Window to Nowhere

Andre Chrys

Singer-songwriter roots music that blends eclectic influences from rock, classic pop, Americana, indie-folk, blues and soul.

Window to Nowhere introduces colourful characters, and themes of love and loss, layered into a classic roots rock style that Andre’s known for around Vancouver.

"I've always responded to music with a timeless quality to it,"

Singer-songwriter roots music that blends eclectic influences from rock, classic pop, Americana, indie-folk, blues and soul.

Window to Nowhere introduces colourful characters, and themes of love and loss, layered into a classic roots rock style that Andre’s known for around Vancouver.

"I've always responded to music with a timeless quality to it," says Andre Chrys. "That's something I wanted to achieve in my music, to put in the kind of attention to songwriting that you see in some of the real greats: Tom Waits, Townes van Zandt, and Steve Earle...really putting the song first."

Andre wrote the songs on Window to Nowhere on his 60-year-old Gibson acoustic.

Andre explains the inspiration for the title track: “I have a room at home where I do most of my writing and recording. It has a window that looks out onto the wall of the house right next to mine. It’s East Van, and the houses are built really close to each other. I’m not even sure why they put the window in the room in the first place. It’s literally a window to nowhere. I’m trying to capture that desperate, out-on-a-ledge feeling you get when the walls are closing in around you. I’m sure that most people who live in shoebox-sized digs in Vancouver can relate.”

“Old Volvo,” an ode to the boxy and utilitarian Swedish car, came to him after his ‘79 Volvo saved his life. Andre was rear-ended by a delivery truck while stopped at a red light. “I knew the accident was bad when the auto insurance adjuster looked at the Volvo, then looked at me and asked me if I was a religious man. He said I’m lucky to be alive.” Andre was banged up, the old Volvo was written off, but it lives on immortalized in song.

Other songs include the hard-hitting “Get Away With It,” the swampy, folk-noir “Don’t Disappear on Me,” and the swinging “The Velvet Rut,” that will have you kicking at the lid of your own coffins and confines.

Window To Nowhere was recorded and mixed by John Raham at Vancouver’s Afterlife Studios, using vintage analog recording equipment.

Accompanying Andre on Window To Nowhere are long time bandmates Jeff Younger (guitar), Bill Briscall (bass), and Mike Magnusson (drums). Guest musicians lending their talents to the record include Aiden Briscall (Wake Owl) on violin, and Tyson Naylor (Dan Mangan) on organ and accordion.

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Terminal Avenue

Andre Chrys

Thinking man's roots-rock - combining the best elements of americana rock, blues, classic pop and soul.

Meet Andre Chrys. (pronounced Chris) And meet drunken guardian angels, honey-tongued lovers, crooked cops and colorful hitchhikers. It's their stories that he tells in his provocative debut album Terminal Avenue - stories of true love and true

Thinking man's roots-rock - combining the best elements of americana rock, blues, classic pop and soul.

Meet Andre Chrys. (pronounced Chris) And meet drunken guardian angels, honey-tongued lovers, crooked cops and colorful hitchhikers. It's their stories that he tells in his provocative debut album Terminal Avenue - stories of true love and true crime.

Andre Chrys is a singer/songwriter who delivers memorable roots rock songs with thoughtful lyrics. His music recalls the rough edginess of Steve Earle, combined with the clever sensibilities of Ron Sexsmith. His album Terminal Avenue is a blend of eclectic influences from Americana rock, classic pop, blues and soul.

"I've always responded to music with a timeless quality to it," says Andre Chrys. "That's something I wanted to achieve in my record, to put in the kind of attention to songwriting that you see in some of the real greats: Tom Waits or Elvis Costello ...really putting the song first."

Andre Chrys began his music career in Winnipeg, Canada. He paid his dues in hardworking bands that toured across the country playing clubs and festivals. All this while getting an honors degree in philosophy. Life, love and reality took him down a dozen different roads since then, finally drawing him to the west coast. Since moving to Vancouver, Canada in 1997, he has been playing out, developing new material, and working his way toward Terminal Avenue.

Naming the album was easy. "When I first moved to Vancouver there was one thing that really struck me. I was driving downtown on one of those typical dreary Vancouver nights, turned onto Terminal Avenue. It just seemed like a great name for a song. You're new in town, it's all gray and lonely, and suddenly you're faced with this street sign that says 'This is the end of the line.' Bloody symbolic," he laughs. "Of course, I didn't know that's where the bus terminal was."

And it's not just street names. Andre Chrys makes music out of everything from news headlines, to his own character quirks (no, he has neither horns, nor a halo...but he does have a goatee, and a fondness for troublesome redheads.) The songs on Terminal Avenue have a way of hitting home. Who hasn't had a job that beat them down? Or a lover who acted like two different people at once?

With strong songs and solid production, Terminal Avenue is an album that showcases Andre Chrys as a new Canadian talent. Catch Andre Chrys playing live in the hardest-working music venues in Vancouver, Canada, and beyond.

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