Elgin Park a sonic playground
Frontman Mike Andrews offers insight into one of pop’s most hidden treasures
By Fauzia Arain
Staff Writer

     Imagine, if you will, a world in which each new music release is superior than its predecessor. That would mean guaranteed satisfaction upon finally hitting “Play” after fighting the good fight with the shrink wrap and adhesive label. This is the ideal scenario for Mike Andrews, part of the illustrious funky jazzsters Greyboy Allstars and, in an odd yet perfect balance, the lead singer and guitarist (and namesake) of the San Francisco pop group Elgin Park. Considering his high expectations—unfortunately unmet—of the music industry, we should expect nothing short of brilliance from Andrews himself, right? Exactly. And one would be hard-pressed to find room for complaints after listening to “Manufacture the Mess,” Elgin Park’s yet-to-be-released debut album. This record runs straight through without losing its knack for bouncing around playfully through your head, utilizing changing moods and textures to ensnare your mind—everything from silly and rambunctious to somber and reflective.

     Turning personal experience into a jangly and lush exposition for the world’s ears, Andrews and his bandmates (guitarist and vocalist Eric Hinajosa, bassist and vocalist John Krylow, electric pianist, organ player, synth master and sampler Robert Walter and drummer Matt Lynott) have crafted an album worthy of even Andrews’ own stereo, and that’s a tall order. Here he speaks with the DePaulia about being woven into the music industry at a ripe age, writing scores for television and the struggle to release “Manufacture the Mess.”

DePaulia—When did you start playing music?

Mike Andrews—I played the ukulele when I was five years old. I started making records and recordings when I was 16. With my first band, that actually ended up making records on Virgin (Records), called the Origin.

DePaulia—So the order was the Origin, Elgin Park and Greyboy?

Andrews—No, it was the Origin, then Elgin Park and Greyboy at the same time. And it’s Greyboy Allstars, because Greyboy’s a DJ.. Although I do do stuff with Greyboy, too. In fact, he’s on his way over here right now. [Greyboy Allstars] used to play in Chicago all the time. We played the Metro all the time.

DePaulia—So when did you know that you wanted it to be your career, your life?

Andrews—I always enjoyed playing, but it kinda told me more than I told myself. I was going to college, and I was playing in my group the Origin, sort of in the summers, and just writing in college and things like that. I went to school in California, at Berkley. I just sort of wrote and grew up, and my graduation sort of coincided with a record deal. I was really fortunate, so right after I graduated, like in a matter of weeks, I was making my first major label record for Virgin. And ever since then I just sort of got caught in the mix and been going ever since. For the most part, after we broke up the Origin (in ‘92), I did some random jobs, like I taught school and I worked at a grill, and did just random stuff to sort of keep myself alive. And then Greyboy Allstars sort of took off, and I did Elgin Park and toured with Greyboy Allstars at the same time.

DePaulia—Do you have a day job now?

Andrews—Um, well, my day job is sort of doing this score stuff. That’s what I do to stay alive. I did the score for “Freaks & Geeks,” and that started in June of last year, and then we had a couple months off, and that got picked up by NBC. So I worked on that steady from September to February. I do all the underscores, so besides the tunes, which are like hit tunes that they put in, it’s all my music. It’s about 300 little pieces of music. It’s not on the air anymore, but I’ll tell ya, I’ve seen those episodes, God, y’know, so many times. Because I write to the finished picture, I don’t just write music and they sort of put it in there. It’s all time-synced and everything. Y’know, it’s a score, so it’s composed specifically for scenes and actions and feelings.

DePaulia—Do you do all the lyric and songwriting for Elgin Park?

Andews—Well, I do all the lyrics and most of the songwriting, and the band sort of helps arrange things and puts in ideas every once in a while. I try to let people get as involved as they can. I kind of feel like it’s important to get your band involved in the music, otherwise they sort of become disinterested. 

DePaulia—Right, like hired hands or something.

