Andy Shriver

Andy’s musical expertise spans a broad spectrum, encompassing everything from classic rhythm and blues to contemporary pop and rock. His journey is marked by an ability to traverse various genres, making numerous stylistic stops along the way and demonstrating true versatility in his craft.

Largely self-taught, but with violin and piano instruction in primary school, Andy played his first club gig with top-40 band Tempest at 16 years of age. From there, he joined a jam band that later focused on crafting their own material. This band would later be known as the Nerve Endz, a group that exploded onto the DC/Baltimore new-wave music scene by becoming regular players at such notable clubs as the 9:30 Club and the Marble Bar. While attending classes at University of Maryland, Andy re-entered the top-40 club circuit with Bandana, a Baltimore-based group that played the circuit relentlessly. After 2 years of working its way up the ladder to elite-level nightclubs on the DC/Baltimore circuit, Bandana and Andy separated ways with Andy moving on to complete his studies at UMCP and to continue musically with fellow students in the original music group The Madhatters. With the Madhatters, Andy, along with classmate and keyboardist Arif Durrani, drummer Paul Betances and bassist Frank Haines, recorded a CD-quality demo featuring their newest material, after which they played regularly around the DC-metro area including a date at the storied Ritchie Coliseum on the University of Maryland campus.

As the 80s evolved, Andy worked with keyboardist/bassist Mike Cole, bassist BJ Weigman and fellow guitarist George Biggs in Fade to Grey. After leaving FTG, Andy was recruited by guitarist/lead vocalist Pat Murray to join what briefly was AR-15 v.2 with late drummer Paul Spies and long-time friend and fellow cancer survivor, bassist Jeff Wolinski.  It should be noted that Paul fought a valiant war against cancer, but, at that time, medical technology was not at all what it has since become.  

During the mid-1980s, as Andy was cutting his teeth playing with the aforementioned groups, he studied with area jazz guitarist/composer/instructor Carl Filipiak. In 1988, through Carl, Andy met the members of the area group Paper Cup, better known as Shor Patrol, a band that had been signed by Arista Records. Carl was preparing to leave the Cup lineup, featuring vocalist Alana Shor-Silverman, keyboardist/vocalist Don Wimbrough, Bassist/Vocalist Gordon Michaels and drummer Johnny Goodmuth.  Widely respected as a jazz guitarist and composer, Carl would move on to write and record music for numerous releases. In 1989, Paper Cup/Shor Patrol disbanded, with Alana being enlisted to take over the lead female vocalist position in the well-known R & B group Junior Cline and the Recliners recently vacated by DC-area vocal star Patty Reese. 

As the details evolved, Alana advised Andy that Junior was in search of a lead guitarist to fill that position’s vacancy.  Andy showed up at a Recliners gig at the legendary Olney, MD hotspot The Silo Inn, sat in with the band playing Junior’s electric guitar for 1 set and, the next day, received a phone call from Junior asking if he was interested in joining the group. This set in motion 11 years’ worth of events during which Andy would play for and with musical legends, heads of state, famous actors and thousands of loyal fans.  One footnote – when the keyboard position became vacant circa 1995, Andy’s former Madhatters bandmate Arif Durrani auditioned for and won the position.

In 2001, Andy joined forces with Crack the Sky bassist and well-known local musician Carey Ziegler to take over the guitar slot vacated by the now late-David Glaser. The band, Carey Ziegler’s Expensive Hobby, was described by the Baltimore Sun as playing “intelligent classic rock with horns”. With a repertoire that covers music by artists from AC/DC to Frank Zappa, all musical options are open. Andy has been known to say, “Nothing is sacred, and no one is safe”, with respect to the band’s ability to respectfully reproduce any rock band’s music.

Andy departed the DC/Maryland music scene in 2015 to move closer to his family in the southwest USA, though he has returned on multiple occasions to perform with Expensive Hobby and the Recliners. In the meantime, Andy has played with Arizona groups Southwynd, Bounty Hunter and Unleashed, in addition to performing as a solo artist.