Michael Andrews (musician)
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Michael Andrews is a San Diego musician and film score composer. He is best known for a cover version of the Tears for Fears song "Mad World", which he recorded with Gary Jules for the Donnie Darko soundtrack, and which became a number one single in the UK in Christmas 2003.
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Early musical career
Michael Andrews and childhood friend Gary Jules grew up in San Diego, California where they shared a love of 1980s bands such as Tears for Fears, The Smiths and Echo & the Bunnymen. The duo formed an early version of the Origin, but Jules had left the group by the time it signed a record deal with Virgin Records. At that point Michael Andrews was the chief songwriter and musical leader of the group.
Neither of the two records released by the Origin enjoyed much success, which eventually led to group breaking up. The band had moved to San Francisco by this stage but Andrews moved back to San Diego in 1995 to play with the Greyboy Allstars.
Andrews produced Gary Jules' first solo record Greetings from the Side with equipment rented from The Counting Crows and with engineer J. Bradley Crook who had just finished work on the Counting Crows record Recovering Satellites. Unfortunately, Greetings from the Side made a favourable critical impression but failed to sell well due to A&M Records not promoting it properly. Andrews also produced Gary Jules' next album Trading Snakeoil for Wolftickets, which sold much better due to improved distribution in European markets and Australia and increased word of mouth in the US.
Andrews also produced the Metarie EP for Brendan Benson in 2003, and played as a session musician on the Jason Mraz album Waiting for my Rocket to Come in 2002.
Soundtrack production
Michael Andrews had done some soundtrack work on the Ben Stiller film Zero Effect and worked on the music for the TV show Freaks and Geeks. Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly commissioned him to do the soundtrack for the film. Kelly relates on the Everloving Records web site that he was confident that Michael Andrews could do the job: "I met with Michael and I just knew right away that he was really, really talented and that he could come up with a really original score. He would allow me to be in there and be really kind of editorial with how I wanted the score to be."
Andrews relocated to Los Angeles, California to work on the film between October and December 2000. As Andrews states on the Everlasting Records web site, the low budget for the project encouraged him to play a diverse range of instruments for the soundtrack. "The film was pretty low budget so my portion of the money was pretty thin. I couldn't hire anyone, it was just me. I played everything; piano, mellotron, mini marimba, xylophone, ukelele, organ. I also brought in two female vocalists Sam Shelton and Tory Haberman. But no guitar because Richard said no guitar or drums; he just wasn't into it. I was down with that - I've played guitar my whole life."
Like many of his role models for soundtrack composing such as John Barry and Ennio Morricone, Andrews wanted to put a song on his otherwise instrumental score. He chose the song "Mad World" by Tears for Fears (originally released in 1982) and got his old friend Gary Jules in to sing it while he played piano.
The score was not available on a soundtrack album until Andy Factor, a friend of Andrews, released it on his Everloving Records independent label in 2002. As Donnie Darko was not a hit at first, there was little interest in the soundtrack in the US. However, the film enjoyed more popularity in Europe especially in the UK where its total box office was greater than for the whole of the US.
This sparked interest in the soundtrack and the song "Mad World", taken from the original soundtrack, was a 2003 Christmas Number One in the UK singles charts. It has also made the charts in a number of other countries including Ireland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Australia in 2003 and 2004.
Michael Andrews told BBC Radio 1 that Tears for Fears have given the version the ultimate compliment. "They said they're going to go on tour and incorporate our version of "Mad World" into the stage show, which is just amazing."
He has gone on to produce scores for the movies Orange County, Cypher and Out Cold.
Discography
- Donnie Darko (2001 produced - 2002 released)
- Out Cold (2001)
- Cypher (2002)
- Orange County (2002)
External links
- All Music Guide pages on Michael Andrews, Gary Jules and the Origin (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll)
- BBC Radio 1 interview Gary Jules and Michael Andrews (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/jowhiley/live_lounge/garyjules_dec03.shtml?hp_lat_title/)
- Everloving Records Donnie page (http://www.everloving.com/main.html/)
- All Movie Guide page for Michael Andrews (http://www.allmovie.com/)