The Orion Online

Issue date: 11/12/08 Section: Entertainment

Media Credit: Photo Courtesy of Andrea Desmond Andrea Desmond, a junior music major, drew interest from Wild Oak Music Group after competing in solo performances at the Songwriters Guild Competition and the Songwriter Showcase. [Click to enlarge]

Andrea Desmond learned to adapt.

Shifting around America, the singer and songwriter got used to making introductions.

After arriving at Chico State from Boston, Desmond had to meet another new group of friends, she said. When she did, she fused her jazz-tinged piano and vocals with a heavy funk backup band.

Now her aspiring music career is taking a new direction: artist management with Wild Oak Music Group.

Desmond, a junior music major, drew interest from the campus record label after her solo performances at the Songwriters Guild Competition and spring Songwriter Showcase, said Wild Oak artist manager Sharon Ramirez.

"Her name kept popping up," Ramirez said. "She has a good sound that is intriguing for a lot of people."

After Desmond got on the radar, Wild Oak representatives watched her Oct. 4 performance at Cafe Coda with Belles and Whistles and Briana and the Gokays, said Wild Oak artist manager Fredrik Olofsson.

Seeing a band live is important because it demonstrates its level of confidence, Olofsson said.

"They can't look scared onstage," he said. "We try to see as many of them live as possible."

Desmond and her band are recording a single in the Wild Oak studio and will appear in a female songwriters' showcase tentatively planned for December, Ramirez said. Fellow Wild Oak artists Jeanette Hawkins and Aubrey Debauchery are also set to perform.

Born in Saratoga, Desmond started playing piano at age 5 and went to a lot of performing arts camps as a child, including the Ethos Music Camp at Chico State, she said. She finished high school in St. Louis and got a music internship with a commercial composer for Anheuser-Busch.

Going to Emerson College in Boston for a year had a profound effect on Desmond, she said.

"It kind of toughened me up," she said. "You have to be really independent when you live in a big city. You hold your own."

After her freshman year at Emerson, a school specializing in communication and the arts, Desmond just wanted to go back to California, she said.

"Moving around so much, I was going through so many culture shocks," Desmond said. "I felt like it would probably be the best for me to be back around similar-minded people."

She spent the next year in Chico vigorously writing new songs, she said. A few months ago, she juxtaposed her sound with the warbling bass of Tyler Hughes, crisp drumming of Matt Blatchley and melodic guitar of Robby Axton.

"They've added a completely new element," she said. "They add power - they add a new rhythm. It becomes more than just me on piano. For them, I think they were just willing to branch out."

In live performances with her band, Desmond likes to improvise, something she said she couldn't do alone.

"I need to work with other people," she said. "You've got to work off the vibe of other musicians."

Wild Oak will arrange more concerts with Desmond next semester and work to get her more well known locally, Ramirez said.

After graduating, Desmond wants to attend Musicians Institute in Los Angeles, she said. While the lineup will part ways, Desmond plans to look for a band with the same aesthetic, but will remember her time in Chico.

"Chico is a place of passion," she said. "We're all going to leave Chico."

Earl Parsons can be reached at
eparsons1@mail.csuchico.edu

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