OHIO ROCKS:  I’ve read a lot and listened to interviews about how you’re known for being introverted and shy, but it seems like your lyrics are intensely personal a lot of the time. How do you reconcile that on stage or do just not even think about it?

 

Erika: Well, I think that sometimes meeting and speaking to people I don’t know is a bit more awkward for me because I tend to be a bit of an awkward person. I think that when you’re onstage you’re playing these songs that you’ve practiced and presented to the band and then the band plays them over and over and then you record them. They are very personal things, but I’m just more comfortable with it. To me it’s a lot easier to get up and sing in front of 500 people or more or less than to speak to them. I absolutely can’t…it’s so hard for me to talk on stage. And you always get that one douche in the crowd when you actually decide to say some stuff, like a heckler or something, God!

OHIO ROCKS: Where does that “hot and heavy pumpkin pie” folksy country sound come from?

Alexander: (laughter) I think it just comes from the country within. Country in my spirit. Country I already had in me and country I wanted to have. When I was young my father would take me on these summertime journeys. We would all be stuck in a van driving across the southwest and I would get dirty and run around barefoot. It was an earthy happiness. That’s where it comes from.

OHIO ROCKS: Tell me the story of the song Solid Ground. Did you sleep on the ground?

Dave: It is a song I came up with rather quickly. It was the first time we had ever toured in England. We were at the college and I was watching this female professor cracking open chestnuts with a knife. It was in Norwich and it just had this feel about it. We went out in this field and I started humming the song but I wasn’t even trying to write a song. A very cool earthy experience. I never thought I was creating something that would be on an album. I was just sitting in the field contemplating the contours of the earth.

OHIO ROCKS: This tour for Hospice,…..how is it going?

Peter: Well,… so far great! This is the first night of our tour. We just drove out of New York yesterday and now we are here. I like Ohio I think we get excited every time we play here. I mean one time we had a bad experience in Akron but we just played there a year ago and it was good. Ya never know how certain shows on a tour are going to go. In fact we were a little nervous about this show on our drive here. I think some things have turned around for us and people came out and they had a good time. So did we!

OHIO ROCKS: Any cool stories you have about Ohio?

Sune: One of my coolest moments was here. We played at the Buddy Holly tribute event at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We spent 2 days with Maria Elaina Holly, Buddy Holly’s wife. She told us all these stories and we stayed at the same hotel, it was amazing. She showed me the pin Buddy was wearing the night they first met. Because of the music we play…….wow it was a huge moment.

OHIO ROCKS:  You guys have just switched labels?

Alex: We started on Hopeless Records and this year we signed with Interscope. We are making that transition to the major label. It is a good transition but we were a big fish in a small pond and now we are a small fish in a big big pond. It is a little scary but at the same time exited to have them behind us. It is a very big machine. They are responsible for people like Lady Gaga!!!!! Who is Phenomenal!!!

 

Cole: It’s kind of similar. Well, England we have a good hype. We have a management company working for us, they got us hyped. One of our singles got on the UK singles chart. It wasn’t very high at all, it was like, 115. That never happened in the States, being on the singles chart. So that was kind of cool. We’re more or less the same size in Europe as here. In a big city, like New York or Chicago, we could bring maybe 1000 people, and in smaller cities it could be anywhere from 200 to 5 or 6 hundred.

 

OHIO ROCKS: Even though you may have not written the lyric, what Manchester Orchestra lyric is the most emotional for you?

Chris: Yes, there is a lyric for me,….”I’m going to leave you the first chance I get”. That moment means a lot to me. When you can say “I’m going to leave you the first chance I get”! It’s an angry moment. Maybe ya wanna take what you said back but you can’t. You may love this person and want to the rest of your life with them but you messed up.

Dan Dougan:

Clearly misses his friend, but seemed very proud to have been a part of Andy’s life and Columbus’s music scene of the years.

 

“Andy understood the freedom of the independent spirit within music.”

Doc Smith:

He was rockin’ an Andyman Blue Jackets, Columbus’s NHL team, jersey. You could tell he looked up to him in a big way. His admiration probably wasn’t all that different from a child’s veneration for an NHL star.

 

“Andy loves you,” is what he said when asked what’s the one thing he’d want someone who never met Andyman to know about the DJ legend. He later added with a cocky smile, “Andyman gave me a chance, and I rolled with it.”

Colin Gawel:

The man clearly had a void in his life after the loss of his good friend, but he has a lot of memories to help fill that empty space.

 

“Andy was a fan first and foremost. One time we got front row and center tickets to a KISS show. Gene Simmons got his (stage) blood all over Andy. He loved every second of it because he was just like any other fan.”

Joe Jewett:

The man was obviously dazed and melancholy over the loss of a colleague and friend he greatly expected, but his thoughts were very clear on Andy’s impact during his tenure at CD 101.

 

“He was just as much of a fan of the music as the listeners were. I think that’s a reason so many people loved him. He was just a casual laid back music fan listening to the tunes along with them.”

 

 

Randy Malloy:

While still coming to terms with the tragic drowning, Malloy had no problems explaining how Andyman knew how to live his life. Randy worked for years at CD101 in promotions . Now he is the stations GM.

 

“He gave all to his family, his radio family, the family he made with his wife and his faith. He put all these things together and never had one take away from the other.”

Lesley James:

She was obviously mourning the loss of a friend and colleague but is forever grateful for the man who later became “family” to her for giving her a shot at being a CD 101 DJ mainstay.

 

 

“I was a guess DJ, and after my hour of doing that, I approached Andyman and handed him my resume’ hoping for a job. He said, ‘Honey, I don’t need a resume’. I’ve been listening to you.’ I was shocked. I didn’t expect that.”

Mike Folker:

The man was still wowed by his friend’s ability to hear and recognize the next big song or band as well as lend an ear when he needed it most. Mike was a long time DJ for CD101.

 

“The guy was like a father to me. Whenever I needed advice, even after I left the station, I’d give him a call. He’d always help. He taught me how to have love in my heart.”

Michael Palermo:

While dealing with his own personal grief, he never lost sight of the fact he was far from the only one who was morning. Michael was a long time DJ for CD101.

 

“I lost a piece of my world, but he was a part of everyone’s world. He affected so many lives in so many ways. I’m so God damn luck to have met him.”

The Constellations are from Atlanta Ga. They are currently on a national tour supporting their new album, Southern Gothic. Once the band received word of Andy Davis’ passing they called CD101 and asked if they could play or donate their services. The Constellations were the headlining act for the Andy Davis memorial concert.  Within minutes of jumping off stage at the LC Pavilion lead singer Elijah Jones spoke with OHIO ROCKS. He talked about a guy who once gave him a helping hand.