{"id":28859,"date":"2025-02-07T05:30:07","date_gmt":"2025-02-07T10:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=28859"},"modified":"2024-12-23T11:28:52","modified_gmt":"2024-12-23T16:28:52","slug":"hamish-anderson-is-all-about-the-live-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/07\/hamish-anderson-is-all-about-the-live-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Hamish Anderson is All About the Live Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Not so many years ago, the only path to success for a recording and performing artist was to land a record deal. The marketing and administrative muscle of the major labels was essential to getting albums made and tours promoted. But in recent years, the music industry has undergone seismic changes, and today it\u2019s possible for an industrious artist to make his or her own way without the backing of a record label. The success of Australian blues rock singer-songwriter-guitarist Hamish Anderson is a case in point. Touring a short run of West coast dates in support of his latest release, Electric<\/i>, Anderson came to Santa Cruz’s the Catalyst January 10.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a blues foundation to Anderson\u2019s original music, but he was raised on a healthy and omnivorous diet of music thanks to his father. \u201cWhen I was growing up, my dad listened to all kinds of music,\u201d he says. \u201cEverything: rock, classical, Indian music. But he was very<\/i> deep into the blues.\u201d Beyond listening to his dad\u2019s CDs, Anderson\u2019s first exposure to a blues artist was watching a film made more than a decade before he was born: 1980\u2019s The Blues Brothers<\/i>. \u201cThere was just something about John Lee Hooker,\u201d he says. \u201cI thought he was the coolest person I\u2019d ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hooker became a hero of his; the legendary bluesman made an impression on Anderson just as he had done years before on guitarists like Keith Richards and Eric Clapton. Anderson dug deeper into the American music tradition and developed an enduring appreciation for other blues artists including Muddy Waters, Hubert Sumlin and Howlin\u2019 Wolf, going back even farther to explore the work of Robert Johnson. \u201cI\u2019ve always loved history,\u201d he explains. \u201cSo when I discovered blues, it was a perfect [combination] of history and music.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anderson\u2019s music is informed by artists who were influenced by those blues greats, too. His website features a playlist of artists whose work has inspired him, and the list includes tracks by T. Rex, Otis Redding, the Kinks, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, George Harrison, the Beach Boys and Wilson Pickett. He notes that at the end of T. Rex\u2019s \u201cGet it On (Bang a Gong),\u201d Marc Bolan quotes a line from a Chuck Berry tune. \u201cYou can find all these little connections between all these amazing artists and amazing music,\u201d he enthuses.<\/p>\n

Anderson released his self-titled debut EP in 2013. Since then he\u2019s released another EP and three full-length albums. There are significant threads connecting all five of those releases: one is that Anderson writes all of his own music. \u201cFor me, it all comes down to the song,\u201d he says. \u201cYou can\u2019t have a really cool guitar solo [but] a shitty song; it has to all be happening at once.\u201d He\u2019s a serious student of songwriting, exploring and leaning from the nuances in songs by Lennon and McCartney, Joni Mitchell or the Kinks\u2019 Ray Davies. \u201cJust by listing to these amazing songwriter, you get a crash course in how a song should be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another common characteristic of all of Anderson\u2019s music to date is that it\u2019s self-released. He\u2019s one of the new breed of musicians who have found a way to build a career, tour, release albums and connect with fans, all without signing on the dotted line with a label. \u201cI\u2019ve come up in an age when you can be unsigned and get your own path going, carve out a little something,\u201d he says. Anderson finds that he\u2019s able to self-release records and focus on playing in front of people. \u201cEspecially in America, there\u2019s a real appetite for the live experience,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\"\"For most of his studio releases, Anderson worked with seven-time Grammy winning producer-engineer Jim Scott, renowned for his work with Tom Petty, Foo Fighters, Tedeschi Trucks Band and many others. \u201cHe\u2019s worked with everybody,\u201d says Anderson. \u201cWorking with Jim is effortless.\u201d<\/p>\n

But along the way, Anderson learned a great deal about production himself, so when the time came to make Electric<\/i>, he chose to co-produce with David Davis, engineer on The War on Drugs\u2019 A Deeper Understanding<\/i>, Frank Ocean\u2019s Blonde<\/i> and nearly two dozen other projects of note. \u201cI\u2019m influenced by all the classic music,\u201d Anderson explains. \u201cBut for Electric<\/i>, I wanted to bring more of the influence of stuff that\u2019s the modern version of that [music].\u201d He says that he wanted to make a record that would fit on a playlist with artists like Alabama Shakes, Arctic Monkeys, Jack White and Gary Clark Jr.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a through-line in his production approach, though. As with Anderson\u2019s previous records, the tracks for Electric<\/i> were laid down live in the studio; he believes that approach gives the music a more direct. \u201cWhat my records have in common is that there\u2019s a live band playing,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, that live experience is what the music is all about for Hamish Anderson. For his West coast tour, he\u2019ll be fronting a classic power trio: Guitar, bass, drums. \u201cIt\u2019s very electric, very heavy,\u201d he says. \u201cThere are no backing tracks or any of that stuff.\u201d When Anderson describes the music he\u2019ll play, he could just as easily be summing up his music influences: \u201cIt\u2019s a mixture of modern rock \u2018n\u2019 roll, blues and soul.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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