Writing open, earnest, and confessional acoustic-based indie rock songs, singer/songwriter Andrew Cushin is a protégé of Noel Gallagher who emerged in England in the early 2020s.
Raised in the Heaton district of Newcastle, England, Cushin attended the former Heaton Manor secondary school. He began to play the guitar as a 15-year-old when his father taught him his first few chords, and he performed his first gig three years later at Gateshead’s Station East. After studying to be a plumber at Newcastle College, he failed a key exam and switched to a sports course, building on the footballing experience he’d gained with Newcastle Benfield. A rough plan to become a P.E. teacher was swiftly curtailed when the manager of his burgeoning music career, Leigh MacFarlane of Songbird, sent some of Cushin’s demos to Noel Gallagher. The former Oasis lynchpin was impressed, and as a result of his support and influence, Cushin was signed to Virgin Records in August 2019.
His first single, March 2020’s plaintive but hopeful “It’s Gonna Get Better,” was promoted by a Newcastle support slot with the Monochrome Set and was followed that June by “Waiting for the Rain.” Gallagher produced and performed on Cushin’s next single, “Where’s My Family Gone,” which appeared that October. However, it proved to be Cushin’s final release on Virgin. With the COVID-19 pandemic reducing promotional opportunities for their artist, the label dropped him. Resolutely, he self-released “Memories” in June 2021, just a couple of months before making debut appearances at the Reading, Leeds, and Isle of Wight festivals. By early 2022, he was signed to Pete Doherty’s Strap Originals, which issued his debut EP, You Don’t Belong, in April. That coincided with dates opening for the Sherlocks, and then June and July saw him support both Gallagher and Paul Weller at a handful of huge outdoor shows. October brought a double A-side single, “You’ll Be Free”/”Dream for a Moment,” before all focus was on recording sessions for his first album.
Cushin embarked on a U.K. tour with the Slow Readers Club in March 2023, just ahead of the release of a couple characteristically melancholy singles: “4.5%” and “It’s Coming Round Again.” In June and July, he joined Louis Tomlinson on an extensive U.S. tour, then returned to Northern England to open for both Shed Seven and the Lottery Winners. Waiting for the Rain, Cushin’s Dave Eringa-produced debut album, was issued that September and featured a lush, piano-laden re-recording of his 2020 single of the same name. It hit the lower reaches of the U.K. album chart just as he kicked off a headline tour of the U.K. and Ireland.