Here's a transcript of Andy's interview with Andrew on October 10, 2009. Transcribed by Yours Truly.

AC: Hey everybody I’m Andrew Cook, and I’m here with Mr. Andy Skib from To Have Heroes. Andy, how are you doin’?

AS: I’m doing great, Andrew. How are you doin’?

AC: I’m doing fine. Um, now, you are this like, you’re like a big deal here at KCRadio.com. I don’t think you understand how many requests we get for To Have Heroes.

AS: I don’t believe you.

AC: Ummmm, it happens. It happens pretty much every day, and about, I would say, over 30 times for my show.

AS: That’s insane, man.

AC: Tell us a little– a lot of people obviously haven’t got to hear you talk on this– on a, on a platform as a radio station. Uh, So tell us a little bit about yourself, how you got into music, things that, uh, you know, trials and tribulations type stuff.

AS: Trials and tribulations....I got into music, um, in a pretty typical way, um, by just meeting, meeting buddies in, in high school and middle school, and uh, learning, learning piano at a young age, and then saying “I don’t like the piano,” and my mom making me tell the piano teacher I didn’t want to take piano lessons. And then uh, playing guitar.

And then I met, I met some uh, some good friends in high school, one is Neal. We were in a jazz band together. And then we just, uh--

AC: Neal was in a jazz band?

AS: We were in a jazz band together, yeah.

AC: Alright.

AS: Yeah. He played, uh, Neal played trombone. He’s probably gonna hate me for saying that.

AC: (laughs)

AS: But uh, he was good. He was really good. And he played guitar. And I played guitar in it, um, we played songs such as, uh, “I Wish” by Stevie Wonder, “Wichita Lineman,” um, I can’t really remember any other songs. But uh, but that’s what we did. And then we, uh, I had a, I had a recorder at my house, and Neal had books of songs and, he uh, he asked me to record ‘em, and he did, and then he asked me to sing on it, and uh, basically how that got started.

And then uh, we met, uh, this guy named David. David Cook. Through his band Axium, in Kansas City. Blah blah blah, played some shows with them. And uh, then he wanted to come to Tulsa to play with us a little bit, and we did all that. And then I met you, weirdly enough. Cuz I guess, I guess you’re related to him.

AC: Yeah. A little bit.

AS: Yeah.

AC: You actually--

AS: And then uh--

AC: You actually met me, I don’t know if this was the first time, but I know it was one of the first times. My uh, hard-core metal band Crimson. And uh,

AS: Oh man.

AC: We opened for you.

AS: Forgot about that. That’s right.

AC: We opened for you at Johnny’s Uptown in uh, in Kansas City.

AS: You remember it’s called Davey’s?

AC: Davey’s, not John-- See...

AS: Yeah. (laughs)

AC: Yeah. There’s, strike one.

AS: Yeah, oddly enough, we were, we were just there like, uh, a couple months ago. I was just, just down at Davey’s. And I remembered that.

AC: Yeah it was, man that place. That place is special, for so many reasons. Uh--

AS: It is special.

AC: So you met, you met

AS: The first time I ever heard you sing.

AC: You met me, and then uh, what happened after MWK and Axium and David movin’ down to Tulsa?

AS: Yeah I was, I was kinda sittin’ there in Tulsa, um, David had left. Neal had left. Neal was living in New York. And uh, and then I didn’t really have, have any, any of my, like, real musical buddies around me. I did, but not the ones that I played with ALL the time. So, I had uh, a good friend in Tulsa, Zac Maloy, who, uh, we still work with. And he kinda convinced me to record my own EP, which I did. And I named it To Have Heroes. And uh, I just, we just did a six-song thing. I’m sure a lot of you guys listening have it. And I appreciate that. And uh, I, it was my first venture by myself. And it was, it was kind of hard. I had, actually did have Neal help. And Zac helped a lot. And we got uh, I wrote a song with Zac. I wrote, we got a couple other songs that, that people wrote that I just really liked and have asked them to do ‘em. Like, The Story of Your Life, Zac wrote that with, with uh, Jason Mraz and Isaac Hanson. And uh, another song that uh, that this guy from Nashville wrote with uh, my good friend Mike Kelly. And that’s, uh, Better Day, which is on the EP as well.

So I did that, and then moved out to LA, had the EP, started playing shows. And, and that’s where that, that kinda stopped. So, that’s, that’s my To Have Heroes--

AC: That’s the, uh--

AS: Til this point.

AC: That’s the story of your life.

AS: Mmm-hmm.

