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The Andy Mai Experiment
The Andy Mai Experiment is an award winning Jazz Fusion group from Corona, California. The band was created late 2018 by producer and sound engineer Zach Moorman and under the direction of trumpet player Marty Martin alongside guitarist Sergio Pineda, experimental jazz drummer Andy Mai, bassist Nicholas Alec Metaxas, saxophonist/clarinetist Andrew Vahidy and phenomenal pianist Chayton Bellend Sutton.

History and Origin
The band's moniker was decided after the recording of their first project recorded at Citrus Hills Intermediate School's Studio in the early first weeks of January. Their music was described by many as "bizarre" and "experimental" sounding, thus leading to the name. Andy Mai's inclusion to the original band name "The Experiment" was an attempt to pay homage to Art Blakey who was a drummer who also brought many talented artists together in his era. Mr.Mai despite having his deep influences rooting from psychedelic bands such as Crumb, The Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, Men I Trust and etc was also knowledgeable regarding jazz drummers such as Art Blakey, Buddy Rich and Max Roach.

The group in it's entirety consisted of a very odd mix of musicians with a psychedelic drummer, funk bassist, Classical saxophonist, Marching Band trumpet player, a Midwestern Emo guitarist and a composing orchestra pianist. Their first self titled album was thought by many as somewhat repulsive due to the extreme experimentation of sounds inside of the album. Regardless of what the majority of the populace thought, The Andy Mai Experiment consistently toured around the United States by performing in Hawaii during 2016 at The Pearl Harbor National Memorial, multiple venues around the city of Chicago in 2017, the Pasadena Rose Parade in 2018 and finally The Times Square Sheraton Hotel and Carnegie Hall in 2019. They are expected to perform at various venues around Seattle in 2020. The band frequently performs at jazz festivals around Southern California and consistently receives high rating from judges, specifically frequenting festivals hosted at Irvine High School, Upland High School, and Riverside Community College.

The band has stayed relatively consistent in membership over its year of existence. It is widely known that Drum Major Justin Rasmussen frequently fills in on drums for drummer Andy Mai, as seen by their 2019 Carnegie Hall performance. Justin Rasmussen, relative of popular band director and judge Joseph Dudek became liked abundantly by official members after extensive gigs were played together around Southern California following events at Carnegie. It is also widely known that professional Jazz Saxophonist Maddie Nunéz collaborates quite frequently on various tracks as a guest artist, although the group never specifies which tracks she appears on.

Upon creation, Goonerville Records owned by Zach Moorman immediately signed the musicians to the Label and began releasing CD's across Corona. Zach Moorman according to Marty Martin took the time to establish both this group and record label in order to establish a "Light in the community of Corona" in retaliation against great issues facing the city at the time. Chayton Sutton furthered Moorman's desires to shape the city into a grander image by shifting the band image into an advocacy for women's rights, LGBT pride and Racial Equality. Mr.Sutton stated in underground interview by Beta Studios that "Without the superfluous amounts of help that I had given to me by Zachary, this whole mission would've fell apart. This band, these assemblies, these albums, this revenue, the clothes on my back, the studio I record at, all of this quite frankly wouldn't exist.  I went up to the Engineer Room after we had recorded our first track Autumn leaves and I sparked a conversation with him while he was equalizing the parts.  I told him that there were a lot of things on my mind and that i wanted to thank him for making this music accessible, because you know being quite honest this is the only way I knew how to express myself.  He didn't brush me off or accept my thanks like he thought he would though.  His mixing in that moment came to an abrupt halt and he looked me dead in the eyes.  He said 'Chayton, i'm going to turn on this microphone over here and you're going to tell me everything you're upset about with in this world so we can change it. We aren't moving a step forward till we address this. Begin.' That really touched me. I mean, damn who the heck was I man? Some pianist from Wisconsin? He wanted to hear my thoughts like they actually meant something. I never had that before man. Now I do that for everybody. It's part of the plan. Hear everybody out. Every voice matters. One step forward a day if we gotta. He's part of that process, how could I not respect him?" Sutton after these unreleased audio recordings was introduced to Women's Rights Activists Itzel Dagio and Celiné Tremblay via Zach Moorman's local activist knowledge and soon began working on public campaigns to address social injustices.  Zach Moorman is proclaimed by many residents of Corona as a public figure of unity and good work ethic in regards to his abundant amounts of accomplishments in helping communities inside the Inland Empire.

