Half a decade ago, Australian born-and-raised Hamish Anderson transplanted to the United States and settled in Los Angeles. The singer-songwriter/guitarist and his fiery blues-rock charms quickly earned the ear of Gary Clark, Jr., and then the guiding assistance of renowned producer Jim Scott (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Tedeschi Trucks Band), leading to Anderson’s debut album, Trouble. Sessions for a follow-up, and a reunion with Scott, were completed in early winter of 2018. 15 months later, Anderson is releasing his sophomore effort, Out of My Head, and after a spring trek in Australia supporting Clark, Jr., and a few select U.S. summer dates, he’ll undertake an extensive fall tour in Europe.
Growing up, how muchdid what was contemporaneously happening around you musically influence youversus the records you listened to by the American originators of the blues,and their British descendants like Led Zeppelin or Cream?
My influences of blues came more from listening to records;going to the sources of American music. First, it was very much the original stuff. I was also lucky because right around the timeI was getting into playing guitar- like, around 12 (years-old)- there was areal rock revival going on. There wereKings of Leon, and Jet; Wolfmother; The Vines. And, The Black Keys, and The White Stripes. So, it was cool having loved all the earlymusic and then finding out about younger guys bringing into the 21stcentury. That was really inspiring tome. They took the blues and made theirversion of it. That was more appealingto me than just playing a Freddie King song for the 100th time. I love Freddie King, but I was really intothe idea of making my own blues.
When did you firststart performing?
End of my teens I started playing live. For a long time it was just me, solo, playinga lot of pub gigs It was good forputting one foot in the water and getting going; trying to see what songs work;getting the crowd’s attention.
What brought you toLos Angeles?
I came over in 2014, basically for a couple of months to doa tour around the U.S. with a bunch of other Australian bands. I didn’t really know how it would goover. I was really excited about comingto America; (with me) loving American culture and music and everything. L.A. at first was culture shock. It was very different from Australia, but Iquickly fell in love with it. A greatthing about L.A. is the music scene here; all the iconic venues like The Troubadour. I’ve read a million times about Elton Johnplaying there. Everyone comes fromsomewhere else to make it here. It’sbeen a really great fit.
When you traveledaround the United States did it match your imagination of what it would be likeor was it quite different?
Little bit of both. Going somewhere like Austin- that was one of the places I dreamed aboutgoing- having lots of blues (history), like Stevie Ray Vaughan. Places like Austin, or L.A., or Chicago, everystreet you go on there’s an iconic venue with incredible musiciansplaying. Australia has a great musicscene, but in Austin, literally, you go bar to bar and there’s musiceverywhere, with incredible guitar players. It’s just inspiring to be around. Going to Chicago, to Chess Records, there’s just so much history.
Talk about workingwith Jim Scott. How did that happen?
I met Jim right around the perfect time, when I started workon my first album, Trouble. I’d cut a few tracks with a differentproducer and it wasn’t really going the way I wanted. I was a little bit lost, not knowing where togo, and then I met Jim through a mutual friend and instantly hit it off. He’s a great guy who’s also worked on incrediblealbums by Tom Petty, and Tedeschi Trucks, and Wilco. The main thing with Jim is that the song isthe number-one priority, which I love. That it should be right at the forefront. He also has a way of making everybody feelgood which brings out the best in the musicians.
You’ve worked withmusicians that you didn’t know prior to the session. Does that provide a burst of creative energyor slow the process in any way?
Little bit of both. At the end of the day, it’s always exciting going in with, like yousaid, some musicians I hadn’t met or played with before. You meet, and half-an-hour later you’verecorded a song. That worked really wellwith the Trouble album because the whole tone of the album was us basicallyplaying live. A lot of times what’s onthe record is the performance in the studio. It was very warts-and-all, going full throttle at it.
And the new album wasdifferent?
With the new album it was great because it was the same bandfor the entire album. They had played onTrouble so they were session guys, but, at the heart of it, band guys. They don’t play like slick L.A. sessionmusicians. It’s very much the feel of aband playing together.
Do you view youralbums as collections of individual songs, or as a complete thought?
I definitely think with the Trouble album it was more acollection of songs. I kind of did it inthree different parts: five songs, and then a couple of months later, foursongs, and then a few months later did the rest. The new album did not have a conceptthroughout, but it was very much, like, written as a full piece. I knew exactly that I was trying to make analbum. For me, it can be wide ranging inthe genres, but I think my voice ties everything together.
Were there specificsyou took away from the making of Troublethat you consciously wanted to repeat, or avoid?
There were things I very consciously wanted to do on thisnew album. The last album was veryloose, and it was great for that album. But, I really wanted to tighten up and have the songs at theforefront. Again we recorded live withthe whole band playing together. Butthere was more overdubbing done on this album. I wanted to experiment with harmonies, guitar doubles, anddouble-tracking vocals. I wanted to do alittle more arranging; have more of a solid idea of what each song should be.
Did you demo thesongs prior to recording?
I demoed, but I’ve found over the years it’s best when I do(a demo) really simple, like an acoustic guitar and vocal. If I play it on acoustic and have it standup, without drum machines or whatever, then the song itself is good. Jim and I are very much both about the song,and the best representation of songs is in their earliest form. I wrote a lot more this record than the firstone. So there was more pre-production onthis than the last one.
Was there an editingprocess prior to tracking?
Yes, definitely. That’s the great thing about Jim, and having a producer like that. I’m not someone who necessarily wants to beproducing myself alone because I like to have a sounding board; have someoneelse reel me in when I’m going off-course, or add a little bit of advice. Jim is very good at that: trimming the fatoff of songs.
Did you road-testanything live before recording?
There are a couple of songs that got road-tested before Iwent in the studio. It definitely helpedme see what was working and what wasn’t. The year prior to recording I started playing live in a trioformat. Normally, I’d been used toplaying with a keyboard so there were times when I could lay-out and not haveto do so much guitar stuff. I don’treally like to stretch out and do long guitar solos for the sake of doingit. I respond more to direct guitarsolos that serve the song. So, I thinkthat (experience) was really great- to know when I went into the studio, ifthere was a guitar solo on a song, every note had to matter.
So, were solosimprovised in the moment or did you work them out?
It’s more letting it happen in the moment each time. The guitar solo was almost the last thingthat got dealt with. A lot of time itwas off the top of my head, playing what I was directly responding to in thesong. All of my favorite guitar players,at the core, were amazing songwriters, and then they had these incredibleguitar solos.
The tracking for Out of My Head was done in February of2018. Now 15 months later, it’sout. Excuse the pun, but, in your headare you already on the next thing?
Yes, I’m starting to think about what I want to donext. I’m in the beginning stages ofwriting what I hope to be my third album. But, every time I listen to Out ofMy Head, it still excites me. Itholds up. I’m proud of what it says,what the songs are. It’s really nice tobe able to look back at it and still feel really great.
