He’s quite the unassuming figure. Average height, with glasses and permanently mussed hair, Andy Hunter at first appears in the hotel lobby to be a lost touring guitarist for Weezer. After introducing himself and sitting down though, it’s apparent that whether he looks the part or not, his heart is definitely in his own music.
His recently released debut artist album, Exodus, on Nettwerk Records, traverses genres with a skill reminiscent of a BT/Massive Attack lovechild. Downtempo slow-burners, Nuskool breaks, hard-hitting Trance tracks, Andy Hunter does it all. And, granted, in this day where the producer is slowly becoming more important than the DJ, an artist who can master all the nuances in EDM isn’t really that hard to find. It’s the inspiration behind what Andy Hunter does that distinguishes him from the rest of the crowd.
“My faith really is important to me”, Andy says of the spiritual message interweaving the 10 tracks on Exodus. That’s something you won’t hear often in the Electronic Music Community. Not since BT’s faith-infused IMA (an obvious influence on Hunter) has an Electronic artist worn his faith on his sleeve so proudly. Andy has taken it a step further, however, and become the first artist to be simultaneously marketed to both the Christian music market and the secular Club scene. “Everyone just seems to relate to the positive message I try to convey”, Andy says of the common ground both markets find in his music.
When asked what music inspires him, he replies quickly with “Moby. Play was just beautiful”.
“That’s not cool to say”, I tell him.
“Oh, really? I guess I’m not cool then. I like Moby.”
It’s that sense of self, not bending to trends or the popular voice, that make Andy Hunter such a refreshing voice in the crowded dance floor of the EDM community as it is now. As he says about the Bible verses that accompany each track in the album’s linear notes, “If someone wants to see what I was reading, what I was feeling when I made the song, they can look them up. If not, I’m not going to force it on them, but each verse represents where I was at that moment in time”.
As the interview is ending and I head to the bar (at which Andy politely declines to join me), he stops to ask me if I’ve heard the new Coldplay record. I tell him I haven’t to which he replies “Oh, beautiful stuff, man, you really should”.
Later that night, Andy Hunter plays his first club show in America as a solo DJ at the Riviera in Atlanta, opening for DJ Magazine’s #1 DJ of 2002, Tiesto, brought to Atlanta by local promoter Liquified, Mashing the groove-oriented with the inspirational, Andy Hunter rocks the capacity crowd, culminating in a gorgeously epic Sarah Mclachlan track. When Tiesto takes over, his new Tech-House sound leaves a few in the crowd feeling high and dry. They came to be uplifted, elevated, and emotionally moved. And it’s not that Tiesto’s not doing what he’s doing well...he’s just not doing what they wanted.
He left that to Andy Hunter.
It’s not often someone can steal the show from an artist of the caliber of Tiesto, but on this night, America got hit with Andy Hunter’s sound, and got hit hard. Like him or not, it’s only a matter of time ‘til you know his name.
