Many of us dream of recording EPs and working with musical heavyweights, though I’d hazard a guess that only a handful of us get to live out that dream. But at just 21, Melbourne’s Hamish Anderson has done just that. His debut self titled EP was released just last week, and saw him working with Rami Jaffee (Foo Fighters, The Wallflowers). Whilst recent recording sessions have seen him work with Jeff Buckley’s drummer Matt Johnson.
We caught up with Anderson ahead of his EP launch at Melbourne’s The Toff on Wednesday night. See what he had to say below, and check out the video for “Howl” from his debut EP.
What records or bands were on high rotation in your house when you were growing up?
I was always and still am drawn to playing vinyls, so early on it was records like The White Album by The Beatles, Let it Bleed by The Rolling Stones, The Best of Cream, Who’s Next by The Who. Whatever was in my dad’s vinyl collection really.
When did you decide you wanted to do music professionally?
I knew I seriously wanted to play guitar as a profession when I was about 14 years old.
On your EP you have two quite different tracks, the raucous bluesy ‘Howl’ and the more delicate ‘Winter’, does one style come easier to you than the other?
I don’t think one style comes easier to me then the other, they both felt natural to write and play. I don’t really feel completely satisfied unless I’m able to have moments in both a show and on a record where I can play some acoustic songs and also some electric songs.
And do you approach them differently when you’re writing?
With a song like ‘Winter’ I knew that song should just be me and my acoustic guitar, so it’s fairly straightforward in its arrangement from the get go. With a song like ‘Howl’ there was a lot of experimenting with the electric guitar and finding the right tone and really playing around with different rhythms in the writing stage to find what would work for the song.
What was the inspiration behind the songs on your EP?
The inspiration for my songs seems to always come from my life experiences. All the things I had been through pretty much from when I was 17, right up to when I was recording the EP.
You amassed quite the backing band for your EP recording, how did that come about?
It all snowballed very organically, which was really cool. We were recording ‘Howl’ and the producer Eric Dubowsky knew Rami Jaffee who plays keys in the Foo Fighters and The Wallflowers and just said we should send it to Rami and if he liked it he might play some organ on it. So we pretty much instantly got it back with this amazing organ part on it and he sent me a really encouraging text saying he really liked the song.
We recorded the EP in two different sittings so during the second we were recording the second track on the EP “Smoke And Mirrors”, which we also thought Rami would be great for. By complete coincidence, it turned out that he was in Australia with The Foo’s. We tried to get in contact with him but we didn’t hear back, but then on the last day of the recording he called the front desk and said he’d be there in five minutes. We quickly set up an organ and he listened to the song for about 50 seconds and then he just laid down this ridiculously awesome organ part, it was crazy to watch.
You were recently in the studio with Jeff Buckley’s drummer Matt Johnson, how was that experience?
The experience was again a crazy one and most of all I just felt lucky to be there. Watching Matt Johnson work and being able to play with him is something I’ll never forget. I recorded 3 tracks with Eric producing again and we recorded the majority of it all live with Matt on Drums and two other guys from Angus Stone’s band; Rob Calder and Jon Solo on bass and keys. I feel the songs we recorded are the best I’ve written to date and I’m hoping to put some of that stuff out either as a single or an EP towards the end of this year.
You’ve stated you’re happy to continue releasing EPs for the time being, what benefits do you think the EP has over the LP format?
At the moment I really like how EP’s are just little snap shots. I think it’s cool that an EP is like a taster and hopefully builds momentum so when it comes time to release an album, it will definitely feel like the right time to do it.
You’re holding an EP release show at the Toff on May 1st, is there any plans to tour the EP further afterwards?
The day after the May 1st EP Launch at The Toff in Melbourne, we are flying up to Sydney to do a show at The Standard in Surry Hills. We are also in the middle of sorting out a whole bunch of dates interstate and in Melbourne, so keep an eye out for that on my website.
What does the rest of 2013 hold?
A lot of gigs, a lot of promo for this EP and hopefully another EP or new single out by the end of this year!
———-
