Andy Michaels Talks “Revisited” with Eileen Shapiro

One of the most prolific and poetic visionaries, Andy Michaels, Aussie recoding sensation has recently released his new album, “Revisited”. After speaking to Andy in depth I decided to revisit our last interview as his music has much to say…..

Let’s talk about Lucretia’s Eylandt….really dive into the inspiration
behind the song.

I read a book by West Australian Author Hugh Edwards called “Islands of
Angry Ghosts.” It’s  a TRUE story about the horrific events following the
wreck of the Dutch ship “Batavia” off the West Australian Coast in June,
1629.Yeah, I know, it’s nearly 400 years ago but read on ! It has been
described as a true Adults Only version, of Lord of the Flies meeting
Nightmare on Elm Street and  has everything, mutiny, shipwrecks,  murder,
love, sexual slavery and amazing courage, inspiration and heroism. And if a
movie storyline  ever needed a bit more, why not throw in a Satanic Cult
onboard the ship ? ( And yes, the good guys eventually win) It remains one
of my favorite books of all time  and as I was living only 40  miles from
the Island where it all happened 400 years before, it was only natural that
I try and put the story into song .

If you could see that song anywhere, where would it be?

The whole story just simply needs to be on the world stage. The song,
Lucretia’s Eylandt, is now being played  on radio in over 20 countries but
my guess is most listeners still think of it as just a sad love story,
rather than understand the true story behind the Lyrics. I believe Russel
Crowe is in the early stages of looking to make a  Hollywood movie about the
Batavia. This song would fit that so perfectly as we  both used Hugh
Edward’s book  and  his amazing storytelling as our inspiration.

“Home”, and the motivation behind that?

I spent a lot of my life living by the sea (there were no neighbors, just kangaroos and beach and sand for
over 40  miles(  Where I lived is now a world famous surfing and windsurfing
destination  as well as  being a turtle breeding and  conservation area,
https://www.gnaraloo.com) and  leaving  that to follow other life pursuits
in  soulless cities was genuinely sad. I guess that’s where the words “And
why, do faceless strangers just walk on by, without a word or forgiving
smile” come from. It is so easy see why most indigenous cultures have such a
strong spiritual connection  and empathy with the sea. There is no better
way for mother nature to express her moods than seeing an ocean in its
different states, from sereneness and tranquillity to raging storms and
swells.

 A lot of Americans are always impressed with you artists down under
…what do you think is the intriguing thing about you and your music?

Australians generally don’t take themselves too seriously ( I might be an
exception !) and are the first to laugh at themselves. I think Americans
like our laconic spirit like you see with Crocodile Dundee and Steve Irwin,
but we are always the first to lend a hand  and help out if needed.
Australian Artists also adopt that ” She’ll be right, mate” attitude and  I
think Americans respect and admire that.

If you could choose one of your songs to help change the world, which
would it be and why?

A song on my next Album called “Planet 8”. It is about
the human race  colonizing and destroying 7 planets because of its
insatiable greed and then looking to space “for somewhere else to take this
master race”. We are custodians of this earth and we owe it to every other
living creature on the planet and to our childrens’ children to leave this
world better than when we inherited it.

Here are the lyrics:

Planet 8

All aboard for Planet Eight
The first 500 past the gate
In memory of those on planet seven
Let’s raise a glass and look to heaven

Chorus :
Once there was a planet earth
With sparkling seas and fertile turf
But they never listened to the signs
It became the fate of their mankind

It’s easy they said, we’ll build earth two
With brand new cities painted blue
Instead of parks where kids can run
We’ll show them how to play with guns

Now the air was thick and they couldn’t breathe
So they started again with Planet three
This time there will be no mistake
That’s why we’re called the human race

Then came planets four and five
With War and Famine they did not survive
When Six died they looked again to Space
For somewhere to take this “master” race

Once there was a planet earth
With sparking seas and fertile turf
But they never listened to the signs
It became the fate of their mankind

Is there a song that never fails to evoke some heartfelt emotion every
time you hear it?

There are so many Artists that I admire immensely with
songs that evoke personal emotion. If I hear David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” or
Eric Clapton’s Tears in Heaven, I always stop whatever it is I am doing and
reflect on the power and emotion of these songs. Some other songs that give
me goosebumps (Or camel bumps ) are Kris Kristofferson’s “I’ve got to have
you”, Bee Gees “To Love Somebody”  and Max Merrit’s “Slippin Away”. Some
reviewer  recently compared “Home” to “Space Oddity” which was nice. On
“Revisited”, “Will There Be Love” is still emotional to me.

You’re a new color in a crayon box, what color are you?

I would rather be the box as then I don’t have to choose ! But if I had to, then Blue.
Along with green, Its natures color and you can never get sick of drawing
the sky or the sea !

If you were a super hero, what would your powers be?

Actually all super heroes are quite cool as they are wonderful geeks that never have an
attitude problem or put themselves first. Is there a super hero that can go
back into time and make a few tweaks to ensure that some injustices and
atrocities we see today never happen ? That would be one cool dude and
because he would  never have to wear a cape, look how much he would save on
drycleaning  and laundry bills!

Social media links are

https://www.instagram.com/andymichaelsmusic/

https://twitter.com/AndysMusicCo

https://www.facebook.com/andymichaelsmusicpage/

And Youtube videos

https://youtu.be/aI311P67fMw    Where are you Now
https://youtu.be/NZbJ3n-FPko    Angel
https://youtu.be/9EZp4gEhi_g    Just Because You Love Someone
https://youtu.be/6JrTkbXJAU0    White Lies
https://youtu.be/FI_0GBAEqUM  I just Want to be the One