Music is a tie that binds us. In these trying modern times, real, honest music and art can draw people of vast backgrounds and cultures together for understanding and empathy. Long Island's Andrew Weiss and Friends have made a name for themselves since their debut LP arrived in 2018 with their unique blend of Laurel Canyon folk rock and the sonic flourishes of late-70s power pop. Singer-songwriter Andrew Weiss clings to and cherishes moments of intimacy, difficult conversations, and emotional currency through his songwriting. A classic glow silhouettes Weiss’s storytelling, fusing a smart, throwback warmth and charm right into the work. Weiss’ songs show off his chops for character-driven stories, with an attention to detail on par with celebrated works from the likes of Dawes or Tom Petty.
Self-taught on the many instruments he knows how to play, Weiss’s journey sprouted from early exposure to The Beatles, which recently came full circle after a spontaneous run-in and 20 minute conversation with Paul McCartney. He began picking guitar and writing songs at only seven years old, and he would later play in various bands throughout his youth. In 2009, he formed a solo endeavor called High Fascination and wrote, recorded and mixed three pop/rock-leaning albums alone in his bedroom.
During his time at NYU, where he studied Music Theory & Composition, Weiss wrote music for films and various ensembles. His High Fascination work also continued there, and he eventually discovered a group of musicians to join him. Four more albums were released during Weiss’s time in college, before the musical style soon shifted to a more Americana-driven approach, or “Power Pop-icana” as Weiss likes to call it. High Fascination ultimately folded to make way for a new project, as a brand new circle of friends and musicians emerged — Andrew Weiss and Friends was born.
The band has stayed busy since The Honeymoon Suite was released in 2018 with four more LPs, three EPs, and a handful of standalone singles. They have sold out multiple shows at famed Long Island venue My Father's Place and have performed alongside Counting Crows and Rob Thomas at The Outlaw Roadshow Festival. In recent years, Andrew Weiss and Friends were highlights at the 2021 Mondo Festival, the 2022 Underwater Sunshine Festival, and in 2023 they headlined the MLB Washington Nationals’ Grateful Dead Night to a sold out crowd of thousands.
Towards the end of 2022, in the midst of promoting Sunglass & Ash, Weiss felt the urge to get back into the studio, this time with a challenge set for himself. Weiss recalls, “I was going through a period of listening to music where I only felt like listening to Jeff Lynne productions. Full Moon Fever, Cloud 9, Flaming Pie, Wilburys, the list goes on. One day, as an experiment, I put some mics up and started recording what became ‘Hello Loneliness’ in the style of those albums. Acoustic guitars, Rickenbacker 12 string, drum machine. It sounded really fresh to me. Something was there. So, for the next few months, whenever time allowed, I locked myself in the studio and recorded 10 songs just like that, topping off the sessions with guitar and sitar overdubs from Sam Popkin, backing vocals from my wife Sara, and a live string quartet. These songs are meant to exist in 1992, in an alternate universe, blasting out of a 1987 Ferrari cruising along Mulholland Drive on a sunny day. And may they exist now.” These songs became Andrew Weiss and Friends’ new album Beverly Hills, Thanksgiving Day, the title paying homage to the time and place of the mythical coincidental meeting between Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne in 1987 that started the momentum for all of those great records to be made.
The band's moniker honors music’s essential pairing with camaraderie (something we could all use more of these days). Shindig! Magazine observed, “It’s clear that Weiss doesn’t do anything by halves. Big, clever tunes. There’s poetic tilted Americana, booming pop and anthemic road rock. Sometimes it tilts towards the psychedelic. It’s all rather impressive.”
From 2014-2021, Weiss’ jazz trio (in which he plays drums) had a weekly residency at City Cellar Wine Bar & Grill in Long Island. In 2017, he played drums in the pit band for the off-Broadway production PITS: The Unauthorized Holes Musical during its three-month residency at the People’s Improv Theatre in New York City. Weiss does session work as well, in person and remotely, able to record drums, guitar, bass, keyboards, and vocals at his home studio St. Tiogawarewolf Studios in Long Island.
Weiss’s astute observations on love, life, and happiness — and how those things may have shifted in recent years — are vital reminders that music is, at the end of the day, a healing agent for us all.