On leaving school, Andrews played keyboards in covers bands in Swindon and Exeter before joining XTC in 1978. He played on the band’s first two albums,
White Music and
Go 2, before leaving in 1979. That same year, he recorded the solo EP
Town and Country (
Virgin) and played on
Iggy Pop’s
Soldier (
Arista) with
David Bowie,
Ivan Král,
Glen Matlock, Klaus Krüger and
Steve New. In 1980 he recorded the single
Rossmore Road/Win a Night Out with a Well-Known Paranoiac on Virgin. Also in 1980, Andrews joined
Robert Fripp's
The League of Gentlemen with
Sara Lee and Jonny TooBad. They recorded one album for
E.G. Records before Fripp dismissed the band. Andrews then formed Restaurant for Dogs with
Kevin Wilkinson, Dave Marx and Bruce McRae. Latterly Clare Hirst, Sara Lee and Carlo Asciutti joined the band. In 1981, Andrews met up with bassist
Dave Allen who had recently left
Gang of Four and the pair, along with guitarist/vocalist Carl Marsh, formed
Shriekback.
Shriekback have been active for years, recording 18 studio albums. In 2003, Andrews began releasing solo projects through his own Shriekprods label. These form two main strands: the Haunted Box of Switches series of piano and voice albums which feature original material alongside minimalist reimaginings of Shriekback songs; and the Stic Basin series of albums of experimental electronica, of which there are now three volumes. In 2005, Andrews played keyboards on
Brian Eno’s album
Another Day on Earth. 2007 saw Andrews reunite with former XTC bandmate
Andy Partridge alongside Shriekback drummer
Martyn Barker on
Monstrance, a double album of instrumental improvisations. In 2015, Andrews recorded a six-track EP called
Juju Grid with
Mike Tournier from
Fluke, under the name of Anaxaton6.
Contaminated Pop in 2019 was Andrews’ first solo album released under his own name. During a six-year break from music from 1996 to 2001, Andrews began to design furniture and sculpture and studied for a degree in 3D Design in Metals at
Camberwell and
Middlesex universities. He also ran The Hoxton Gift Shop with Régine de la Hey in 2001, a gallery which sold original artworks. ==Personal life==