Andrew Shapiro: Composer, Pianist, McDonald’s Employee

Andrew Shapiro is a composer and songwriter based in Brooklyn. His lush, ambient electronica (think Sigur Rós meets Cocteau Twins meets Philip Glass meets Depeche Mode - or something like that) has been played all over the radio in America and Europe, and has recently received airplay on L.A.'s uber-tastemaker station KCRW.

His new album Numbers, Colors and People, produced by longtime Philip Glass producer Michael Riesman, has been receiving great reviews. One says the album is "like Keith Jarrett performing Philip Glass," while another says the album is "the best album to listen to after sex!"

Shapiro is about to begin his fifth season playing his piano music at a McDonald's in downtown Manhattan. Yes, you read that correctly. This McDonald's has a grand piano, and the unlikely juxtaposition of a cutting edge composer playing in a fast-food restaurant has captured the imaginations of New Yorkers, tourists, and the media. The Village Voice even named him "Best Pianist at a Fast-Food Restaurant."

Shapiro plays at McDonald's (located at 160 Broadway) every Sunday from noon-4pm, continuing through June, 2010.

I spoke with Shapiro about his McDonald's appearances and his new album.


Tell me about the album. It's different from your previous work isn't it?

Right, because I've never done an album of solo piano music before. I've been composing and performing piano music for a long time, but on the recording end of things I've been more focused on a lot of electronic stuff. Piano music is much more pure for me-there's nothing in the production chain that gets in the way. And since none of the pieces have any vocals or lyrics it's a pretty different thing, too.

How did you come up with the title "Numbers, Colors and People"?

Well, it came about because the pieces are all titled one of those things: a number, a color or a person. Titles like "No. 12" or "Left Hand Etude No. 2" or my favorite piece on the album "Mint Green." which is vaguely about my obsession with mint chocolate chip ice cream [laughs]. And then the people are people I know, friends that I made these sort of musical portraits of. I suppose the title is a pretty utilitarian sort of thing, like an early Talking Heads title or something.

How do you write "musical portraits" of people without using lyrics?

It sort of just starts off with a feeling that gets it going. I wrote the song "Katz" for a friend's 40th birthday. And so I was thinking it might be interesting to have the piece be 40 measures long. And then it became 41 measures because, you know, the whole "one candle for good luck" thing. And so then what came out in the music -the textures and melodies- were just musical emotions that reminded me of him. "Riggs," named after Ian Riggs, a longtime musical collaborator and friend of mine, came about from when we were talking about how we both really love the song "Bring on the Night" by The Police. I was listening to it after we chatted and I started thinking about how I could create a new song based on that song, as if I could just superimpose some new music right on top. So I guess the music we liked in common was the source. And then "Gosia" came from me just wanting to write something after meeting a woman on a train when I was on tour in Poland. She's amazing. She was coming to the performance a couple nights later and so I wanted to write a piece of music and dedicate it to her.

How did the McDonald's gig start?

I read an article in New York Magazine mentioning the McDonald's with the grand piano, and so I called the owner and got myself hired to play on Sunday afternoons and began promoting it as if I was promoting any other gig. And then people started coming down for it, and all of this publicity started happening. It was really exciting. The New York Times wrote a piece on it, and then other papers did, and then it got on TV. I realized at that point that I had discovered a sort of strange way to get my music in front of people, and then from that, other opportunities started coming my way.

What's the gig like? It seems pretty unusual.

It's a lot of fun, really fun. Even though I'm playing a high-minded music in a sort of low-brow place, people don't seem to care about where they're hearing it. I have a friend who jokes with me about how I play at the most low-brow venue in America [laughs]. Some people like it because it's pretty mellow and ambient and relaxing and they just chill out. And so I think folks appreciate it even if they're not a fan of classical music or piano music or whatever. Some people are thoroughly indifferent to what I'm doing and then other people want to talk to me and buy my CD. I've hung out and talked shop with pretty much every type of person you could imagine; security guards, the people who work around the corner at the Century 21 department store, Williamsburg hipsters. Once there was even a group of Albanian tourists waiting for me to show up and they were very serious about having a "concert experience" and applauded for me when I walked out onto the piano loft. And then once I was mobbed by a group of junior high school kids from Rhode Island who were in New York for a Christian youth group trip and wanted my autograph. So it's a total high. Every week seems really different- I don't know who's going to walk in the door next.

What are you up to next?

I'm still writing lots and lots of piano music. But I'm really focused on writing new synth-based songs, kind of in the vein of my earlier EPs. And I'm booking piano concerts. I'll be at the Kennedy Center and New Jersey Performing Arts Center in the spring. I'm also planning on going back to Europe in the spring to play more piano concerts. I love every chance I get to go over there and do my thing.

Back to McDonald's. Do you eat the food there?

Usually iced coffee and a salad. I like the grilled chicken salad with the low-fat Newman's Own balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Once in a while I'll pour myself a vanilla milkshake.

You get to work the shake machine?

Totally unofficially...when was younger I had a thing for their vanilla milkshake, so when I started there, I hit that machine pretty hard.