Papercut's Biff Butler & Composer Andy Huckvale Trace Their Creative Partnership
July 15, 2026
Papercut co-founder and editor Biff Butler and composer Andy Huckvale found beauty in discarded beats. From there, they forged a cross-continental creative partnership that would span global brands and agencies and see their work played in Yankee Stadium.
Their story starts as friends and bandmates. Long before Biff was an accomplished editor and Andy a successful composer, the pair were two parts of a nu metal / industrial metal band named Apartment 26. Looking back, the pair’s collaboration as part of the band paved the way for their working dynamic today.
“When we were kids, Andy was just a friend who made us laugh, and happened to be handy with a sampler; being in a band was a means to just hanging out,” recalls Biff. “Nowadays, I am well aware of how much he elevates anything I’m cutting, so there is a huge amount of gratitude that comes along with our friendship.
“We’ve both matured and evolved as artists,” he continues, “but because we’ve collaborated for so long, there is a shorthand that is invaluable. You can only achieve that with time.”
The band was formed in 1998 in Leamington Spa, England. Releasing two albums through Hollywood Records and Atlantic Records, the band was eventually disbanded in 2004, causing Andy to move home to the UK from the band’s base in the US in a quest to uncover his own “musical identity”.
“I started writing and producing my own tracks, whilst living back at my mum’s and working at Blockbuster Video to make ends meet,” he explains. “I eventually formed another band, ‘Hitchcock’ with vocalist Matt Terry. The process of making that album gave me the tools to be able to write, produce, mix and master my own tracks from start to finish.”
Meanwhile, Biff stayed in the US to scout out his own career pathway. He says, “I knew I wanted to either get into advertising or filmmaking. I thought film school would be the right path for me, but I got a job at a recording studio because it was the world I knew.
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