Andrews—Yeah, I’ve always liked bands. I’ve never even considered doing a solo thing, just because I think it’s important to get input and feedback from people you play with and sort of bounce off ideas, so it’s not such a one-vision kind of a thing.

DePaulia—So, I’ve heard you’re already pretty popular in Sweden. That’s the word on the street, at least from MP3.com.

Andrews—Are we? Wow, that’s good. You never know where it’s going. There’s kind of a decent pop scene in Sweden now. 

DePaulia: On the Greyboy Allstars homepage, you’re listed as “Elgin Park.”

Andrews—Alright, I’ll give you the story on that. I was in San Francisco, and my nickname’s been Elgin Park since I was a little kid, just because my brothers were stoners and they were always making up crazy names for everyone in the family, and everyone had nicknames, like the cars had nicknames. Every element of my life had a nickname, so that was my nickname. So, I wanted to name my band Elgin Park, so when I came down to San Diego, I had my band Elgin Park and the Greyboy Allstars. Y’know, Greyboy said, “Oh, why don’t you come and play in this band?” and I was initially gonna play bass, and it was sort of just a jam situation. We were playing instrumental jazz and funk, and I didn’t really think it was going to go anywhere, and I guess a little bit in my mind I didn’t want anyone to know I was doing it, so I changed my name. So that’s how that happened. And then, ironically, it became, commercially, the biggest thing I’ve ever done.

DePaulia—Yeah, that’s funny. So, you couldn’t just go back and say “Just kidding, my name’s not really … ”

Andrews—You know what it does for me? It sort of, in a way, categorizes people who know me The people who come up to me and say, “Hey, Elgin!” are either people that I’ve known since I was a little kid or Greyboy Allstars fans, so it lets me know exactly where people are coming from when they come and talk to me, y’know?

DePaulia—So, tell me about the album. What’s in the name?

Andrews—You know what happened was, we put it on MP3 because we got to the point where it just became such a mess trying to get this thing out, so I just called it “Manufacture the Mess.” It’s sort of a statement I think that within everything there’s sort of messes manufactured all the time. Sort of contrived chaos in the marketplace.

DePaulia—When did you record the album?

Andrews—We started recording the record so long ago, I can’t even remember when. Actually, you want to know when we started recording this record? We started recording this record in March of ‘98. It’s been done for over a year. Actually, it’d been done for a year in [April 2000].

DePaulia—Wow, how frustrating.

Andrews: It’s really frustrating. I didn’t really know where to go to put it out, and so we just made the record at my house, because I had amassed a lot of gear, and I have a studio here at my house in my basement. So, I hired an engineer and we started making the record just with the intention of getting it done, not really with any intention beyond that. So, once it was finished, we thought we’d either find an independent label to put it out or a major label,” and then time went on and some major label got interested and some indie labels got interested, and we got a manager and everything just got really confusing. It got really hyped and then it just sort of fizzled out, and in the process the record just didn’t come out. We eventually got interest from a couple of independent label, and so now we just decided to keep it close to home and do it with a friend of mine who actually signed the Origin in the first place, and is sort of a believer in what I’ve been doing. I think that’s the most important thing, rather than being on the hippest label with the hippest people. We just wanna be where we’re gonna have the most support.

DePaulia—Which label is it gonna be?

Andrews—Enjoy Records.

DePaulia—So, when are you planning on releasing it?

Andrews—That will probably happen no later than November,. Cause we’ve had it available on MP3 (MP3.com) since October (1999) and had our Web site (www.elginpark.com) up, and we’ve got quite a few people interested in it from that. We haven’t actually manufactured any records, so everyone’s just sort of heard MP3 files floating around. I’m proud of it. I just wanna get it out and sort of move on to the next thing. Everyone in the group just wants to make another record, so we’re kind of getting ready to get up and do that.

DePaulia—Are you writing right now?

Andrews—Yeah, you know, we’re always writing. I’m always writing. I’ve been really busy with score stuff over the last six to eight months, so I’ve been primarily working on that just trying to make a living, and figuring out the band along the way.