Andy Timmons Band

Guitarist Andy Timmons got his start in the band Danger Danger, and this is his guitar trio project, along with bassist Mike Daane and drummer Mitch Marine. Andy Timmons Band Story It started at a Jam session at Rob Wechsler's house sometime in 1987. One year after Andy had moved from Miami to Denton, Texas to join the band Brinker, Andy found himself looking for some players to work on some solo material.

Andy Timmons Band Story

It started at a Jam session at Rob Wechsler's house sometime in 1987. One year after Andy had moved from Miami to Denton, Texas to join the band Brinker, Andy found himself looking for some players to work on some solo material. His friend violinist/engineer Rob Wechsler often hosted jam sessions at his house and told Andy he should start jamming with different musicians. Denton is home to the University of North Texas, which has a renowned Jazz Studies program which attracts musicians from all over the world. Within a 3 mile radius of campus are literally hundreds of great musicians wanting to play.

Mitch Marine was currently playing drums with legendary Texas band, Brave Combo, but was always inclined to try other endeavors. He showed up at Rob's house one day to jam with Andy and some other musicians. Andy immediately liked Mitch's energy and feel.

Mitch Playing LiveA few weeks later bassist Mike Daane showed up at Rob's house. As Daane remembers, "I was in my second year of college studying and playing Jazz. A bassist friend had told me he just jammed with this amazing guitar player and he was completely blown away. I didn't ever expect to have the chance to jam with Andy, then a week later Rob called me up. I was a bit nervous when I showed up, but when Andy and I started playing, we immediately clicked. We started putting together all the elements we loved in music into these amazing melodic jams."

The first gig was shortly after that in early '88. Nicknamed "Teen Beat '88" the jam band consisted of Bassist Mike Daane, Drummer Mitch Marine, Violinist/Engineer Rob Wechsler and assorted special guests. After a few successful gigs, they streamlined to a trio, renamed it "the Andy Timmons Band" and started working on originals. The early ATB gigs were a mixture of originals and covers of various guitarists like Eric Johnson, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Steve Morse and some Bubble Puppy thrown in for good measure.

The ATB played successfully out and around Dallas for about a year, then Andy was offered the gig with Danger Danger. Many thought the ATB was gone, but any chance Andy had to make it back to Texas, he would reunite the group for a show and book recording time at Rob's studio. After 4 years of touring and recording with D2, Andy left NY and moved back to Texas. Over that 4 year period the ATB had recorded over an albums' worth of material, and the decision was made to try to mix it and put it out. This was the the first Ear X-tacy album.

The group toured and recorded on and off over the next several years and released several CDs (Ear X-tacy II, Spoken & The Unspoken, And-thology) in Texas, Europe and Japan. Session ace and UNT Alum Dan Wojciechowski also recorded drums on several songs and often performed live with the group. During this time the ATB also became a top call session band, which recorded on dozens of records for other artists and countless jingle sessions. The group also won several awards and honors over these years (Musician of the Year, Best Guitarist, Best Bassist, Best Drummer....)

In 2001 Andy signed with Steve Vai's Favored Nations label and released "That Was Then, This Is Now" a compilation of songs from the first 2 Ear X-tacy albums and five new tracks. This was the first combined U.S. and International release for the band and it garnered a lot of attention in guitar communities throughout the world. The new tracks also marked a new direction musically for the band which they would follow for the recording of their next CD "Resolution".

The team of Andy, Mike, Mitch, Dan and Rob have all worked together on every CD Andy has put out.

Discography:
1994 - Ear X-Tacy
1995 - And the Pawn Kings
1997 - Ear X-Tacy 2
1998 - Orange swirl
2000 - And-Thology (The Lost Ear X-tacy)
2000 - The spoken and the unspoken
2002 - That was then, this is now
2006 - Resolution