{"id":5058,"date":"2012-02-29T01:21:12","date_gmt":"2012-02-29T08:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=5058"},"modified":"2012-02-29T01:21:12","modified_gmt":"2012-02-29T08:21:12","slug":"andy-timmons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2012\/02\/andy-timmons\/","title":{"rendered":"ANDY TIMMONS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"ANDY TIMMONS<\/strong><\/h1>\n
\n

Interpreting one of rock\u2019s sacred texts, armed with\u00a0 experience, reverence and blazing guitar\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Guitarist Andy Timmons is well aware that it takes a lot of nerve to approach the crown jewel of the Beatles catalog. Nonetheless he and his longtime backing group\u2014bass player Mike Daane and drummer Mitch Marine\u2014summoned up the courage to offer their new rocked-up instrumental rendition of the Beatles\u2019 landmark Sgt. Pepper\u2019s Lonely Hearts Club Band<\/em> album.<\/p>\n

Timmons admits he was hesitant to tamper with a work many consider untouchable. \u201cI\u2019m not the biggest fan of Beatles covers myself,\u201d he says. \u201cSo I decided to do this in a way that was reverential and respectful. I wasn\u2019t trying to reinvent the wheel. But if it\u2019s fun and it feels right, then maybe it makes sense.\u201d He approached it so carefully, in fact, that Andy Timmons Band Plays Sgt. Pepper<\/em> was two years in the making. \u201cI was always writing, arranging, touring,\u201d he says. \u201cSo it became kind of a hobby I\u2019d work on in my spare time. I just kept picking at it.\u201d Even with a r\u00e9sum\u00e9 that includes everything from several years with the metal band Danger Danger to playing behind mainstream pop acts, this project proved his most challenging yet.<\/p>\n

It originated during an Italian tour that found Timmons working a cover of the Fab Four\u2019s \u201cStrawberry Fields Forever\u201d into his set list. The concert promoter was so impressed that he encouraged the group to include more Beatles tunes in their shows, leading Timmons to wonder just how far he could take the idea. \u201cI never thought of doing this as a commercial project,\u201d insists Timmons, who included the non-Pepper <\/em>\u201cStrawberry Fields\u201d as a bonus cut. \u201cIn fact, I didn\u2019t even think I could pull it off. I thought at best it would be something exclusively for the fans. But when I sat down in my studio and played Sgt. Pepper<\/em> completely from memory, from start to finish, it seemed so much fun. Capturing the essence of that music became such a wonderful process.<\/p>\n

It provided an emotional connection that felt really great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Timmons has been making an emotional connection to music for a long time. He learned guitar at 5, and by 13 was steadily gigging with a group called Taylor Bay in his hometown of Evansville, Ind. \u201cI was with them for eight years, and we became fairly successful,\u201d says Timmons, who now makes his home outside Dallas. \u201cBut I knew that making a living with a band was a long shot.\u201d His passion for playing continued unabated, and he expanded his horizons by studying classical and jazz guitar (the latter at the University of Miami). \u201cI figured that the more styles I learned, the more well-rounded I\u2019d be and the better chance I\u2019d have to make a living,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

His big break came when he met noted drummer Simon Phillips at a NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) convention\u2014he was there as an endorser of Ibanez guitars, while Phillips was representing Tama drums. The two began collaborating, which led indirectly to Timmons becoming musical director for singer Olivia Newton-John. He went on to tour with acts like Eric Johnson, Steve Morse and the Beach Boys; record with the likes of Paula Abdul, Kip Winger and Paul Stanley; and release a series of well-received solo albums. Now all those experiences have culminated in Pepper<\/em>, released on his own label and distributed through fellow guitarist Steve Vai\u2019s Favored Nations Entertainment. \u201cThis project is the culmination of my love for the Beatles and an expression of my love for guitar,\u201d says Timmons, 48. \u201cNothing else I\u2019ve done has felt so easy or so right.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Lee Zimmerman<\/strong><\/p>\n


\n<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ANDY TIMMONS Interpreting one of rock\u2019s sacred texts, armed with\u00a0 experience, reverence and blazing guitar\u00a0 \u00a0 Guitarist Andy Timmons is well aware that it takes a lot of nerve to approach the crown jewel of the Beatles catalog. Nonetheless he and his longtime backing group\u2014bass player Mike Daane and drummer Mitch Marine\u2014summoned up the courage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[3153,3032],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5058"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5058"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5060,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5058\/revisions\/5060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}