I have known Wayne “Crash” Andrews since he was about 17 years old. I remember my brother Hal Axson bringing him over to one of our Altered Moods practices, he was young, had a lot of opinions, and was interested in writing and playing original music – NOT COVERS – original music, and that was enough for me to know we would be friends for a long time to come. I watched Wayne grow and progress as a musician/performer and as a songwriter over the years. He was involved with several bands along the way such as Neon Pussyfish, The Crawl, and Crash Cadillac. His body of work both quality and quantity has been progressive, well thought out, and well delivered. Existing in a city where hard straight-out rock and roll is by most account the minority choice of mass consumption I can tell you one thing for certain – Wayne Crash Andrews has never waivered from his art form, from his sound, from his roots. A lot of musicians would have given up or in much earlier in the game once they discovered there would never be a tremendous amount of support for their genre but he never did. I’ll be honest with you, there were times for me when I hit that same wall and seriously considered just stopping but I found inspiration in how Wayne handled it and that gave me heart. We are showcasing here one of Wayne’s best artistic projects “Crash Cadillac” which was embodied at their height with the release by the same title. The live shows by the band from this time period were some of Wayne’s best, with Danny Hodges on Bass and Burt Solon on Drums. A power house 3 piece no-nonsense rock and roll band they delivered everywhere they performed. I admire Wayne for his tenacity and I respect him for always being straight forward in a world of bullcrap, but even above that I will always celebrate his passion for the craft of writing, creating, and performing the music he loves and never quitting.
 
Bio (from Wayne “Crash” Andrews):
Crash Cadillac was formed in Columbia, SC in May of 1991 featuring Wayne Andrews on guitar and vocals, Ralph Hodges on bass, and Burt Solon on drums. The band played for three years and made two different demos used to book and promote. The first demo was recorded by Greg Davis at the earliest location of the Jam Room, and the second was done at Tight Quarters Recording Studios by Tim and Steve in Lexington, SC. The song “Cry Freedom” from that session was included on the Scavenger Records “Burning of Columbia” disc in 1992. In 1994, the band stopped performing live. The members went their separate ways and played in other projects for a few years, occasionally joining together to jam and play shows.

 

Wayne Andrews later put the band back together with two different musicians with the intent to record a full length album. The new members included Bruce Helregal on drums and Russell Ivanko on bass. This line up recorded a four song EP with Bob Moore at the Sound Lab in Lexington, SC, as well as a self-titled full length album- also with Bob Moore. The self-titled album was mastered by Rodney Mills at the Masterhouse in Deluth, GA. With the disc for sale online and being distributed through Perris Records, the band set out to play a seven state tour to promote the release. Bruce Helregal decided against touring, and Burt Solon, the original drummer, returned to the band. Crash Cadillac played the southeast for a few years, achieving success during this period by gaining radio airplay of the song “Tonight” on WRIF, Detroit’s rock station, as well as other radio stations across the world. “Tonight” was also included on the soundtrack for a German Fetish Film.

 

The band returned to the Sound Lab to record two songs for their local college football team, the Carolina Gamecocks. This album was entitled “The Garnet and Black Disc” and included the songs “We Are the Gamecocks” and “Garnet Christmas in Caroline.” Both songs gained support from local radio stations and press. “We Are the Gamecocks” was used an introductory song on 107.5 The Game- a local sports radio station. After many years of playing shows together, the band entered the studio with Bob Moore, once again, to record a four song EP entitled “Coupe-Deville.” This was the last release from Crash Cadillac. The band continued to play the southeast until October of 2012- their last show being with Tracii Guns of L.A. Guns’ new group, The League of Gentlemen.

 

The band is currently on hiatus, although Burt Solon and Wayne Andrews are working together in two projects. The first being “Lust for Life” an Iggy Pop tribute band, and the second is “Paisley and The White Noise.”