Louder Than The Music

Andrew Serino is about to release an album titled 'The Golden Thread'. We chat to this Alternative/Rock singer/songwriter multi-instrumentalist about making music and auditioning for American Idol.

For those who haven't heard of you before, can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you got involved in making music?

I'm Andrew Serino and I currently live outside of Portland, Oregon in a city called Gresham. I'm married to my beautiful bride, Heidi Serino who's a nurse and we have an Australian Shepherd named Sully. I'm 27 and I've been working on music since the fifth grade! I mean I've been singing since I was a kid, but I wanted to learn guitar. Throughout learning guitar, I also was interested in playing multiple instruments. I come from a very musical family so we always had access to tons of instruments. My mom taught the basics for drumming, picked up bass on my own, and was fortunate enough to practice at our house. Playing on worship teams was also a great way to practice on each instrument. My whole family was the worship team too for some churches we attended which was a huge help in getting me to where I am today.

In High School, I was in a new band each year. The one that took off in the local area of Portland was "allshewrote" a hardcore/electronic band where I performed guitar/clean vocals. Two years go by and I started a side-project that became my main band called "His Legacy", a Heavy/Rock/Christian band where I led the band, wrote the majority of the songs, sang lead vocals and played guitar. I then accepted a job leading worship at a church, served/worked there for 4 years, wrote a worship album with the church, and then wanted to really start pursuing my own original solo music.

Some people might remember you from American Idol - what was that experience like for you?

Yeah, I auditioned when American Idol came to Portland for the very first time back in 2012. It was at first just to try out for fun and why not? Never knew anything about the entertainment side of things. But it was a wild experience I'll never forget.

There was at least 10,000 people that auditioned and we were each given 10 seconds to impress these music producers. This was held at the Moda Center and in the middle of the arena, were ten booths. I chose to sing the song "Harder to Breathe" by Maroon 5 and "Just The Way You Are" by Bruno Mars as a backup song. I'd say close to 300-500 people got past the first round and I was fortunate enough to make it. Second round you sang in front of the executive producer who chooses if you get to move on to sing in front of the actual judges, Steven Tyler, Randy Jackson, and Jennifer Lopez. That round was super nerve racking and they let me in to the final round. For the final round you get to sing in front of the real judges and there was at least 50-100 of us that made it through. This was the round where they interview you and your family, get some good b-roll, all that jazz. When I came into the room to sing in front of the real judges, i'll never forget what Steven Tyler said, "Well hello there sparky spark!" I wore a snazzy outfit to stand out and showcase my personality. When they asked me to tell them about myself, I just told them that I'm your average dude in a band trying to "make it" and working as a server at a restaurant. Then they let me sing and that's when my nerves really kicked in. I would have graded my performance 70%. But they were super encouraging as they all gave me a no. Believe it or not, this made me feel so good because I was fortunate enough to sing in front of them, and they coached me through on some great feedback. I'll never forget this experience and would say it's one of the main reasons I'm pursuing my music full on.