By Katherine Svenkeson

Local artist nominated for six country awards

Feb 18, 2017 | 11:37 AM

Raised in a small town and now nominated for six Saskatchewan Country Music Awards (SCMAs), Brock Andrews hasn`t forgotten his roots.

The artist grew up in Wilkie, but moved to the Battlefords for high school at John Paul II. Now, Andrews is playing shows across the prairies and said he’s excited to find out if he’ll be able to add a SCMA to his resume.

While he said waiting for the awards is extremely exciting, it’s also very nerve racking.

“I went from ‘oh unbelievable! I can’t believe I got nominated,’ to ‘oh no I hope I don’t lose six times.’ It’s amazing, but I’m already at the awards sitting at the table watching the list of everyone go by and it’s crazy.” Andrews said. “I look at all the rest of the nominees in the categories and it’s intimidating.”

Andres said the chips will fall as they may, and he is just looking forward to the experience.

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The time he spent in the Battlefords was a big part in his growth as an artist, Andrews said, where he formed a band sometimes known as Syphon.

“It was one of those things where we had like 87 different names. I think we did shows for a couple weeks in a row where we were a different band name every week,” he said. “I think we were Chaser for while because I worked at McDonalds in North Battleford, and one of the positions on the line was called a chaser. And then we were the Flip Side and then we were called Burning Daylight.”

The band, comprised of Andrews and three other friends, often practiced at the Battleford pool hall, and learned the recording process at a little studio ran by a couple in North Battleford.

“I owe a lot to those guys. It was a wonderful experience,” Andrews said.

After he graduated, Andrews moved on to Saskatoon and then Kelowna for a few years, spending a lot of time growing in his craft.

“The whole time I just focused as a songwriter because I didn’t really have a band to move along with me,” he said.

Andrews will find out on April 1 if he won any of the SCMAs he is nominated for, including emerging artist and single of the year. While he doesn’t have anything lined up yet, he said he plans on making his way back to the Battlefords for a show in the near future.

Katherine.svenkeson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @ksvenkeson