Conceptual genius
Posted: 6/4/2009

By James Mulcahy

Jared Andrews is a percussionist's percussionist. The former Shelbyville man now lives in southern California, where he composes, choreographs and teaches indoor percussion -- it's like Drumline on steroids -- to high schoolers for competition.

And his students have done well against some of the top groups in the world.

"In our competitive circuit, we took a third-place medal, which is pretty huge because the first and second groups in our class medaled in the world championships," Andrews said.

Andrews' school, Mission Viejo High School, is part of Winter Guard International, where the competition is as good as it gets.

"You create a show," he said. "These shows can have any kind of concept ... it's almost like silent theater. You see what's going on with the choreography and music to portray the concept."

That conceptual genius comes from the director.

"One of the groups (he teaches four) is doing a show about a metaphorical society, staying true to your roots and being who you are," Andrews said. "I'm using the concept of underground hip-hop versus TV. I have a bunch of TV sounds and a visual that will go with that kind of thing."

The show concepts, he said, range from loose to "extremely detailed."

"We're kind of cutting edge," he said. "A lot of really cool ideas and concepts are coming out. The young group is going to do a show called Trinity, which is about the primary colors: yellow, blue and red."

The recent third place, Andrews said, was a milestone for the young program at Mission Viejo.

"That was a huge moment for me because that school was only built four years ago, and it usually takes a long time to build the program," he said. "The first two years we didn't make finals in the easiest class. Then we moved up to the open class and made finals, then the next year we medaled. It was a pretty big deal for us and it got my name on the map in southern California and offered a lot of opportunities. I was able to stop teaching at that school and just compose entirely for money for a semester."

Permanent ink, permanent friendship

Andrews' roommate in Riverside, Calif., is Shelbyville native Chad Waits, an accomplished tattoo artist.

"Chad has the first tattoo ink to be certified by the FDA," Andrews said. "He does all the mixing and selling, and represents Alla Prima Ink at tattoo conventions."

"He's actually given me several of my tattoos," the 2002 Shelby County High School graduate said. "I was the first person he tattooed, and that was interesting. He'd only tattooed himself. But he's my best friend and I trusted him.

"Tattooing is hard, and it's forever," he said. "It's not about the picture on my leg; it's more about letting my best friend do something."

Among Andrews' skin decorations are portraits of actor Johnny Depp, Al Bundy (from the television series "Married: With Children"), a rose and a winged koi fish.

"In Japanese mythology, koi spent their entire lives trying to swim upstream so they could become dragons," Andrews said. "It's a metaphoric tattoo. It represents my struggle."

The portraits, he said, were happenstance.

"I have the portraits because a guy at the shop wanted to get some portraits in and I had some free landscape," he said with a grin.

Other beats

Besides his school gig and composing -- and studying music at the University of California Riverside -- the son of Al and Pam Andrews was a summer drummer last year at Sea World, performing in the stage show "Riptide."

"It was the first gig I got to play that I was playing drum set; that was pretty cool for me," he said. "I worked for Sea World and got paid $25 an hour to play two shows that were 20 minutes long, but I got paid for seven hours."

Andrews said he felt a little like a celebrity at Sea World.

"You really get treated like you're famous," he said.

But Sea World was more for fun; Andrews always goes back to the Winter Guard.

"The teaching thing is one aspect of what I do," he said. "Right now I'm composing for seven high schools. I write the entire soundtrack. I'll write for all the melodic percussion -- your bells, xylophone, vibraphone, marimbas. I usually take a guitar player and a bass player, two synthesizers ... and two auxiliary percussion guys, and then we have the battery, which is the theatrical aspect of the show. They're the ones moving and playing and I'll use them to tell the story."

Andrews' other percussion credits include being part of the stage band on TV's "America's Got Talent," a spot on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and performing in several countries while at Morehead State. He also performed at the Seoul Drum Festival in 2005.

"My favorite was the Seoul, Korea, show," he said. "They erected a stage in downtown Seoul, and we were treated like Led Zeppelin. It was out of control; we were paid a lot."

Whatever the future holds for Andrews, one can bet it will involve music.

"I'm going to do whatever I need to do," he said. "I'll never leave music. I'm going to play or write or teach somehow."

But he has a philosophy on success.

"You've got to sell yourself. If you're not making millions, you're not making anything."

Note: To see Jared at Sea World, search YouTube for "jaredlovestoplay".