Andy Toy Interview

1. What is your name and your profession(s)?

I’m Andy Toy, a Musician/Engineer in Los Angeles, CA.

2. What is your ethnic background and what is your citizenship?

I’m US-born Chinese-American. Both sets of my grandparents immigrated

to the states in mid-1900s & my folks made their way from the Los Angeles

area (where I was born) to Houston, TX where I grew up.

3. Are either/both of your parents musicians or somehow involved in the music industry?

Far from it! My father was a physician & my mother a teacher growing up.

My mom sang & played piano a bit growing up & my father instilled a love

of classical music at a young age but neither were in the music industry.

4. Please tell us a little bit about your experience, either growing up as an AAPI in America, or as a person of Asian descent who immigrated to America, whichever applies.

I unfortunately didn’t love a lot of my childhood 😂 I imagine some of it

was the pressure of being an oldest child in a Chinese family finding my

way while trying my best to assimilate into 90’s Texas culture. In the

process, I discovered some lifelong loves like Astros baseball, music &

songwriting, which I turned to often to help deal with the stresses of

growing up & helped shape my career today.

5. How connected do you feel to your heritage/culture(s)?

To be honest I feel like I am just now starting to connect more with my

heritage/culture. Growing up in Houston in the 90’s I wasn’t especially

connected with the Chinese community so I feel like I’m experiencing some

things for the first time (watching anime, eating rice with breakfast, etc...) I

find myself asking my parents & grandparents more about their traditions

& experiences growing up more & more as I get older.

6. 6a.) How did you get into music? Did you major in music in college? Where did you attend college/university (and grad school(s), if applicable) and in what subjects did you get your degree(s)?

When I was 6, I went to a family birthday party & my older cousin plunked

out a single note version of “happy birthday” on the piano. Jealous of the

attention he received, I immediately asked my parents for lessons. 😂 I

studied classical piano with a few different instructors growing up &

started getting more serious in high school when my teacher pushed me to

start competing in local competitions. I taught myself to play guitar in 8th

grade & started playing at church where I learned how to play in a band &

find chords/melodies by ear. Eventually I went on to study music at a small

liberal arts college called Biola University & chose to study piano in college

purely because I thought every other major sounded boring 😂

6b.) When and how did you decide you were going to pursue music professionally? What were your parents’ reactions to you deciding to pursue music? Do they support your music career now?

During college, I quickly realized that I didn’t want to teach music or study

piano in grad school so I started focusing on arranging, recording &

playing in bands. When I finished school, I got a job at a commercial

recording studio where I learned how to produce, engineer & record as a

session musician. After a brief stint working in Christian music, I left the

church world for good & was eventually introduced to the world of live pop

music, where I primarily work now. Like many asian parents, mine were

worried about my future financial stability & encouraged me to explore other options but overall were quite supportive throughout my career-

search. In hindsight, I’m impressed they were so hands-off, as I’m sure my career was the cause of quite a bit of anxiety in the family 😂

7. What are a few of your (music) projects of which you are the proudest? What were your roles on those projects? Beyond those projects, please feel free to name some of your other credits as well as any brands/companies you officially endorse.

Selfishly, my favorite music projects are always the ones I write & produce

myself 😂 I was in a band in the early 2010’s called Moxi that I loved. We never played any huge shows or sold a ton of records but it’s some of my

favorite music I’ve made. I work with my wife Anna on a project called

Anna Moon that I’m really excited about. Lately the thing I’m most proud of

is my new music project called Nightfilm. It’s a few songs I wrote &

released after going to therapy & has been a huge part of my healing

process post pandemic. Outside of my own music, some artists I’ve

worked with include Olivia Rodrigo, Sabrina Carpenter, Chapell Roan,

Cyndi Lauper & NKOTB.

8. What are some obstacles you have encountered (if any) being an AAPI in the music world? What are some obstacles you have encountered (if any) as an AAPI in general (non-music)? Conversely, has being an AAPI ever helped you in the music industry or in general?

I guess I’m not really sure? I don’t want to minimize this issue as I know

it’s really important but I think personally I’ve made a choice to focus the

majority of my energy only on things I can control. I recognize this is a

huge privilege & I’m looking forward to hearing from my AAPI family about

some of their experiences.

9. 9a.) Who are some AAPI musicians/composers/producers who have previously inspired and currently inspire you (if any)? Why?

My favorite pianist growing up was Lang Lang. I got to see him recently &

I love the way his playing (and probably my interpretation of his artistry)

has evolved as we both have gotten older. I’m also a huge fan of Yvette

Young.

9b.) What are your hopes for the AAPI music community and your hopes for AAPIs in general?

This is probably just me talking to a younger version of myself 😂 but I

think in general a hope is as a community we’re able to let go of some of

our perfectionist tendencies & embrace the imperfect humanity in art &

music.

10. Name one or two non-music-related things/subjects about which you are also passionate.

I did a side quest back in 2016 as a sommelier and had so much fun. One

of my favorite things is traveling to places & trying their local wine & food.

I’m also really into Astros baseball & in another life I’d love to work for a

MLB team as an analyst.

11. Any final thoughts? Alternatively, do you have any questions for me and/or the greater AAPI music community?

Thanks for having me!

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Support Andy online :)

Instagram - @andytoymusic

Official Website - www.andytoymusic.com

Images courtesy of Andy Toy