Walk into Andrew Mendosa’s room in Booth Hall, and you’ll find an intimidating mess. Clothes lie in piles across the hardwood planks, and wires and cords pose a tripping hazard with nearly every step.

Looking past the clutter, though, and there’s an image that sums up Mendosa’s living quarters. Up on a shelf, hidden behind a bottle of sriracha sauce and three Star wars figurines, a poster of Mac DeMarco peels from the wall. The indie rocker is one of the reasons Mendosa, a sophomore television, radio and film major, is just a few months away from releasing his debut album.

Although it was Bob Dylan who inspired Mendosa to start writing lyrics and poems, it was DeMarco who made him realize he could put music behind the words. Before, Mendosa said he didn’t think he had the skills or resources to actually make music.

In 2013, a friend introduced Mendosa to DeMarco’s music. Soon after, with the money he saved up from his job at a pizzeria, he decided to follow DeMarco’s path and self-start his music career. He bought some musical equipment and began a do-it-yourself approach to recording music. He had two months of drum lessons during the fifth grade and had taught himself guitar, but otherwise had no prior legitimate musical experience.

Mendosa has used that equipment to set up a makeshift studio in his dorm room. He has a mini mixing board and a plethora of instruments to accompany his vocals.

As far as released material, not much has come from Mendosa so far. His Bandcamp account, under the name AndyJohnMendosa, does have three tracks — two originals and one cover. But the young artist has plans to expand his discography soon. He expects his debut album, entitled “Banzai,” to be finished by the end of May.

With the finishing touches in the works, Mendosa wanted to make one thing clear about the new album. In the past, his music has ended up sounding more like a reproduction of DeMarco.

But with “Banzai,” Mendosa said he doesn’t want to copy DeMarco’s distinct guitar tone. In his opinion, the tone is used by too many startup artists just like him. If DeMarco is considered melancholy, Mendosa wants to be seen as intense.

“One of my main goals now is just separating myself from (Mac DeMarco’s) sound,” he said.

While sound is obviously the main component to any form of music, Mendosa said his work has a “visual image” that coincides with the lyrics. Much of his inspiration in this sense comes from his passion for film. He gets some of his ideas from the work of Quentin Tarantino and Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa.

Film helped shape “Banzai,” which is a western concept album. An idea made famous by artists such as Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash, concept albums usually deliver an overarching story or theme. Mendosa’s interest in western themes stems from his longtime admiration of Ennio Morricone. The Italian composer recently won his first Oscar for the score of Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight,” and also worked with Tarantino on the western film “Django Unchained.”

Growing up watching Tarantino’s movies, Mendosa has always been a fan of the dark feeling that flows from Morricone’s work. But it wasn’t until he started to analyze the music more closely that he found inspiration.

The title of “Banzai,” which is a Japanese battle cry that roughly translates to “10 thousand years of life to you,” stems from Mendosa’s appreciation of Japanese culture, and especially its influence on the development of cinema. Mendosa said he sees a lot of similarity between the feudal Japan period — which lasted from the 12th-17th centuries — and the setting of Western movies.

In a more common sense, Mendosa said “banzai” means to run into something with no inhibitions. He went on to explain that the seven-track album is the tale of a man on the run, telling a “simple western story.”

“It’s a story about life and the way the character in the album goes through life,” he said. “He’s very much on a banzai charge.”

Published on March 22, 2016 at 9:54 pm

Contact: jtbloss@syr.edu | @jtbloss