didn’t struggle. I didn’t have to work for anything. I grew up with kids who went to school and then worked 20 hours a week just to have food on the table.” An industrial beat pulsates under a rigid guitar pattern as he sings, “Step by step I’m drowning in my youth, afraid to use my hands.” His voice strains with a mix of anger and guilt as he pleads, “Are open minds just meant to close in the world you build for me?”
  
  “I Hope Somebody’s Watchin’ Me” is as much a critique of pop culture as it is a plea for attention. Frustrated by failed attempts at success in a culture racked by reality TV and dwindling self-respect, he responds with a catchy but satiric pop song. “ ’Cause if nobody’s watching me,” he reasons half-truthfully, “then I’m nothing in this something play called life.”
  
  Issue 1 is the first in a series of EPs that will continue the story of Thomas and his pill-pushing therapist. Inspired by his life-long love of comics, Parker-Renga founded Inked Sound Records and hired an artist to illustrate his lyrics in graphic-novel format. “I was just thinking about why people don’t buy CDs, and what I could do to make them feel like they were getting more. Then I started thinking about linking the EPs together to tell a story.”
  
  In the style of Stan Lee’s Marvel Comics cliffhangers, the final frame in the album art asks what Thomas will do next: “Go against his heart? Surrender his free will to cure his mind?” His future depends on that of the singer. Only Issue 2, which Parker-Renga plans to release this fall, will tell.
  
  

• This Guy Can Strip [+ Show ]
  

  What would happen if John Mayer and Stan Lee we genetically fused in radioactive laboratory experime...What would happen if John Mayer and Stan Lee we genetically fused in radioactive laboratory experiment? A new hero would emerge, rising from the ashes with a supercharged acoustic guitar instead of ex-ray vision. Now, while that may sound like an unusual premise for a super hero, it isn’t far from the formula being forged by Boston singer-songwriter, Andrew Parker-Renga.
  
  Obsessed with both music and comics since childhood, APR is brining his loves together in a most unique fashion. Many CDs have storylines, but I’ve never heard of one that extended to its artwork. Issue One, to be released later this spring, includes a cliffhanger comic strip that whets the appetite for future releases, I mean, issues.
  
  If you’ve heard APR, you’ll know why fans won’t need a damsel in distress to be interested. While his concept may be very different, APR’s music is accessible folk-rock. His song “Counting the Hours” is a dark and about throwing one’s life away with alcohol. “Jonboy” is a faster paced, more emotive track that will remind some of favorites Syd or Matt Nathanson. If the preview I received is any indication, this is going to be one of the better CDs of 2006...
  
  Folk fans will appreciate that he has taken the time to something daring and has left the wearing of tights to the professionals.

• Ameteur Lyric Writing Contest
  

  "I Hope Somebody's Watchn' Me" receives honorable mention...

Setlist

I can play for up to 3hrs

-Originals-

Orbits and Space
Waiting on the Good Lord
Movie Star to Someone
Overdrive
When You're There and When I'm Not
Marry Me Darling
The Apprehensive Carpenter
Undone
Portrait
Drawing Dead
Sun
Rain Away
Where the Sun Rules Rain
After 7 Years
Stop Tune Hear
Nexus
Say Goodnight
Emily
Gracefully
Billy Pilgrim
JonBoy
Mothers and Fathers
The Work Song
19 Going on 33
Tuscany Girl
I Hope Somebody's Watchn' Me
Countn' Down the Hours
Daylight
Twenty-Two (Am I Wrong?)
Twenty-Three (Hey Love)
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Six (Untitled)
Twenty-Seven
I Didn't See the Line
Back Kisses
The Tide

Plus many more...

-Covers-

Music from every generation - Some excerpts

Heartbeats (Jose via the Knife)
Orange Sky (Alexi Murdoch)
Heart of Gold (Neil Young)
Viva La Vida (Coldplay)
Bad (U2)
Stand Bye Me (King, Leiber, and Stoller)
Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash)
Mr. Brightside (The Killers)
Hey Jude (The Beatles)
Plush (Stone Temple Pilots)
Jolene (Ray LaMontange)
Blower's Daughter (Damien Rice)
Ramble On (Led Zeppelin)

And countless others....

Basic Requirements

Calendar