AC: by To Have Heroes

AS: That is the story of my life.

AC: That was, that was cheap on my part. I apologize. Uh, so what are you doing right now, besides talking to me on the phone? Like what’s, what’s Andy Skib up to?

AS: Andy Skib is up to, um–

AC: Besides no good.

AS: I’m on tour with your brother David Cook, and I am, we are finishing this, this tour up in, around the end of November. Um, maybe into December, I’m not sure. And then hopefully at that point, uh, gonna be trying to get myself back into the mode of, of trying to write some songs and, doing maybe possibly some uh, MWK stuff with Neal. We were, we were talking about recording some new stuff, maybe during December and January. And maybe playing a show or two.

I know a lot of you guys listening also know that Joey, I saw this question on twitter. Joey Clement, who uh, used to play with us, um, wrote something on facebook about playing bass for MWK. And that uh, hopefully is true. We haven’t booked any shows but um, we’re lookin’, we’re lookin’ to, during those December and January months. So, yeah.

AC: That’s pretty exciting. I know that a lot of people uh, I mean, with as many To Have Heroes requests, we get the, the same MWK requests. And,

AS: Yeah.

AC: You know, it, it’s weird like, you guys the M -- the last MWK EP that came out was kind of like, you guys weren’t playing any live shows at the time, you just put out uh, this EP correct?

AS: right, right.

AC: And um, I mean people are, are really liking it. It’s, it’s been doing well, from what I understand. You know--

AS: Yep.

AC: At the level that it is, it’s doing well. It’s selling well on iTunes and such. Uh–

AS: Yeah, true. That, that was uh, that was kinda around all that time when Neal left and we, we had these songs, and the last, not, not this last March, I think South by Southwest is, I forget when– is it in March? I think it’s in March. But not this last March, but the March before. Um, we went down to South by Southwest and I played and Neal played with me. And uh, we recorded and we finished-up those songs because we had those songs and, weren’t really doing anything to ‘em and never finished ‘em. And then we had the chance to actually finish those songs, and we just, we didn’t have the money to actually put out a CD, so we just thought we’d do a digital version and put it on iTunes, just so people could hear it, because we didn’t, it was just sitting there, ya’ know?

AC: Yeah.

AS: We wanted, that’s the whole point of making music, is to have people hear it, so..

AC: Um, so...you’re on tour right now with David Cook, playing guitar and piano. And obviously you’ve been to a lot of places. Personally, take out the music part, the, the coolest place, the coolest thing you’ve gotten to do over the past two years?

AS: Um...I’ve been asked that a lot, and uh, one-- I have two answers. One I think is going over to Iraq and Kuwait, and playing for the troops over there. That was just, one of the answers to my, the question “what is your favorite show?” I think it was our last show in Iraq. We played uh, one of the bases, I forget the base, but uh, it was just the craziest scene, playing there on stage and just looking around, and it’s like you’re on another planet. And, we just felt good to be there, too. And it was a lot of fun.

And then my second answer is, um, after we did American Idol finale last, this last, uh, season, we got to go to a party, and David Hasselhoff walked by and I got to “Cheers” David Hasselhoff, and that’s, that’s close to Iraq.

AC: (laughs)

AS: I know that sounds bad.

AC: Oh, man. Ah, the only– whenever I think of David Hasselhoff, I just think of the fact that there’s that, there’s that video of him eating a Whopper. And he said--

AS: Oh that’s terrible.

AC: “This is such a mess.”

AS: Cheers to his daughter, I guess.

AC: Say what?

AS: Cheers to his daughter, she put that up there.

AC: Yeah, I know right? Um, Ok so we have some, some questions from some twitter fans, some emails and all that such. Uh, the first one I want to ask is from SunshineFTW. “For the Win,” I suggest. Um, and uh, it says: “In ten years from now, where do you see To Have Heroes?”

AS: Hmmmm, in ten years. That’s a hard question for me. I usually don’t look, like, a week ahead, for myself. Which is probably bad.

AC: (laughs)

AS: But um, I don’t know, I like to just kind of let things pan out the way they do. It’s, it’s, so far it’s been good for me. Um, but I don’t know I, I hope, I hope that I’m, I’m still recording things under that name and I have, eventually I want to, I wanna put together a band under that title, and uh, I’m sure that I will, that, that’ll come soon I hope. But I, I hope I’m actually playing shows, have some of the shows under my belt by then and, have actual albums instead of just EPs. So..

AC: Um, now you kind of already answered this next one, but, uh, WehoScott, I guess that’s how we would say it, W-E-H-O Scott

AS: Oh, I think I know who that is. Scott. Yep.

