New Zealand Metal Guitarist, Andhe Chandler first picked up a guitar when he was around 7 or 8 years old. Close to twenty years on, Chandler is now a member of one of N.Z.’s most prominent metal bands ‘The Mark of Man’.
Chandler stems from a musical family, his father was a guitarist and as a child Chandler would sit and watch him play, fascinated with the way he could make such a huge variety of different sounds with just his fingers and a guitar.
Chandler gives credit to his father for him having started to play. During his early years he worked hard at learning styles like blues and rockabilly, just like his dad, who was influenced by guitarists like Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits) and Eric Clapton and also enjoyed the music of band like ‘Pink Floyd’ and ‘The Eagles’.
As Chandler grew older his music interests changed, he found himself playing faster and faster, getting into punk/metal in a huge way, and trying to work out the techniques behind the music. Though he did drop back on his playing in his high school years, from the age of eighteen Chandler began to take guitar seriously and started refining his skills. Today Chandler is focusing more and more on his lead work, trying to expand new ideas and methods, constantly working at mastering his craft.
Chandler first cut his teeth playing live in a punk band called ‘Tempo 38’, they used to rehearse next door to his flat, and one day the bass player came and knocked on Chandler’s door, he introduced himself, said “You play guitar right? Want to come have a jam?” Chandler accepted the invitation and became a permanent member of the band for the better part of two years.
Chandler wanted more of a challenge to play. He started listening to a lot more technical metal, and began playing in his first metal band ‘A Black Disaster’. The band would go onto open twice for ‘Parkway Drive’ and also opened for ‘Bleeding Through’. Chandler then moved 465km north to Auckland City, where everything was happening. He joined a band called ‘In Dread Response’ a melodic metal band he had always admired from playing with and seeing at shows. He was ecstatic to be able to jump straight into a prominent Auckland metal band.
Chandler joined during the tracking of ‘In Dread Response’s’ record ‘From the Oceanic Graves’. Two music videos, and hundreds of shows later, ‘The Mark of Man’ was formed – a band consisting of the most talented metal musicians New Zealand has to offer, they are now Chandler’s main focus. Chandler also played briefly for a band called ‘Bloodletting’ – at one point he was playing in ‘Bloodletting’, ‘In Dread Response’, and ‘The Mark of Man’ at the same time.
Chandler is a huge fan of the euro metal sound – bands like ‘In Flames’, ‘At the Gates’ and ‘Soilwork’. He draws inspiration from guitarist such as; Jakub Zytecki, Guthrie Govan, Ryan Knight, Frederick Thordendal.
Chandler’s biggest career highlights to date include; being endorsed by Ibanez guitars, opening for Slash, Jennifer Batten and Vinnie Moore last year at the NZ International Guitar Festival, followed by the guitar clinic the next day, opening for ‘Suffocation’ and ‘The Black Dahlia Murder’ winning ‘Best Metal Video 2010’ with ‘In Dread Response’, and Best Metal Album with ‘The Mark of Man’ last year also.