Andy Waters

Currently residing here in Adelaide, Victorian-born and Western Australian-raised Andy Walters has taken the long road around to finally settle on a style before recording his debut solo EP, 'Memoirs Of An Escapist'.

"I was born in a little town of about 200 people," Walters says of Balmoral, 328 km northwest of Melbourne, "and, incidentally, it's also where I played my first gig, which was one of those interesting little shows in the middle of nowhere," he recalls. "I used to play music at school and then a bit of jazz, but that gig was my first rock experience and from there, things just got heavier and heavier until I reached a certain point because the metal I used to play was hardcore with a lot of screaming and de-tuned guitars. All very angry riffs influenced by Slayer and that sort of stuff," he avows. "But now I'm going back the other way again and playing acoustically."

Walters adds, "This CD is probably a bit more mellow than what you'd hear me do live. I've only just started to think that it's okay to put a bit more balls into my acoustic performances because, coming from a heavy metal background, I was a bit nervous about overdoing it at first, but now I'm finding that people actually like it. But yeah, the metal influences are starting to creep back in," he laughs.

Whatever the primacy of his craft, I mention that one of my initial impressions was that he reminded me of LA-based artist, Gus Black.

"It's kind of funny, the comparisons I've been getting," he says, "we just got back from WA and some people I did interviews with over there have compared me with bands I've never even heard of, but I actually take that as a great compliment because no one's come up with the same band twice. I'm looking at putting out an album early next year and this is really good because, with the EP, it's only five tracks long and it gives people a taste of what I do. And, because I tour a lot around the country [both solo and with musical partner Paul Greene], I am very easily distracted and I'm writing songs all over the place. So this now also gives me some direction to focus on because it's giving me some feedback of what people like. Having gone through all the different genres, I'm now throwing it all into the one bowl and saying that this is where I'm now going and what I'm putting all my energy into...And I'm leaving all the rest behind."

As a sound engineer, Walters initially came to Adelaide to work at our city's premier recording studio, Mixmasters - although the approach taken with his own product may not have been as meticulous as it would be with other people's projects.

"With this particular CD, I literally only spent about a week on the whole thing, including the artwork," Walters admits. "It was very, very quick because I don't actually like drawing the process out. I haven't filled my CD up with heaps of overdubs and things like that, so each take is pretty much the only take with not much editing done on top. I'm now getting more back into playing music and less into recording other people's stuff," he claims.

"Effectively, in WA, recording was a hobby and performing was my full-time gig, but when I moved east everything moved the other way around and recording became my bread and butter. I let playing go for nearly five years, so since April it's been the first time that I have been playing shows since 2001. Through playing with Paul and doing supports, I've managed to tour from Melbourne to Brisbane and over to Western Australia and now I'm finally doing a show here in Adelaide," he happily announces, before adding, "you know, I have been back playing live for six months and my girlfriend hasn't even seen me play yet!"

As far as I'm concerned, that is actually quite surprising, considering the woman in question is also Walters' manager who also operates her own busy music P.R. and media liaison company.

"Well, of course, she's heard me as I was writing the songs," he clarifies, "and obviously, she heard my CD and has seen me on video, but she hasn't actually been to a show yet!"

Steve Jones

Andy Walters launches 'Memoires Of An Escapist' at Jive on Fri 17 November.