All members of the group are alumni or current students at Santiago High School in which the band originated in. Chayton Sutton however is originally from Wisconsin unlike the rest of the SoCal natives. Some members such as Andrew Vahidy have performed at critically acclaimed honor band programs such as the Californian All-State and All-Southern programs. Bassist Nicholas Metaxas and pianist Chayton Sutton both currently attend College, Metaxas attending Cal Poly Pomona and Sutton's attendance location being held private. All other members at this time attend Santiago High School and are part of the BOSS (Bands of Santiago Sharks).

Through Immense Hardship
All members of the group have publicly acknowledged the many hardships that occurred through this short period of time. In mid November of 2018, bassist Nicholas Metaxas suffered a coma after contracting a life threatening case of Epstein-Barr Virus. This delayed the recording of the album to January and only led to a unanimous pursuit by the band to lead towards an "experimental" sound. Shortly after in April 2019, alternate drummer Justin Rasmussen, Sergio Pineda and Nicholas Metaxas were robbed during their time in New York around their performance at Carnegie Hall delaying the album release once again as to not having enough money to distribute digitally. Finally, a week before the album's official release one last string of bad luck hit the group. Alternate trumpet player Christopher Alfredo Morano, Andrew Vahidy and Nicholas Metaxas were victims of a near fatal car accident, once again pushing back the album release date. "Nick is cursed, there's just no way it could be anything but divine intervention" expressed Marty Martin later in interview weeks after the crash.

Andy Mai struggled throughout his career with his position as drummer in the band due to family conflicts regarding life choices. Mai being part of a strict traditionalist Vietnamese family was lampooned for his pursuit of Jazz and Psychedelic music over classical and chastised for putting his craft before grades at times despite his academic excellence. Andrew Vahidy reported that Andy Mai would practice the drums at least five hours each day persistently with little to no break. "I don't know anybody in this world more relentless than that man. One time I was staying late after school and came into the band practice rooms only to find Andy still banging away on the set.  His hands were bleeding all over the set and what not and I told him 'Go home kid.  We got a long day ahead of us tomorrow.'  He wouldn't stop until he got that part right.  Crazy."

Self Titled Album
Their Self Titled Album released on CD on September 6th 2019 featured a total of thirteen total tracks, fourteen counting the two part interlude. The album consisted of six full songs with an intro, an outro and five interludes. According to bassist Nicholas Metaxas the first release was a concept album and told a story. "Well to say it's a concept album is a little underwhelming because to be honest with ya, it really was a reflection of what we'd been going through these years. Was it a bit exacerbated?  Maybe.  Sure did feel like it happened exactly as if though.  To say this is a concept album is like saying that Full Metal Jacket is a concept movie without much of a point.  It may not have happened exactly like that, life is never that perfect, but it sure was interesting and that is how we remember it." The album was recorded in multiple locations such as Citrus Hills Intermediate School, Santiago High School, Vahidy Studios, and an unknown park in Wisconsin.

The equipment used was random both instrumentation wise and recording equipment wise to add superfluous layers of "colour" throughout the album. Nearly every song on the album uses different recording methods and music equipment. Zach Moorman was the only member of the album to be a contributor to every single track due to his unanimous equalization of tracks. Each song and the entirety of the album is currently owned by Goonerville Records under Moorman.

Artwork for the album was done by Mark "Gark" Martin on January 7th 2019. The iconic look that the band has adopted from this album art is what Gark insists as "Beta Splashes." According to Gark, only those of "Beta" descent are able to throw paint at a canvas with such "Beta Energy." In all interviews regarding this comment, Gark consistently replies "Cat" and nothing else. Photos used on the album cover were all taken by Gark at Citrus Hills Intermediate School in early January.

According to Gark, the album cover work was heavily inspired by the album The Blues and The Abstract Truth by Oliver Nelson alongside Jackson Pollock paintings. "It kinda reminds me of cats to be honest. I'm not too sure why."

Membership
The membership of The Andy Mai Experiment although consistent with it's main members has taken in countless guest artists over the years. This list contains all known members. Members of the group label themselves as "Gooners."


 * Zach Moorman - Trumpet, Guitar, Audio Engineer and Writer
 * Andy Mai - Drums, Percussion and Synth
 * Marty Martin - Trumpet and Flugelhorn
 * Andrew Vahidy - Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Clarinet and Flute
 * Nicholas Metaxas - Upright and Electric Bass
 * Sergio Pineda - Electric Guitar
 * Chayton Sutton - Piano and Synth
 * Taylor Kim - Vocals
 * Justin Rasmussen - Drums, Percussion, Clarinet and Bassoon
 * Logan Gonzalez - Tenor Saxophone
 * Madison Nunéz - Alto Saxophone
 * Céline Tremblay - Unknown
 * Mark "Gark" Martin - Artist
 * Rohan Buch - Indian Vocals
 * Itzel Dagio - Financial Analyst