In the early 2020s, Newcastle singer/songwriter Andrew Cushin stepped forward with confessional, acoustic-driven indie rock material as a protégé of Noel Gallagher.
Born and raised in the Heaton area of Newcastle, England, he attended the former Heaton Manor secondary school. His father showed him his first guitar chords at age fifteen, and three years later he played his opening show at Station East in Gateshead. After enrolling in a plumbing course at Newcastle College, he missed a crucial exam and transferred to a sports program that built on his earlier experience with Newcastle Benfield. Any notion of becoming a P.E. teacher ended abruptly when Leigh MacFarlane of Songbird passed several of his demos to Noel Gallagher. The former Oasis mainstay responded favorably, resulting in Cushin’s August 2019 signing to Virgin Records.
Cushin’s debut single, the wistful yet optimistic “It’s Gonna Get Better,” arrived in March 2020 and received early exposure through a support slot with the Monochrome Set in Newcastle; “Waiting for the Rain” followed in June. Gallagher produced and contributed to the October release “Where’s My Family Gone,” which turned out to be Cushin’s last Virgin single. When the COVID-19 pandemic curtailed promotion, the label dropped him. He responded by issuing the self-released “Memories” in June 2021, two months before making his first festival appearances at Reading, Leeds, and the Isle of Wight. Early 2022 brought a deal with Pete Doherty’s Strap Originals, which released the debut EP You Don’t Belong in April. Those dates coincided with support shows for the Sherlocks, while June and July found him opening for both Gallagher and Paul Weller at major outdoor concerts. October delivered the double A-side single “You’ll Be Free”/“Dream for a Moment,” after which attention turned to sessions for his first album.
March 2023 saw Cushin tour the U.K. with the Slow Readers Club, shortly before the characteristically downcast singles “4.5%” and “It’s Coming Round Again” appeared. June and July took him across the U.S. with Louis Tomlinson, after which he returned to Northern England to support Shed Seven and the Lottery Winners. That September, Dave Eringa-produced debut album Waiting for the Rain arrived on Strap Originals, including a richly arranged, piano-led re-recording of the 2020 title track. The record entered the lower reaches of the U.K. album chart just as Cushin launched a headline run across the U.K. and Ireland.
