Hamish Anderson

Melbourne indie vocalist, guitarist and prolific songwriter Hamish Anderson has just announced the release of his new single Winter. Winter is a moving ballad and demonstrates Anderson's maturity.

Anderson started playing guitar at 12 and now at 22, the youthful musician has had the privilege of working with The Foo Fighter’s Rami Jaffee on his debut single Howl.

Music News recently had a chat with Anderson about his influences and the hurdles he has overcome to be the impressive musician he is today.

Music News - When did you realize you wanted to pursue a career in music?

I started playing guitar when I was 12 years old and for a long time I just wanted to be a guitarist and nothing more. When I was around 17 I started getting more into singing and songwriting as well. It was around that age that I started to write my own songs and that was when I really knew I wanted to try and pursue a career in music.

Music News - You just released your latest single Winter; can you tell me about that? What inspired the song?

Winter was originally written just as a set of lyrics and then a few months later I came up with the chord progression. The opening chord just reminded me of the lyrics so I put the two together. Winter was basically written as a goodbye note to someone, it was the easiest way for me to say all I needed to say to this person.

Music News - Which artists have influenced you?

Lots of different artists have influenced me from musicians like Bob Dylan, Nina Simone, and Ryan Adams. A lot of old blues and folk artists like Muddy Waters, Son House, Buddy Guy and Bands like The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Band and then new artists like Jack White, City & Color and Alabama Shakes.

Music News - If you could perform with anyone, either living or passed, who would it be?

Hmmm that’s a tough one…..I’ve always wanted to be able to play guitar with Buddy Guy. He was a direct influence on Hendrix and Clapton and all those guys so it would be amazing to get to watch him play up close.

Music News - What can you tell me about your debut single, Howl which features a host of notable musicians including members of Foo Fighters, The Wallflowers and Angus & Julia Stone?

We had recorded the majority ofHowl live in the room with a drummer, bass player and myself. I knew I wanted organ on it so the producer Eric Dubowsky mentioned he knew Rami Jaffee who plays keys for the Foo Fighters and The Wallflowers and said we should send the song to Rami. About a week later we got the track back with these amazing organ parts on it and Rami sent me a really encouraging text saying he really liked the song and the sound of it. A little while later when we were recording another track on the EP “Smoke and Mirrors”, Rami was actually in Australia touring with the Foo Fighters and he ended up coming down to the studio and adding organ to that track as well. It was amazing to meet him and get to watch him record the organ part live in person!

Music News - What hurdles have you had to overcome, to get to where you are today?

It took me a long time to have confidence in my music and feel that I had written songs that I was truly proud of and would be happy for them to be released for people to hear. I think with nearly all writers and musicians when you’re starting out it takes a while for you to have confidence in yourself and your music but once I started to write the songs that ended up being on the EP they really helped me gain confidence in my music and my sound.

Music News - What are your career goals?

Like most musicians I think the main goals are really to be able to make a living from music and be able to share your music with as many people as possible…Being able to tour the world whilst playing music is definitely the main goal.

Music News - Anything you would like to share, from upcoming shows to albums?

My debut EP is now available from the iTunes music store.

View the live clip for Winter:: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tdd9zSg83M