Recently recorded a cover video with my good friend Shivani Bhatt. We did a mash up of two of my favorite songs: Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” and Paul Simon’s “You Can Call Me Al”
It was super fun putting a folky acoustic spin on these 80s smash hit songs that I un-ironically & unashamedly love. Big thanks to James Swisher, my fellow band mate, for recording the audio + video at his home studio space.
Andrew Rohlk & The Reason!
Out of all the crazy band names we had to choose from, why this one? You want to know the reason behind The Reason?
Well too bad, you’re not in the band. These guys are though.
Keys: James Swisher aka Swish aka J Sweezy
Bass: Bryce Tyndall aka BT aka B Tizzle
Drums/Percussion: David Price-Gibson aka DPG aka D Money
Thanks to Andy Pigsley for the gnarly pics!
Oh and when we had rehearsal the other night this happened…
So the other day I made the mistake shameless decision to ask the internet to help name my band.
Since it’s no longer just about me & an acoustic guitar, fill in the blank & help name my band: Andrew Rohlk & the ________________.
— Andrew Rohlk (@andrew_rohlk) February 12, 2013
I had no idea what I was in for.
There were definitely some pretty great name ideas, and some of them found inspiration from movies, books, already existing bands/artists, and uh…board games?
Now I don’t mind a little pop culture reference here and there, but these names would probably get us sued! Pretty sure that these the naming rights on these are on lock down. Except maybe The Pop Tartlets…that’s probably still too close to the breakfast food.
Since my last name is sometimes a bit tricky for people to pronounce, I often introduce myself like this,
“I’m Andrew Rohlk… It rhymes with folk or polk, not poke.”
So I think that’s why some people decided to take more of a rhyming route.
Look at all those yolks.
My friend Kevin submitted a couple of really funny ones, but my favorite was definitely….
I can’t tell which side I’m on…should have payed more attention in History class instead of doodling/writing lyrics.
Some of us just can’t be held down by rules, and sometimes it’s better for everyone when we put our own spin on it. Here’s some creative alternatives to the “Andrew Rohlk and the ________” format.
Dan on my Facebook page suggested,
Drop Andrew. Use the last name only. Less to remember. Rohlk Sound or Rohlk And The City.
My friend David seems to like my first name a little more than Dan.
How about Andrew & Rohlktones?
Yeah, how about that Dan??
James Swisher, a member of aforementioned band that we’re trying to name, thought of this variation.
Andrew Rohlk’s Bag Of Rags
OK, so they’re my bag of rags and not anyone else, right? Good, glad we cleared that up.
Jess Lonett had a couple interesting ideas…
I think you should consider a little twist on Andrew Rohlk and the…
Like “Andrew Rohlk among…” “Andrew Rohlk with…” Andrew Rohlk surrounded by..
Andrew Rohlk surrounded by Randy Newmans
My friend Katie provided the most names by far. I think she’s some kind of wizard, because all of the names below are all from JUST HER.
And here’s the rest of the names people submitted. Thanks a bunch for everyone who participated. Let me know in the comments which names you like the best and if you have anymore suggestions! I’ll keep you posted on what we finally decide to go with.
Super fun show last night! Here’s some photographic evidence.
via Spencer Dukoff.
via Kingsfoil.
Big bummer to anybody who got stuck outside in the cold, because we filled up the place to capacity and SOLD OUT! It was great seeing so many great faces in one place. Until next time Harrisonburg….
UPDATE: This show is being rescheduled! Stay tuned.
————————————————————-
The 9 Songwriter Series is coming to Richmond! I have the honor of playing with 8 other songwriters on Feb 6th at Kingdom! (Located at 10 Walnut Alley
Richmond, VA 23223)
Doors open at 7PM & the show starts at 8PM.
If you asked me what time I’ll be playing, I couldn’t tell you! The songwriters are drawn out of a hat to determine the order. Each performer gets 2 songs to start. Then once everyone has done their 2 songs, each songwriter gets 1 more encore song.
Below is a video featuring Justin Trawick, the creator of the series.
I’m really pumped about this show especially since it’s like no other show that I’ve done before.
Below is the lineup of songwriters for the night.
Justin Trawick
Andrew Rohlk
Shanna Hoar
Travis Tucker
Willie DE
Amy Henderson
Ashley McMillen
Paulo Franco
Russell Lacy
Hope to see you there!
-Andrew
The “Somewhere in Between” EP is here! You can buy and download by clicking below!
You can also purchase the EP on iTunes, Amazon, and stream it on Spotify. However, the cheapest option for you and the most beneficial option for me is through the bandcamp link above.
I put a lot of time, energy, and money into this project to get the sound I wanted on my own terms. I’m proud to say I did it independently in a timely manner without spending a fortune. A lot of that is thanks to Colin Healy who helped me record and produce this EP. Without his talents and his insight, the end results would not have been the same.
I’m at a time and place in my life where things are a bit foggy. I feel slightly older and wiser, but still only have a rough outline of what comes next. What I do know is that I can’t wait to play these songs live. I hope to see you at some shows, and maybe we can figure this out together.
I am not at the end or beginning, it’s true. I’m somewhere in between the two.
-Andrew
Click here for Facebook event page!
Playing a show next week in Harrisonburg with my buds Elyse & Spencer! Going to be a cozy acoustic show in the lounge of Clementine with plenty of comfortable seating options and some room to bust a move if you feel like dancing.
I’ll leave you with this.
Thanks for reading!
To listen + download this song, click here or below.
Some of you may remember this song from my Big Meadow Sessions video.
So the next single from “Somewhere in Between” is here! And it’s not Sunday! Single Sunday was probably a one time thing, so I hope you enjoyed it. I realized most people are busy on Sunday nights, myself included! D’oh.
You just never know what to expect, so stay tuned here for more updates!
Thanks for listening!
-AR
Lyrics below:
Today’s the day. The 1st Single Sunday has arrived!
Here’s the lead single from my new EP. So give it a listen, and let me know what you think!
To download this song, click here or above. (The download is name your price, so if you want it FOR FREE simply enter zero dollars.)
There’s more Single Sundays to come, so stay tuned! The next song might not be next Sunday, but the one after that (2 weeks). I say this without certainty since we’re still in the mixing phase for the other tracks. I don’t want to promise anything and have it be rushed. This song was done a little bit ahead of the others, so I was anxious to let you in on it!
Thanks for reading & listening,
-AR
PS: I almost forgot! The lyrics to “Put You In a Song” are below.
