Meet Andy James White

We recently connected with Andy James White and have shared our conversation below.

Andy James, we are so appreciative of you taking the time to open up about the extremely important, albeit personal, topic of mental health. Can you talk to us about your journey and how you were able to overcome the challenges related to mental issues? For readers, please note this is not medical advice, we are not doctors, you should always consult professionals for advice and that this is merely one person sharing their story and experience.

This is a big question. Years ago I had a friend who taught me meditation. He also taught yoga and was doing life coaching while writing his first book. Meditation definitely helped ground me at times and I would see ideas come to me during meditations. It’s been a big part of my art and music.

Something I struggled with but didn’t know what it was at the time is now known as the “Freeze Trauma”. I would stare at a painting I was working on or at my guitar and want to get up and create but just couldn’t. I was just frozen laying there on the sofa. Sometimes I could force myself to just do something and in turn it would help push me out of being frozen but other times I was just laying there unable to do what I wanted to.

Through therapy ,reading and educating myself to a broader self awareness I have grown and healed in many ways. Depression is sneaky and sometimes I look back on all the music and art I have created to pause to really take in how much I have accomplished. I am grateful for what I believe is a gift to be creative. I love it. If I’m having a bad day I always remind myself that for one it’s temporary and the next moment could be the most beautiful moment of your life. So I try to embrace all of it good and bad and just appreciate life everyday.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I grew up on the east coast but have been in Los Angeles for several years now. I was in bands since I was a teenager and art was always there along side of that. I haven’t been in a band in quite a while but I still create music all the time. It’s a lot of ambient guitar styled music. Like soundtrack music. It’s very free creatively and I try not to over structure it when I record it. There’s something about an original first idea that is kind of like abstract art.

When my last band broke up I started diving more into painting. Abstract paintings were the first experimentation of trying to really paint a lot. Again there is something really pure that spoke to me about that style. I always kind of went back and forth between the two forms of creativity over the years. In my late teens or so I wasn’t playing in a band and I became obsessed with graffiti in NYC. I spent several years running around NYC and NJ doing graffiti as much as I could. I would draw constantly.
Eventually depression caught up to me and I decided I needed to play music again. I went out the next day and bought a Gibson Les Paul and a 4 track recorder and started making music again.

Right now I am working on creating a new project that will be some more straight forward songs driven by an acoustic guitar. The songs will have a lot to do with reflecting on my years here in Los Angeles.
With my art I am looking to do a new group show with friends in the coming months. I curated a show a few years back like this and am looking to do it again. I like doing things with my community of artists and musicians that just feels good.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

For one being curious about things and seeing what other people could do made me want to be able to do things in music and art. I realized the more I tried and the more I did things the better I became. Music I am basically all self taught and art for the most part too with some exceptions. I goto my great artist friend Francesca for painting questions. She is an amazing oil painter. She taught me how to stretch a canvas and has answered anything I am trying to learn about. She has all the answers.

In music I would read about how people created their guitar sound or what a cool sounding chord looked like from guitar magazines.I tried to emulate my guitar heroes and after a while you settle into your own style. You find yourself.

Art is very similar that way. I looked at so much of other people’s work I admired and learned from it. In graffiti I had mentors that showed me the ropes and taught me how to do some things. If you are passionate about something then you will search for answers.

I always wanted to be able to create music that didn’t exist but I wanted to hear. Same goes for art.

For someone starting out I’d say just start doing things. Learn things as you go or look for a teacher. There’s no right or wrong way to create. It’s about what you like and if it makes you feel good. Don’t get frustrated if you see other people doing things you’d like to be able to do and can’t yet. Just keep going after what you like and don’t stop. There is only one YOU in the world and eventually when you find yourself in your work then no one can touch that.

Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?

This happens a lot to me because I get so many ideas and want to do too much at once. Best advice I can give is pick one painting or one song and just focus solely on that. It’ll bring you back to center so you can accomplish something and then by accomplishing something it fuels you to do more.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://andyjames-white.squarespace.com
• Instagram: @andyaw
• Twitter: https://x.com/AWAndyJames
• Other: I have a Bandcamp page
  https://hummingbirdonthewires.bandcamp.com/track/sunday-cozy-eveI update every so often because I have so many ambient guitar tracks.

Image Credits

Andy James White