AC: Says uh, “Ask him if there’s a chance we’ll get an MWK performance during the upcoming down time.” Now you kinda said that there’s a possibility

AS: I kinda said that, yeah. And uh, I hope so. We haven’t, we haven’t uh, got, got everybody together that we would need to yet. We have, I’m sure enough people on board if we would ask. But uh, I don’t know yet. Hopefully. I’m, I’m, I’m thinking we will. So, maybe in Tulsa, maybe in LA. Maybe in both. Who knows?

AC: CrushedByTruth asks: “Andy’s favorite musician, and what has been their influence on you?”

AS: My favorite musician, that’s always a hard one. Uh, let’s see. I think, I think my favorite musician...probably be Sting. And his...I, I’m, I’m not that big of a songwriter like I’ve uh, I’ve written a minimal amount for, for somebody in my position, I think. Personally, that’s how I feel about myself. And he is such a, uh, prolific songwriter, and, and musically and lyrically and uh, I kind of have grown up listening to him and hope, hope that I can be somewhat of a songwriter like he is, so... Um, and watching him play the bass and sing at the same time inspires me, I guess.

AC: I, I’ve, that’s something that I’ve always looked at. Like, there’s a lot of people that play guitar and can sing at the same time. People that play bass and sing at the same time, it boggles my mind. It really does.

AS: I know, it’s, it’s a completely different way of, of doing it--

AC: You’re on a different rhythm, you’re on a different beat, it’s–

AS: Yeah.

AC: It’s crazy.

AS: You have to be so in sync with the, with the drummer or guitar players. We can, we can be so sloppy, and it doesn’t matter.

AC: Yeah.

AS: Um, but, yeah it’s, it’s the weirdest thing. I was watching a video of him, and he can’t play bass, he can’t not play bass and sing his songs. He, he starts screwing-up lyrics and, that’s just how he’s, how he’s wired I guess. And, I tried playing bass with MWK at the very-- around the end of it, it was just me, Neal, and Josh, kinda, and I was playing bass and singing and, it was alright. I wasn’t terrible but I wasn’t great.

AC: (laughs)

AS: It was, it was hard. It was hard for sure.

AC: Ok uh, a few more questions. ConsumedByWords asked: “I’m curious about what, if any,
vocal training Andy’s had.”

AS: Uh, nothin’

AC: Nothin’ at all. This is just a--

AS: Nothin’ at all.

AC: This is just a gift, apparently.

AS: (laughs) You could, you could call it a gift, I guess. Um--

AC: Now without saying the actual word--

AS: Half the, half the time I’m just, half the time I’m just tryin’ to be loud.

AC: (laughs) Without saying the word, Room42 – that’s a weird one – Room42 wants to know “What is your favorite curse word?”

AS: (laughs) What is this, Inside the Actor’s Studio?

AC: Exact– Well, yeah. (laughs)

AS: Yeah, uh...my favorite curse word...”s***.”

AC: (laughs) Good job on listening to me when I said “So without saying it...” This is fantastic. Um...

AS: We can edit this.

AC: Say what?

AS: We can edit this.

AC: Yeah I totally can. Or do I want to? Um...

AS: (laughs)

AC: And then finally, thedavidcook wants to know: “Who will be in the story of your life?”

AS: thedavidcook wants to know?

AC: thedavidcook wants to know.

AS: Um, I like to think of thedavidcook as the, the Christopher Walken in my life.

AC: Alright.

AS: Yeah.

AC: The Christopher Walken.

AS: That’s just how it is, I don’t know.

AC: So anything you want to, uh, tell your fans, tell the listeners, uh, tell me personally, you know, maybe like we can be friends for longer than an hour next time, whatever–

AS: No. Ten minutes is long enough.

AC: Ten minutes is long enough? Alright. Anything you wanna tell the listeners, though?

AS: Um, just I, I appreciate you guys callin’ in and listening to my songs and, I’m looking on twitter, I’m, I’m watching you guys, it’s cool. It’s uh, it’s weird and cool, and I really appreciate you guys. And hopefully I can play a show for you guys in L.A. or Tulsa or wherever as soon as I can.

AC: What about Kansas City?

AS: (long pause) Ok fine.

AC: Ok Kanas City. Sweet. Andy Skib from To Have Heroes, thanks so much for taking the time out of your day to talk with us, and uh, hopefully we can hear some good news from you sooner rather than later.

AS: You got it.

AC: Alright thanks a lot Andy.

AS: Thank you Andrew.