Nineteen-year-old Andy Petr is in some ways your typical young man. He is cocky, opinionated and passionate about music. However, in other ways he's not so typical. Lots of people enjoy playing and crafting music in their teens, but with Petr is seems more like an obsession. While most people his age are busy still trying to figure out what they want to be when they "grow up," Petr has dedicated himself to sound in a way that demonstrates his desire for a career.
After sending out multiple demos to a laundry list of labels, Petr was able to land a record deal with Mixpak Records, which recently released his newest project, "Rapper Turned Singer." The electronic wunderkind is also relocating to New York City in the near future in search of a larger population of people more embracing of his music and fostering of his career.
Petr is bright, talented and self-assured, and I spoke with him about his beginnings, his work ethic and his distaste for the Milwaukee music scene.
OnMilwaukee.com: What got you into doing music?
Andy Petr: I started writing songs when I was 12 within more traditional (boring) guitar-based punk bands. I did this for years, eventually incorporating more and more electronics into the mix and focusing all of my emotion, inspiration and knowledge of music into this singular artistic vision that I'm currently trying to express.
OMC: Why did you settle on the electronic side?
AP: The most forward-thinking and interesting music being created right now is being done with electronics because of the incredibly rich textures and rhythms that they can produce. I see what I do now with new and original methods of orchestrating, modulating and harmonizing layers of sound with electronics as the natural progression from the compositional methods of a great artist from before my time such as Philip Glass. I am trying to make the most exciting and cutting-edge music humans at this stage can possibly imagine and working with synthesizers, samplers and drum machines seems to be the most logical way to go about doing this.
OMC: How do you construct your tracks?
AP: There is a constant stream of emotion and inspiration flowing through my brain at most times and I channel these feelings into my own individual aesthetic vision and working method, usually resulting in a finished product that I can share. I use a combination of hardware (analog and digital) and software to maximize the dynamic and textural impact of my sonic sculptures. There is an intrinsic richness and beauty to analog sounds as well as the aesthetic beauty of older hardware design that I find particularly inspiring, but the computer is the best place for me to organize collections of sound into a final arrangement.
OMC: Being 19 and quite talented, do you get the acceptance from people that you deserve or are they put off by the depth of your talent at your age?
AP: I guess I can't really speak on this one because I'm not really sure what others think of my age in relation to my artistic work. I am honestly trying to make the best music I possibly can and try to view my work alongside other great musicians that I look up to throughout a larger continuum of human expression, regardless of my age. I see no reasons why I cannot work on the artistic level of John Cage or Jimi Hendrix or Bela Bartok. I am determined to create great 21st century music and, personally, age does not factor in.
OMC: When you gig, what's it like to see you live?
AP: I don't play out much as of right now but when I do I am triggering and editing the various parts of my songs live along with a Macbook, an MPC and a Roland SH-101. It is completely live electronic music and there are no backing tracks. I grew up playing at various DIY all-ages venues in Milwaukee and Madison but got kind of burnt out on that and found it very unrewarding as an artist. At this point I am only interested in playing venues with quality sound systems, but I am available for booking.
OMC: What's the most fun about doing music?
AP: It probably sounds rather pretentious but I take my craft very seriously and expressing myself emotionally takes precedence over having fun. Sometimes it can be fun but its mostly something I have to do to for myself and it can be very intense sometimes.
OMC: How did you get hooked up with your label?
AP: Dre Skull and I first got in touch about a year ago and I was sending demos to him basically all summer. Last fall he officially offered me the record contract for Mixpak. I've probably sent demos to over a hundred different places at this point because of how badly I wanted people to hear my music, and Mixpak was the only label gracious enough to actually listen and support me so far. Big up.
OMC: Milwaukee has so many talented people. What do you think of the music around the city?
AP: I am going to be blunt. I think the music scene ranges from stagnant to non-existent. People seem to be content with garbage unimaginative garage/indie pop, and that's fine, but I think I'm reaching for something higher. Honestly, I don't want to come off as rude but I'm not going to lie about my feelings. I think Milwaukee is a very inhospitable place for new and interesting music, which is why I intend to move to NYC this summer where I can reach a more receptive musical community. It gets me really down but I believe it's true from personal experience trying to book shows in high school and trying to get people to actually look into what kind of great, forward-thinking music is going on all around the world. I just feel very discouraged about this city generally.
Born in Milwaukee and raised in the Milwaukee suburb of Brown Deer, Concordia University Wisconsin alumnus Poppe has spent the majority of his life in or around the city and county of Milwaukee.
As an advocate of Milwaukee's hip-hop community Poppe began popular local music blog Milwaukee UP in March 2010. Check out the archived entries here.
Though heavy on the hip-hop, Poppe writes about other genres of music and occasionally about food, culture or sports, and is always ready to show his pride in Milwaukee and Wisconsin.
