By Katie Ryan
Some might think it’s a tall order to have your music likened to what you’d hear from the love child of Neil Young, Wilco and Social Distortion. For Seth Anderson, a.k.a. the Renegade Kid, he takes it in stride.
“That was something that the manager I was working with at the time came up with, but I feel like it’s kind of accurate,” he said with a laugh over the phone from his home in Canmore. “There’s definitely that punk inspiration in my music and it’s more on the rootsy side of things. These days I play acoustic and I have a standup bass player with me. It definitely has that alt-country feel to it.”
Anderson is gearing up for his show this weekend at the Root: Community Emporium. He’ll be filling the downtown establishment with his high energy, East Coast, folk rock on Jan. 21, but he won’t be playing by his lonesome, as was the case in the past.
Joining Anderson on stage are a few other Canmore-based musicians, who’ll round out Anderson’s acoustic tunes. Throughout November, Anderson toured with country rock band Pillgrim – Robin Pereira on vocals, Gavin Boutet on drums, Pat Cloutier on upright bass and Anderson as well on guitar – as a double-bill for shows in both British Columbia and Alberta.
When the musicians pull into the Root Saturday night, they’ll perform two sets, one as Pillgrim and one with Anderson.
And if you ask Anderson if he prefers solo touring or travelling with a larger group, he’s quick to answer that company on the road, as well as on stage, is welcome.
“There’s a bit more energy, there’s a bit more sonic action going on. Travelling by yourself is fun and you’re forced to interact or meet more people, and you kind of put yourself out there a bit more. But I think sanity-wise, it’s much better to be with people,” he said with a laugh. “When you’re by yourself for an entire month, driving across the country there’s lots of time to think. It can be a good thing but sometimes it’s not.”
With three albums on the shelf, Anderson said he’s mulling over his fourth. His last album, Rocky Town Heartache, was released last year and since then, Anderson said he’s been doing a bit of songwriting.
“I kind of write about hindsight. It could be anything,” said Anderson, who grew up in rural New Brunswick. “I write more about interactions with people and about things that are going on. I guess I am a people kind of guy, with the things they do, the things they don’t do or the things that maybe they should do or shouldn’t.”
“I have always been naturally drawn to the community of a bunch of people in a basement with their arms around each other singing every word. That kind of scene, I feel the most freedom in that kind of music. That’s a good feeling, when you feel inspired,” he added. “It’s easy to put pressure on yourself to be writing all the time and I think that’s a good thing. If you can write every day, that’s wonderful, but that’s not really the way that I write. It comes out in spurts and I am fine with that.”
Anderson said he’s reached a point where he’s on the verge of starting to think about recording a new album, he just has to find out how to connect all the dots, or rather songs.
“I have all of these songs, so I just have to figure out why the hell they should all go together,” he said with a laugh. “It has to make sense.”
What does make sense though according to Anderson, is music. He received his first guitar when he was only five years old and found himself later inspired by one of his uncles, who worked as a touring musician on the East Coast.
“I was really drawn to that and proud that my uncle had done that,” he said.
“My thinking is always that if you can find something you really like to do, then you should try to make it the only thing you have to do, if at all possible.”
Check out Seth Anderson and Pillgrim on Saturday at the Root.