As they like to put it, “not the country, not the suburb, the rock band.” Andorra is a four-piece alternative rock band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. From Radio 1045’s 8th Birthday Show local opener to Rock on Philly’s Battle of the College Bands winner, they’re taking over the local scene. We got to sit down with Kevin McCall (vocals/guitar) to learn about the guys and discuss their recent release What You Wanted, What You Got:
BTS: Why did you all decide to take the music route and how did it lead you to each other?
KM: We all kind of grew up together. Me, Michael (bass/vocals), and Jordan (drums) have known each other and have been really good friends for a long time. Dante (guitar) was a recent addition as of two years ago, we met him in college. We’re all about music so much so that we went to school for it.
BTS: We love your Facebook bio asking “Any chance you guys like Pearl Jam?” If you could collaborate with anyone on a song, who would it be?
KM: Pearl Jam would be a good answer. Also, the band Daddylap. We have a lot of Philly friends in bands so we’re always trying to do those collabs. Our first record was very much like a collab. We featured a lot of friends – we had a duet with The Escape.
BTS: Favorite spots around Philly?
KM: Michael’s answer is always The Milkboy. My favorite spot is The Grape Room. I turned 21 on that stage so it has sentimental value for me.
BTS: What would be your dream show lineup?
KM: A lot our roots trace back to early 90s rock bands. Anyone from, like, Pearl Jam or Foo Fighters. I’m a big Prince and Tom Petty fan, so if they were still alive, that’d be cool. It would be an expensive ticket!
BTS: Favorite song you’ve released off What You Wanted, What You Got and why?
KM: Most recently, the song “In Limbo” has become our favorite amongst the band. In the writing process, it sort of became a joke. Jordan was doing a samba beat and we all laughed at it, but then we thought, “Hey, this is kind of fun so let’s roll with that.” It took us away from the standard hard rock thing. We always try to steer clear of the “ACDC syndrome” – we don’t want to write the same song twice. We try to mix it up and that song set us apart from the rest of the record. Also, “In Limbo” falls in line with the themes of the record. It’s a coming of age record. It was written over the course of two years as we were moving out of our parents’ house and moving into college. We were all going through the same emotions together.
BTS: What are your plans for 2018? Touring the record? Back in the studio?
KM: Philly’s our home base so we’re more than happy to stay here. We’re working on some shows, possibly Boot & Saddle. We have a wish list of local bands we’d like to play with. We have a show lined up at Connie’s Ric Rac. We’re slowly but surely creeping back into the writing process. This last record was kind of heavy and we’re sort of trying to top it. In our opinion, it’s some of our best work, so we wanna be able to put out something just as good.
BTS: Why should people listen to What You Wanted, What You Got?
KM: We’re all very proud of this record. From front to back, it’s a change in dynamics from song 1 to song 12. Take a full listen. We took some liberties with this record and tried to branch out. We’re mixing it up, so we’re really proud of it. It’s a coming of age record and this is what we’ve been working towards for a long time. Hope you check it out!
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*Header photo by Brittany Salerno.
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