Andrew Dolan is a multi-talented artist, illustrator, t-shirt designer, band front man, musician, filmmaker, songwriter and animator. In his just 28 years on the planet, Dolan has pursued his creative side tirelessly literally since birth and now he’s happy to share his music and images with the world once more.And that’s why Dolan is converting the old post office building in his hometown Moss Landing, Calif. into a performance space and an art gallery called Surf Hound Studios, to display his animation, present a film he’s produced and rock the house with his three-member country/old-time classic band, The Good Sams.
The Good Sams are releasing Dead Sam’s Music Double Feature, their first record on November 20th with a party where half of the $10 door admission will go to Baby Mathew, a local child who has Leukemia.
It’s an exciting time for Dolan for many reasons, he explained. “In a nutshell, I am going public with my art studio! We’re creating a great space for art at the old post office building here in Moss Landing. We’re providing a creative environment for the community to gather and it just so happens to be a working artist space.
Dolan has assembled a very busy schedule of art, film and music in November. “We’ll be hosting an open mic night every Tuesday night in November. On Friday nights we’ll be for screening classic cinema of the cult classic variety. We’ll kick it off starting with Faster Pussy Cat! Kill! Kill! on November 5th and further screenings are yet to be announced. In addition, Surf Hound Studio will also act as a store front for my t-shirt business, which I founded with local artist, surfer and skateboarder Luke Braddock in 2008. We’ll be selling our original Moss Landing t-shirts and other designs of the fashionably progressive sort, as well as limited edition posters, flip books, and a whole lot of Surf Cartoon Art from the animation. And of course The Good Sams will be playing on Nov. 20 at our first record release party. Bring a camera to capture some of the freakish sights, because you’ll have to see them to believe them!”
What was the genesis of his art exhibit, we asked Dolan. “My paintings are essentially large stand ups of characters I created for my animation initially featured on FuelTV,” Dolan said. “My creations, including Bad Bob, The Kook, the Naked Mermaid, the Shark, and the Octopus. Works will include original hand-painted frames from my animation. Also, life-size wood cut outs of the characters in my movie will be on hand. Since before The Good Sams first formed as a band, My main artistic influences have been Jim Phillips, Rick Griffin, R. Crumb, and Dr. Seuss.”
How do you describe the music played by The Good Sams? “The punk thing usually gives old-time music a bad rap,” Dolan explained. “People want to classify it as cow punk, or psychobilly, or something lame. But our punk is in our hearts, so we don’t like it to be categorized. It’s 100% original, but our sound is what we call classic early country. Some folks have said we remind them of Bob Wills, Django, Johnny Cash, Emmett Miller hybrid, and that’s very flattering, of course, to put us in the same sentence with those musical legends. Major contributions on the record came from local top names in bluegrass, including Darryl Cornell (lead guitar) and Peter Hicks (fiddle and mandolin).”
Let’s meet the members of The Good Sams, as described by Dolan:
Andrew Dolan: “I write the songs. I am 28 now, and I’ve been writing music and lyrics since I was 18. My dad, Phillip Burgess, was an artist and a musician. He wasn’t around while I was growing up. My mom realized quickly that I had the same talent my father possessed, so she always encouraged me to play music. I wasn’t too into it at the time, so I didn’t nurture that part of my art. I think I just wanted to surf all the time at that period in my life. I hadn’t seen my dad for over a decade, until one day when he showed up on our doorstep, bearing hand-carved hope chests. He asked if I had a guitar. I did, an old Gibson that my mom salvaged from a junked car on my grandpa’s junk yard. That guitar has a bunch of names carved into it, and the neck is bent. My father tuned it up, sang, and finger picked the opening lines of Momma Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys. His voice was a sound that I was looking for in my music, and I wanted to sound like my dad from that moment on. I’ve been finger-picking, writing songs, and singing ever since, and that was 10 years ago. I graduated from Cal-State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB) in May 2010 with a film degree, and the Dead Sams Music was my thesis project.”
Corey Helgeson: “Corey, 26, is our bass player. We knew each other for years because we both surf and live in the same town. We finally discovered that he plays stand up bass, and we both gravitate toward the same old time American music, as well as 80’s punk. We jammed one time to see if it was cool and we’ve been playing original old time music together ever since. Corey makes surfboards for a living and he’s a great member of The Good Sams.”
George Brooks: “He joined the band for Halloween in 2007. George plays a mean peddle steel guitar and we wanted that honky tonk sound for our act, so we’re pleased that we found him. He’s pretty old, I think, uh, sixty or something, but he’s extremely cool and my neighbor.”
Sunshine Jackson: “She’s a great backup singer and a percussionist for the band. She also provided voices for my animation. Sunshine is also a long-time member of a very popular band in Monterey, Calif. called DTR.”
Upcoming important dates for Andrew Dolan and The Good Sams:
Sunday, October 31st
KPIG Radio: 107.5 FM
11 am
The Good Sams will be performing their Halloween song
Friday, November 12th
KZSC Radio: 88.1 FM
8 am
Saturday, November 13th
Moss Landing Chamber Of Commerce
8071 Moss Landing Rd.
Moss Landing, CA 95039
noon-5 pm
The Baby Mathew Event!
Saturday, November 20th
Surf Hound Studios
Old Post Office Building, Moss Landing Strip
7981 Moss Landing Rd.
Moss Landing, CA 95039
6 pm to 9 pm
Admission: $10
$5 of cover goes to Baby Mathew with Leukemia.
Surf Hound Studio's doors are opening on November 2nd.
Saturday, November 20th
Old Post Office Building, Moss Landing Strip
7981 Moss Landing Road
Moss Landing, CA 95039
6 pm-9 pm
Surf Hound Studio
Double Feature Release Party!
