Andrew Cole #IAMNOJOKE - Los Angeles Weekly Times

Join Andrew Cole Tuesday November 24, 2020 7:00 PM to I:00 AM EST For A Massive Celebrity Concert Benefitting Covid 19 and Anti Bullying via Let Me a Help Inc and #IAMNOJOKE With Over 65+ Iconic Artists Including: Ozzy Osbourne, Slash, Sir Patrick Stewart, John Wakeman, Julian Lennon, Ten Years After, Leland Sklar, Kenny Aronoff, Fred Schneider, Beverly Knight, And Many More…on https://www.sohojohnny.com. (produced by SohoJohnny, John Velasco & Andrew Cole)

“ And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music“…. Friedrich Nietzsche

Andrew Cole is a melodious alchemist with the wizardry to transform music into a platform powerful enough to change the world. Like a burst of fireworks, he plunges into the night sky and shatters the darkness with his #IAMNOJOKE anti-bullying project created to raise awareness of one of the most tragic issue plaguing mankind.

A singer, songwriter, musician and producer, Andrew Cole is like a raging tsunami. Strong enough to combat human arrogancer and a tenacious avalanche beginning with the movement of a single, and gentle snowflake. Born in Canada but raised mostly in Liverpool, Cole chronicles his quest to convince musical icons to join him in recording a song to fight bullying in a film documentary #NOJOKE. By opening conversations regarding bullying and displaying passion and empathy for the project, Cole relentlessly managed to begin to fulfill his dream.

Cole realizes that without failure there is no hope of a prize. Through his music and compassion, he was able to vanquish his own fears and doubts and rise confident enough to secure the artistry of legends like Lemmy, Slash, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, Jane Lynch, Julian Lennon, Cedric the Entertainer and a host of others to join him for the ride….

I shared questions and answers with Andrew while admiring his loyalty among adversity to something he believes in above all…….

When and what made you decide you were destined to do music?

One could say I’m still on the fence.

Let’s just say I don’t think I’ve ever made a conscious decision to pursue music as much as it pursued me.

I’ve come to view it as a form of psychiatric care. Music has always been the thing that could heal me when I couldn’t heal myself.

Music has always been my best friend. I’ve always been fascinated that something so delicate and fragile could give me such strength. The fact that something so personal and even selfish has the ability to sometimes go on and touch someone else, even in a very different ways, is very spiritual and healing to me.

What urged you to become an anti-bullying Advocate?

As a kid I always wanted to be Batman. Just answering this question brings back the memory of riding my bike to school while humming the batman theme song to myself. It was like a shield to get through the park safely because I knew the bullies would be waiting for me. I wondered how Batman would treat the villain.

As I grew up, I became increasingly aware that kids who are that same age I was then, are now committing suicide. Their cries for help are like shining the bat symbol to the sky, and I want to answer that call.

I was fortunate enough in 2015 to meet Michael Keaton at the Oscars where I told him he was my hero. He replied, “I would like you to meet my hero”, and proceeded to walk me to his table and introduce me to his son. I immediately fell to pieces, instantly realizing that my own dream was to have my father feel that way about me. Luck would have it that I later acquired the original 1989 Batman bust, and to this day it sits on the desk in my studio.

It’s kind of like Star Wars. I’m sure Luke wanted to kill his father, but at the same time he was on quest to figure why his dad had turned the dark side.

I’m convinced I’ve taken on a secret alter ego. A life where most of my day Is spent as the nerdy Clark Kent, but at night my mission is to save the world, and understand why bullies bully and what I can do to stop it.

The dry-cleaning bill for my cape has become very expensive.

Tell us a little about the making of #NOJOKE?

It was my own Griswald vacation to changing the world. If you want know about my struggles, watch the documentary #NoJoke. It’s available worldwide on demand.

You seem relentless in your quest to create music….what drives you?

Refer to answer #1

Can you recall a moment in time that changed the entire trajectory of your life?

When I was fifteen, I won a contest in England on ITV called “Stars In Your Eyes.” The premise of the show was to look and sound exactly like iconic performers. One of the guys I was up against actually had plastic surgery to look more like Freddy Mercury. He had his teeth done and everything. The stage was set, I remember it clear as day. Me, a dead ringer Freddy Mercury, a spot on Tina Turner and the spitting image David Bowie made the finals. I was armed only with cheap curlers for my hair, snakeskin pants and a concho belt that my uncle made out of old bits of scrap metal. I couldn’t have looked any less like Jim Morrison.

But on that night, I channeled the lizard like he had risen from the dead.

Luck would have it one of the surviving members of the Doors saw the show and invited me to Paris to play a Tribute show at the cemetery where Jim Morrison was buried. Heartbreakingly, my father declined saying I was too young and busy at school.

Twenty painful years later, Robbie Krieger,, guitarist of the Doors contacted me as his son had had an accident on his scooter, and was unable to sing a scheduled show. Robbie asked I f remembered the words and that if I did, would I be interested in being Jim for the night. I very cheekily replied “I know them better than you do mate.”

And low and behold there I was the lizard king once again.