Hamish perform with Spiritualized at the Arena tomorrow night.
Hamish Cowan, one half of Melbourne electronic duo Hamish, is a remarkably friendly and chatty young man, considering the stress he appears to be under. Because Mr Cowan, as well as his busy musical life, also works as a psych nurse and he is finishing off a monumental workload before his group goes on tour with British epic rockers Spiritualized.
“Because we’re doing the Spiritualized shows and all the promo stuff next week, I’ve got two weeks work plus my overtime to do in eight days. Ninety-six hours in eight days, it’s isn’t that much fun,” he sighs.
In fact, Hamish is at work as I do the interview and the frenetic comings-and-goings of his workplace are plainly audible over the phone. But he’s still more than happy to talk about the positive response to his group’s latest single Life Song, a lush piece of electronica made particularly emotive thanks to the former Cordrazine frontman’s soaring, swooning voice.
“I can honestly tell you that since it’s gone to radio, I have not heard a thing,” he admits. “I’ve been here at work doing double shifts and I’ve been totally isolated from the world at this point in time! I’ve read that it’s been getting played and people are sending me emails, so yes, I am happy. It’s odd, it’s actually a case of being more relieved than happy,” he says, before an understandable work-related pause.
“Sorry, I’m just working at the same time. We started this a long time ago and it was just a weekend project and because it’s taken such a long time and it’s gone through such changes and metamorphoses, now there’s just relief that we’ve actually got to this stage!”
Hamish’s previous band Cordrazine used electric instruments, while his current creative outlet employs the talents of veteran soundsmith Bryan St James, who started creating electronic dance music some ten years ago. Bryan achieved an international reputation as The Spiritualist, and is now a producer, remixer, label-owner and soundtrack composer. Hamish says working with electronic textures has changed the way he approaches vocals.
“With more organic sounding instruments, in terms of the fluctuations of sound and the tightness of sound, they’re not as exact,” he says. “So in that environment, I could kind of be more dramatic and could just let it flow basically. With Hamish, because it’s more precise, I can’t just let it out, I have to practice my vocal and still try and get the same emotional intensity into the music, while at the same time being a more disciplined vocalist. I’ve learnt how to sing better into a microphone to achieve the emotion I’m looking for. Dare I say it, as a result I’ve developed a bit more respect for boy bands and girl bands. I still don’t like their music, but their mike technique is flawless!”
Hamish is also eager to dispel any suggestions that just because the duo bears his name, he is necessarily the creative dominator of the group.
“Luckily enough, I work with Bryan who is my hero of techno, he’s done remixes for everybody and when Cordrazine was getting played on the radio, I felt arrogantly confident enough to walk up to him and ask if he wanted to record some songs with me. So here we are this point in time! We were going to give ourselves a band name, but due to contractual agreements, it ended up being Hamish. So it’s not me trying to steal the limelight in any sense of the word, I just wanted to clarify that! The reality is that it is both of us in terms of the input.”
“I’ll come up with a bass line and a vocal melody and I’ll give it to Bryan, he’ll put the music together and I’ll tell him ‘Let me know when you want me to sing on it’.”
Hamish is thrilled at the creative possibilities of this partnership, as he is not only working with one of his musical heroes, he’s also taking part in a musical form that he’s loved for many years.
“Electronic music was always where I hid,” he says. “Ever since the early ‘90s and when I was in Cordrazine, I’ve put on my fluorescent clothing and gone dancing in darkened rooms with lasers! I love it, I love the sense of anonymity that comes with electronic music. To me, it’s more emotionally pure than rock, because the audience is the star.”
