Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
Andy Albert has been playing music for five years, but he says that it’s only been in the last few months that he’s gotten serious about it.
“I started playing guitar in eighth grade and I couldn’t put it down,” said Albert, 20. “But now I’m all a bout writing songs. I think that's my forte.”
A 2004 Roswell High School graduate, Albert played in various local bands for the last five years before forming Holiday Parade, a one-man band. He has a page on the MySpace Website, www.myspace.com/holidayparade, and it was while surfing the MySpace site that Albert discovered the “Calling All Bands” contest.
Sponsored by Verizon Wireless and MySpace, the contest offered any band with a MySpace profile – and without a record company deal – a chance to launch its career in a uniquely high-tech fashion. The winning band’s song, music video, ring tone and ring back tone by the winning band will be released on Verizon Wireless, which has 51.3 millions customers.
MySpace members listened to entrants on the contest page and voted online. Albert’s Holiday Parade was one of 15 bands they selected from more than 4,000 entries. Five top vote-getting finalists will be announced today (March 29).
“Even if I don’t make the next round, the exposure this has given me has been just great,” Albert said.
He said he performs under the name Holiday Parade “because I didn’t want the music to be about me. I wanted to convey an idea, which is all about celebrating and enjoying life.”
His songs are “definitely up tempo,” Albert said. “I like catchy melodies and a hook.” In December, he recorded his first cd, “Two Cheers for Tuesday,” at Spotlight Sound in Alpharetta.
Currently, he’s a student at Wake Forest University in North Carolina studying economics and communications. - Roswell/Alpharetta Neighbor
Discography
*NEW* EP: "This Is My Year" (Produced by Zack Odom & Kenneth Mount at Tree Sound Studios in Atlanta, GA)
LP: "Two Cheers for Tuesday"
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Growing up is never easy. Every day we all face various trials and tribulations that always impact our lives in one way or another. But there are those moments where everything in life just seems perfect, and all you want to do is soak in the joy of being alive. That is the feeling Andy Albert is trying to capture in his music.
Simple innocence is something that has almost been lost in music today. It seems as though the music industry now days is far too concerned with putting out records simply to sell millions. Finding a truly meaningful song on the radio is nearly impossible. “When I write songs I rely heavily on personal experiences and the things that mean the most to me in life. If you really think about it, everyone goes through similar, if not the same, experiences: first kisses, falling in love, friends and enemies, loss etc. We are all intertwined in this aspect…. So I write about all of them.”
After playing in various local bands for the last 5 years (East Camp, Case of the Mondays), holiday parade was formed out of Andy’s overwhelming ambition to get somewhere with his love for music. “I’ve played in and out of plenty of bands with people who were not at all committed to the cause (making great songs) for nearly 5 years. Over the last 6 months (early 2004) I wrote songs following the belief that if you want something done right you have to do it yourself. And I firmly believe that if you truly want something out of life, you have to do all in your power to achieve it.”
The name holiday parade blossomed from the simple idea of celebration. Instead of crying about how difficult life can be we must rejoice in the fact that we are alive and do everything we can to love life.
Through playing numerous shows and constantly writing and recording songs, Andy hopes that one day he will have the opportunity to share his positive outlook on life with the world, giving everyone a chance to, even if only for a split second, love being alive.
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