andy & jules
i’ve known andy horst for about 2.5 years.
the first time i met him was in philadelphia outside of a shitty rock club in the middle of china town. i was trying to sign his band, this providence.
i let the band pick the place we ate at, almost instantly andy spoke up & said, “there’s a great sushi place down the street.” i hate sushi but not wanting to hurt my chances with the band i said “sure.” i bought them a shit ton of sushi…and i had soup.
i don’t remember everything about that meeting, but right before we finished andy looked me point blank in the eye & asked, “so i was just wondering, do you believe in jesus christ?”
i wasn’t prepared for that question. in my 11 years of working with bands that question had NEVER came up. those meetings usually go from “what can you do for us,” to “who do you work with,” to “give us your ideas on how we can make more money.” so andy’s question was a bit of a shocker. i answered the best way i could saying that i grew up methodist, i believed in god, but that i didn’t go to church much at all and that i didn’t really know that i had fully invested myself in my relationship with god.
2 weeks later, i ended up signing his band.
since then i’ve learned all about andy’s weird sense of humor (he likes to replace song lyrics with the word “poop”), i watched him fall in love w/ this girl julie, and witnessed how hard he worked at not only advancing his career but balancing his relationship with his family & girlfriend while also being in a heavily touring rock band where sex, drugs & fat girls in neon shirts are king - all the while holding strong on his beliefs and morals. it’s been an incredible thing to watch.
so when i got invited a few months back to attend his wedding this past weekend in seattle, i jumped at the opportunity.
what i witnessed on sunday, was a room full of love and a room full of people that andy & his girlfriend (now wife) julie had touched and developed incredibly deep relationships with. it was enough to even make a sarcastic prick such as myself choke up. and it was one of the most fun and well put together weddings i have ever been to. every thing about it - the venue, the music, even the pies (yes they had like 20 pies) was a perfect representation of andy & jules.
getting to know andy has made me a better manager, a better friend & a better man. and it made me so proud to watch him marry the girl he loves (he really is nutty about julie), and i’m excited to watch them both move into the next phase of their lives.
i still don’t understand why he likes sushi though. that shit is terrible.
I hope it doesnt make me an egotistical prick to reblog this… but it’s probably the nicest thing anyone has ever written about me in my life. Josh, you are a true friend. Sorry we couldn’t hang more!