Newcastle’s Andrew Cushin Is Waiting For The Rain

The north-east’s next breaking star Andrew Cushin has dropped his eagerly anticipated debut album Waiting For The Rain, along with its title track as his new single. The singer-songwriter has won the attention of a wealth of leading artists since his first self-released single in 2020, signing to Peter Doherty’s Strap Originals label, touring arenas in North America and Europe with Louis Tomlinson, and having Noel Gallagher produce and feature on one of his songs. He has also supported Paul Weller, Lottery Winners, Jake Bugg, Johnny Marr, Lathums and Blossoms.

Andrew Cushin

Andrew Cushin (Tom Hill)

Throughout the first stage of his career, Cushin has become renowned as a songwriter able to vividly portray a world of emotions from heartbreak to hope, from tough childhood memories to making new starts. And as he began to introduce the songs which feature on his album, they grew in stature with his seasoned baritone boosted by bigger production which amplified his emotional themes, as the songs bristled with the intensity of his live performances. Those previous singles – You’ll Be Free, Dream For A Moment, 4.5%, It’s Coming Around Again, Wor Flag and Just Like You’d Want Me To – have expanded his following with every release.

The album’s title track and new single takes us back to the start of the 23-year-old’s story. He wrote the song at the age of 15 after witnessing a family argument, and released a sparse acoustic version back in 2020. This new version amplifies its power with a fiery full live band production.

Cushin says: “The title track, Waiting For The Rain, was the first song I’d ever written. It’s also the first song that got me a manager, a record deal and started me on this journey. It’s only fair that my debut album is named after that song, as it opened so many doors.”

Check out the Daniel Hepple-directed video for Waiting For The Rain below:

The album was produced by Dave Eringa (Manic Street Preachers) and recorded at sessions split between Rockfield Studios in Monmouth and The Libertines’ Albion Rooms in Margate. It includes another five new songs which capture an artist with the world at his feet, with fresh highlights including the swaggering, sinuous indie-rock opener Let Me Give It To You, the melancholy slow burner I Want You To Be There and the rousing epic finale of closing song The End.

Raised on a council estate in Heaton, Newcastle, Cushin’s early independent releases established his reputation before he signed to Strap Originals for his debut EP You Don’t Belong. Attracting comparisons to the likes of Sam Fender, Noel Gallagher, Jake Bugg and Jamie Webster, his live following has constantly grown too, especially in Newcastle where he has upscaled from The Cluny to NX on previous tours and now he’s set to play to 5,200 people over the course of two nights at the O2 City Hall. He will celebrate the release of the album with a record store tour that starts at hmv Newcastle. His full headline tour then starts in mid-October.

Record Store Tour:

SEPTEMBER
30th – hmv, Newcastle

OCTOBER
2nd – Wax and Beans Records, Bury
3rd – Banquet Records, Kingston
4th – Just Dropped In Records, Coventry
5th – The Vinyl Whistle Records, Leeds

UK & Ireland Headline Tour

OCTOBER
12th – Brickyard, Carlisle
13th – Voodoo, Belfast
14th – Academy 2, Dublin
16th – O2 Academy 2, Liverpool
17th – O2 Academy 2, Oxford
18th – Scala, London
19th – Thekla, Bristol
21st – O2 Institute 2, Birmingham
22nd – Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth
24th – Patterns, Brighton
25th – Craufurd Arms, Milton Keynes
26th – O2 Academy 2, Leicester
28th – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
29th – Wardrobe, Leeds
31st – O2 Academy 2, Sheffield

NOVEMBER
1st – St. Luke’s, Glasgow
2nd – Band On The Wall, Manchester
4th – O2 City Hall, Newcastle

DECEMBER
16th – O2 City Hall, Newcastle

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