20-year-old newcomer Andrew Cushin is quickly building a reputation in an old school, word-of-mouth style. A strong following in his hometown of Newcastle saw him sell out The Cluny before officially releasing any music, while his debut single ‘It’s Gonna Get Better’ introduced his talents to a wider audience.
Now Andrew shares his new single ‘Waiting For the Rain’. Raising the bar from that compelling debut, the track proves that Andrew has a rare talent for channelling personal anguish into cathartic songwriting with a maturity beyond his young age.
‘Waiting For The Rain’ is the very first song that Andrew wrote when he was just 15-years-old. It was inspired by tumultuous events. After witnessing a family argument, upset Andrew ran off to a friend’s house where he explained what happened in the garden. The song’s hook captures the vulnerability of that moment in devastatingly candid fashion: “I’m hanging by the fire, the flames are raising higher, I’m waiting for the rain.”
Long after the dust settled, Andrew posted ‘Waiting For The Rain’ on social media and it quickly amassed 20,000 views without any promotion or him having any existing profile. It even captured the attention of Noel Gallagher, who praised Andrew’s “great natural voice.”
The ‘Waiting For The Rain’ video captures Andrew in his hometown environment. Downstairs in St. Peter’s Social Club, it’s business as usual: football blares from the TV and darts thud against the board as talk from the regulars fills the air. Meanwhile Andrew is performing in the function room upstairs, captivating an intimate audience with nothing more than his voice, a guitar and his stories of his life in the local area.
Although he’s now making waves in music, Andrew Cushin’s first passion was football. He used to play as a goalkeeper for the non-league side Newcastle Benfield’s youth team, which inadvertently changed the course of his life. When his coach asked him to help train the younger players, the pair bonded over a shared interest in artists such as Oasis, The Beatles, Paul Weller, Pete Doherty, Richard Ashcroft, Foals and Damien Rice. With a background in music, the coach soon discovered that Andrew had a real flair for songwriting and became his manager – the start of a rise which is set to continue deep into the future.