ADAM: Before you began playing solo, you were in a band called The Minerals. I'm not familiar with them; was that a similar style to what we're hearing now?
ANDREA: It was probably a little different, a little more poppy. But, yeah, I'd say it's similar. I usually seem to go between rock and pop.
ADAM: So what motivated the jump into staking out on your own?
ANDREA: I just had a lot of lineup changes. Everybody was in Bellingham and there was this mass exodus to Seattle and everything got shaken up, so I decided it might be easier to just go under my own name for the sake of continuity.
ADAM: Right. Now where is Bellingham in Washington?
ANDREA: Bellingham is about an hour and a half north of Seattle. It's a college town by the Canadian border. Death Cab for Cutie was a fledgling band about the same time I was in the Minerals.
ADAM: Ah, so that's how you got hooked up with the guys in Death Cab [Nick Harmer and Jason McGerr both play on the new album] .
ANDREA: Yeah.
ADAM: Is it harder to attract attention as a solo artist?
ANDREA: I think a band definitely seems to generate more excitement, but personally I think going under my own name is the best decision for me.
ADAM: So are you going out on a tour now that the album is out?
ANDREA: We probably won't be able to tour until winter, either the end of this year or the beginning of next, because of my drummer's work schedule.
ADAM: You mentioned that the label guy at Ghostweed is a friend. So was that a thing where you shopped the album around first, or...?
ANDREA: I did shop it around, and then I was going to put it out myself. He offered and I actually didn't think he would because he'd wanted to focus on Chicago. But I sent him a copy and he really liked it so he said he'd go ahead and put it out.
ADAM: And they're a press, too.
ANDREA: Yeah, yeah.
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