Interview with indie musician Andrew Hetherington

Andrew Hetherington is an Australian indie musician, songwriter and producer. One of life’s polymaths, Hetherington straddles these roles with confidence bringing a fierce originality yet still classic sound, forged by the music he grew up with. 80s retro-wave, laced with smooth synths, mellow guitars and achingly beautiful vocals meet the harmony and rhythms of classic pop. We have conducted an interview with him.

As an indie musician growing up with 80s retro-wave, laced with smooth synths, mellow guitars and achingly beautiful vocals, what influences your music?

I’m heavily influenced by the music I grew up with, which was composed of great rhythms and melodies played by great bands in the 70s & 80s. I think this influence is instinctively reflected in my music and is naturally incorporated from somewhere deeply subconscious.

What do you consider in your musical strengths and background that differentiates your music?

I’m probably a little bit older than my peers, so I guess I may have very different musical tastes and ideas about how a song should sound. I view this as a good thing though as it differentiates my music from other artists, even those working in the same genre. I make music that appeals to me and I never copy other artists or try to follow trends, I just make music that I like and I hope other people like it too.

When will your next album be released? What can your listeners expect this time around?

Area 51 is my first album centered around a theme, which in this case is the U.S.A.F secret base in Nevada that is rumored to house captured aliens and UFOs. I’m very interested in this topic and it has provided the perfect theme for a synthwave album. I’ve used a lot of synthesizer on each of the tracks, which are accompanied by great rhythms being played on big pounding drums. I’ve created 10 original instrumentals that I’m very proud of and for any of your readers who are synthwave fans this is an album not to be overlooked. The album is set for release on July 9, 2020 and will be available at all online stores and streaming platforms.

Pop genre is returning in 2020 with a glistening line-up of pop perfection to fulfil all of our nostalgic feels, how do you see your new titles of addictive retro-wave pop stands out?

The most outstanding feature of Area 51 is that the album is just drowned in synthesizer, almost every sound except the drums is a synth. In the past I’ve used a combination of synth, guitar and piano, but with a few small exceptions this album is entirely synth driven.

Which is ONE track that you would definitely recommend from your award winning collection of tunes in songwriting contests?

For any of your readers who are fans of 80s style synthpop I would definitely recommend ‘Crystal Nights’. This is an uptempo song with lyrics and is quite a happy sounding track that has been getting good airplay and press for the last 3 months since it was released. It features authentic 80s style synth and a great vocal melody guaranteed to take the listener back to 1984.

More info:

Website: https://www.andrew-hetherington-music.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/imakesongs
Twitter: https://twitter.com/IMakeSongs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrew.hetherington.64
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdoKBf0oqulBEsSNQpaWbIg
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5SBDcWzW4gKx05fRNZz3yb
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/andrew-hetherington
ReverbNation: https://www.reverbnation.com/andrewhetherington
BandCamp: https://andrewhetherington.bandcamp.com
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/andrew-hetherington/1403781510
Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/en/artist/15186309
Tidal: https://tidal.com/browse/artist/15750705
Amazon Prime: https://music.amazon.in/artists/B07K5KRHV8/andrew-hetherington