To hear Andy tell it, his path as a songwriter started with a scarring incident when he was a kid, "When I was eight years old, I kicked a good friend of mine in the balls. It was pretty bad. He had to go to hospital. Thing is, it was a complete accident but for one reason or another, nobody gave me the chance to explain and I got in a heap of trouble. From that day on, I decided Id talk my way out of every situation I could, so talking crap became a way of life."

These days Andy doesn’t get in trouble as much as he used to. So he applies the story telling skills that got him out of 101 bad situations to his songwriting. He puts himself in the shoes all sorts of social misfits to bring a different perspective to his writing. The characters in his songs love, lose, betray, trip over, rip their pants and wear clown suits.

Andy’s direction as a songwriter wasn’t always as clear to him as it is now, “When I was a kid, I wanted to be Richie Sambora. Seriously, I always envisaged myself as a guitar hero and I spent a lot of time in my bedroom either practising scales or practising guitar hero poses in the mirror.”

Andy no longer sits in his room working on guitar scales (although he probably still practises poses in the mirror) but now spends his time writing with a blend of sensitivity and wry humour. No place is this better captured than on- stage – if you get the chance, check out an Andy Gaunt show.