“I started playing guitar when I was 12,” notes Melbourne, Australia-raised, LA-based Hamish Anderson. This child of the ’90s, raised on his dad’s classic rock vinyl, has roots that go deeper than you’d guess. Much deeper. “I don’t think I’d ever thought about guitar before listening to the Beatles’ White Album,” he’ll tell you. “Listening to ‘Back in the U.S.S.R.,’ something just clicked; it’s all I’ve thought about since.”
But his roots go deeper still. He effortlessly namechecks blues legends Robert Johnson, Buddy Guy, Elmore James, and Son House, revealing a love for a genre that predates him by decades. “I think with the blues and rock music it was the honesty of the music and—especially the blues—the relatability of it; everyone experiences the blues.”
Anderson left his homeland in the spring of 2014 to give it a go in America because “the blues and rock is what I connect with, and it’s all from here.” Seeking opportunity, he aimed for the moon and hit the stars; within months this then-23-year-old wunderkind had become the very last artist to open for his hero, B.B. King, and he’d been heralded by guitar slinger Gary Clark Jr. in Revolt.tv as someone to watch under the age of 30.
In this interview spotlight, I chat with Hamish about his latest project, motivations, challenges and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
My name is Hamish Anderson and I was born and raised in Melbourne, Australia. It’s always hard describing the type of music I make – it’s really a mixture of blues, rock and roll and soul music. That’s the music I was raised on and is still the music that moves me the most. At the end of the day, it’s rock and roll because that encompasses all those different styles of roots music. It’s a pretty organic thing really just guitars drums and keys–not computers and space bars being hit.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to stay the course?
My parents – although they aren’t musicians they are both huge music lovers. I was raised on my dads vinyl collection which included a lot of rock like The Beatles, Stones, Cream, The Who etc as well as blues like John Lee Hooker, Chuck Berry etc. When I was 12 years old I heard The White Album by The Beatles and that record was what made me want to be a musician and pursue music as a career. I’m very motivated to stay the course — in fact, it’s really been the only thing that drives me overall. To this day, I still feel the same excitement about music that I did when I first heard that Beatles record.
How is your new release different than previous ones? Did you set out to accomplish anything specific?
It’s different in that I’m constantly trying to evolve as a musician and songwriter and that I can feel I’m becoming more confident each time in my writing, singing and playing. I really wanted this new album to be very song specific and for the weight of the album to be carried by writing the best songs I feel that I can write at this point in my life. My new single, “No Good” felt to me like it had roots in my other recordings but it was also taking it further and maybe treading a bit of new ground. When we were recording “No Good” I knew I wanted it to be driven by the bass and drums and have a really strong groove. To me it really feels like it melds blues, rock and roll and soul.
Do you face any challenges as an indie musician in a digital age? On the flip side, how has technology helped you (if it has)?
I think that technology in general has a lot of pros and cons whether it be for a musician or even just in everybody’s day to day life. As a musician on the plus side it’s great because you can get an instant response from people about your music and can reach them in a really direct way, the not so great side is that can be easier said than done because there is so much noise on social media that it can be very hard to cut through. Sometimes it can feel like you’re just getting lost in the sea of social media madness. I still believe the focus should be on creating the best possible music you can and all the social media stuff comes after that, I don’t agree with it being the other way around.
Where can we follow you online and hear more music?
My website is www.hamishandersonmusic.com and that has links to all the ways to listen to my music.
Anything else before we sign off?
I’ve just released my first single “No Good” off what will be my sophomore album (releasing in 2019) so if you enjoy blues and rock & roll check it out! https://ffm.to/nogood
Thank you for the interview!
