Andy Frasco has been in the music business most of his life.
The Los Angeles native however didn’t start in the biz as a musician, he started on the business side. “Falling in love with the music business” as he says, a teenage Frasco worked in record stores and interned at record labels at the both indie and major level, before ultimately interning at a label in New York. When his last intern stint on the East Coast didn’t pan out, he realized that he may be better off on the art side of the music industry, having at that point learned the business side of music.
So he went the DIY route, booking shows on his own while “doing the Chuck Berry thing,” which was travel alone city to city, and putting together a different band in each city with local musicians. While he now has an established band named “The U.N.,” he’s still on the road most of the year.
If you go
WHAT: Andy Frasco and The U.N.
WHEN: 8 p.m. Sunday (doors open at 7 p.m.).
WHERE: Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Drive.
TICKETS: $40.
MORE INFORMATION: www.animascitytheatre.com.
Andy Frasco & The U.N. will return to Durango on Sunday night, performing at Animas City Theatre.
“I bought a van and looked up Craigslist musicians in every city. I think I booked myself like 200 shows the first year around the country and show up in towns by myself. I really only knew like three or four chords, but I’ve always had the gift of entertaining a room, talking baloney and stuff. 15 years later, I’ve been doing 250 shows a year and I’m still doing it,” Frasco said. “The power of how badly you want something has gotten me to the point where I learn as quickly as possible.”
The man has built a powerhouse band; sometimes they can get lumped into the jam realm, although they’re not a jam band. Much of his original music would fall into the rock and pop category, but it’s not low-hanging, commercial radio fruit. His originals can be rowdy and fun, reflective of his live shows, while they also can dip into covers of the classic-rock, pop and grunge realm. It’s all part of a life in the music business as a whole.
“I want to learn how to play every style of song and write every style of song. For me, I’m more of a words guy, and writing melodies, that’s what’s important to me, to get my word out without sounding like the same band. I’m just obsessed with songwriting and all these different songs,” Frasco said. “Now that I’ve got a fan base, people just want me to write as many different songs as I can. It’s like this cool part of my career where I have a fan base now, I don’t have to write the same song, because they are here for my words, they are here for the party.”
If the fans are here for the songs and the party, Frasco and band will give it to them. Yes, the man is a musician, but he’s also an entertainer, a concertgoer and a music fan, and he wants to give you your money’s worth.
“I feel like you really have to bring a show, and I’ll bring a show, and my band will bring a show, and we will give 150% effort,” he said. “We know that people’s time is valuable, and I’m not trying to waste anyone’s time. I feel fortunate enough that you come out on a random night to see me play – I don’t take that for granted, and I’m going to give the best show I can, every time I’m on that stage. It’s really important to me to give full potential and full energy and full presence for every show. This industry is too hard to just do it half-assed; you got to do it and give it all you can.”
Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. Reach him at liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.
