LA-based artist Andy Clockwise via Sydney, Australia, had big plans. A couple of years ago, the artist was in Memphis, Tennessee on a 30 date tour of the south and midwest of the USA – but, COVID had other plans. After the cancellation, Andy and his all Australian ex-pat band packed up their things in Los Angeles and headed home. Taking to a farm just outside of Sydney, Andy then recorded, played, mixed, and produced his record, War Stories.

The album is a journal about the battles that we put ourselves through. Real and unreal. Written, produced, and all instruments played by Clockwise himself, this is an odyssey, spanning 36 tracks. Created in his Hollywood Hills studio and Boulevard Recording (Pink Floyd/Fleetwood Mac) in LA, as well as during stints in London and Sydney, it features work by Omar Yakar (War On Drugs), Drew Erickson (Tim Heidecker, Roger Waters), JT Thomas (Captain Beefheart), Stella Mozgawa (Warpaint, Kurt Vile), and Jade Macrae. War Stories will be released this year on Exhibition Records. This will be accompanied by the re-release of Andy’s extensive catalog to streaming services & Vinyl.

Andy Clockwise on “Gonna Get It (Just What WeDeserve)”

The final recording of “Gonna Get It” came about once I realized I wanted to make something that one could dance to, whilst simultaneously going through intense panic and existential dread. It had already been partially recorded when our big tour of the south and midwest got cancelled due to this new virus called Covid 19. After finishing our last show in Memphis and getting calls from family back home we quickly packed up our house in LA (along with my entire studio) in 3 suitcases to go home to Australia for what we thought would be 3 months. After standing at LAX (which at the best of times can look apocalyptic), enduring the 14 hour flight and a whole lot of confusion, suddenly we were in paradise on a farm in rural Australia just outside of Sydney. We set up the drums in the middle of the paddock, or field as it’s known in the US, and went to town on something that I thought had potential back in LA but could also save ourselves from all our uncertainty.. The doomsday lyrics were entirely accidental I promise.

This song is my attempt of mixing Malcom Mclaren and New Order opening with “by the time we get to Silverlake the air will get better” to explain an actual day of complete burnout and anxiety that one can experience walking outside of the house at any time, on any day, anywhere………. It just happens to sound semi happy compared to the rest of the album. I mean that helps sometimes doesn’t it? Cry while ya dancing?

“I mean, I hate talking about music these days. It all seems like buzz words, “engagement” and “personal brands”, and aggregate culture in general is seeming to eat itself. So what’s better than writing a pop song about it. I suppose it’s becoming evident that life is how well you suck, so if you can suck pretty good, or in some fantastic way, or at least spend a lot of time trying something, then maybe you are in with a chance? This is me sucking at Punky-Disco with an Opera twist, so that maybe one day, with a bit of luck, I can write something as good as ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ or the ‘Flower Duet’…ok I will shut up now.”