Called Second Chance, the band played the college scene for a year with a rock and blues cover sound before some of the members graduated, forcing the band to dissipate. Baker tasted what professional playing was like, and soon formed a new band, Big Bad Wolf , searching out the best musicians on campus he could find. "I ended up the least experienced in the band," he admitted, adding that he played guitar and keyboard and performed some vocals. "That's where I paid my dues and learned my licks," he remembers. He played with B.B. Wolf until after he graduated, and was able to pay his living expenses by performing at clubs, parties and weddings. Andy's college musical career planted the roots for original song writing, and he was able to develop the skills and confidence needed to perform for large and small audiences, and the skills needed to front future projects.
Baker's own taste in music varies, from acoustic ballads to classic and alternative rock. He admits that he listens to independent and public radio more than CD's, where he can hear new sounds and new artists. "There's alot of cookie cutter artists on the radio now," he remarked. "I think it's much more interesting when a real person tells a story with his own music, and then gets it out there commercially. It's a more lasting contribution."
After graduating from Penn State, he moved to San Diego where he focused on his acoustic playing and paying off his student loans. On his time off from working, Baker learned how to surf long boards in Pacific Beach, scuba dive the Coronado Islands, and travel around southern California and Baja Mexico. He spent some time in Los Angeles, scouring the music clubs, when he came upon a personal revelation. "I was itching to do something new," he said. "I wanted a world class adventure in music and travel". The opportunity came soon after when the company he worked for offered him an overseas transfer to the country of Zambia, Africa. Four weeks later, after selling his car and receiving all the necessary immunization shots, he made the move to Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia.
On his second night in Zambia, Baker met a group of european musicians, recognizing their sound as American and British rock and roll. "I realized quickly that the expatriot community in Lusaka was starving for live entertainment", he said, so he founded a new rock group called Kabulonga Surfers, named after a neighborhood in Lusaka. The result was a band with singers from Brooklyn, NY & South Africa, a bass player from Scotland, and Italian drummer, Baker on lead guitar and keyboards, and a sound engineer from the Netherlands. As the band performed, Andy worked more on lead vocals, and continued to write original songs. The Kabulonga Surfers stayed together for four years, performing as a very popular dance rock/cover band. Then some members, led by Baker, cut a CD of all original songs. "I wanted to take what we had learned and apply it to an original music project," he said, adding that the group did all the writing and recording in a home studio lined with cardboard egg trays. They sold all 350 CD's they cut, then most of the group members left Zambia for other work assignments.
When the Kabulonga Surfers disbanded, Baker moved to Boston, acccepting another transfer from his company. "Thats when I decided to start my solo music career," he noted. He began performing at open mics at Boston showcase clubs, including Club Passim in Harvard Square. Baker also realized that it was time to give his original music full attention, so he resigned from his day job at the consulting firm. "I had a good taste of living as an artist, now I needed to go on a journey and find myself musically," he recalled. Several months later he learned of an offer at an adventure lodge back in Zambia for a seasonal guide for photographic safaris. Realizing what an amazing opportunity that would be for adventure and songwriting, he applied for and accepted the offer without hesitation, and flew back to Zambia several weeks later. Baker went from a well paying consulting job in Boston to "working for $400 a month, living in a grass hut in remote Africa. It was quite an extreme change, and most definitely a simple and happy time in my life."
As a safari guide, Baker took paying clients into the African bush by foot, by vehicle or by boat for game viewing along the Zambezi River, but his favorite was the walking safari. For nearly a year, he led small groups of international visitors into Zambia's Lower Zambezi National Park on photographic expeditions on the Zambezi River and in the national park. At night, he would entertain the visitors by playing his guitar and singing. "This was a good musical space to be in," he remarked. "Here I was dirt poor, but I was doing what I loved to do - be around adventure travelers and write and perform original music." As the season drew to a close, Baker's work for the lodge ended, and he spent a month traveling around South Africa before returning to the USA via New York City.
For six months, he traveled the states, playing open mikes in California, New Mexico, Texas, Montana, and New York City, "I was exploring for the right kind of feeling for my new music home", he remembered. After reading a compelling article in an in-flight magazine, Andy decided to take a visit to Anchorage, Alaska in June 1998, and it was love at first sight. "I was totally captivated. It seemed to have the wild frontier and international elements I liked, right here in America." He returned to Boston, packed up his jeep and took a month to drive across the USA to Bellingham, Washington where he boarded the Alaska Marine Ferry, performing shows in the packed bar room of the ship during the five day voyage up the inside passage to Skagway. In August 1998 he rolled into Anchorage with out a job or ready-made music connections, only a dream to launch a solo music career.
As his life in Alaska began to fall into place, Baker focused heavily on songwriting and performing at open mics and small clubs across Anchorage, including Humpys, eventually touring out of town as well. "My strategy was to play small clubs until people were telling me I was doing well, then go on to the next step," he stated. Soon his music sets were dominated by his own originals, and he began to make a name for himself as an original singer-songwriter with an upbeat acoustic rock style all his own. In January and February of 2001, Baker traveled to New Zealand with only a guitar and backpack to test his songwriting and performing skills among the crowds of international adventure travelers in the peak summer season. Starting with an open stage appearance at The Temple in Auckland, he began booking gigs as he moved from the north island all the way down to Queenstown on the south island. Andy cultivated a following of fans as he traveled and found he could hold his own with many new audiences of varying nationalities. "By the fourth week of the tour, when I hit Queenstown, so many good things were happening for me with my original songs, that's when I knew I had something good to take back to Alaska for a new CD." In 2002, he expanded his perfoming schedule to cities across Alaska, including the world famous Iditarod dog sled race finish in Nome, where he met and befriended former Rollings Stones personal assistant June Shelley at his concert. Live radio appearances on KNBA in Anchorage, KBBI in Homer, and KTOO in Juneau helped to promote his original songs. Baker even managed an appearance at the nationally known acoustic showcase Java Joe's in San Diego in February 2002. In April 2002, he was ready to convert a healthy collection of original songs into a commercial recording.
The end result was a full length CD of all original acoustic rock songs entitled Queenstown, recorded at Anchorage's Surreal Studios and released in November, 2002. The 2002 Alaska Public Radio Song Of The Year Contest helped promote Baker's CD after he won first place in the rock category for his song "Foreign Land," a musical account of his earlier move to Zambia, Africa. He also scored a first place song in the Novelty category with "Finish That Song," a humorous reflection on completing original compositions. Prior to his CD release, Baker was invited to open for Grammy winner folk legend John Prine at his two sold out shows in Homer, and for his Alaskan finale in Anchorage's 2,000 seat Atwood Concert Hall.
In December 2002, Andy's music journey took him back by invitation to his old stomping grounds of western PA and Penn State for concerts, and for a songwriter showcase at The Ark in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In late January he will join several other recording artists from Alaska for a 10 day tour of central California, organized and promoted by KVMR radio station out of Nevada City. Alot of the Queenstown CD promotion has been through public radio, friends, fans and one of the best forms of promotion: word of mouth. "They want to be part of the journey," said Baker. "people I've met outside Alaska are taking the CD to public radio stations and asking them to play it". Andy admits that the 2003 Queenstown tour could take him all across the USA if things keep going this well. So keep in touch with Andy's music journey via his ever evolving music web site, he may very well be performing near you soon! -Gina Delfavero, Tribune-Review, Greensburg, PA
