Californian guitarist Rusty Anderson has worked for the last 25 years as a member of Paul McCartney’s band. But in a long and varied career, Anderson has also played in various rock bands, made a few solo albums, and once played a part in the creation of a four million selling ’90s pop hit.
He was just 14 years old when he started gigging professionally, and in the late ’70s ands early ’80s he performed on the LA club circuit with his band Eulogy.
Recalling those formative years, he tells MusicRadar: “Eulogy was my teenage band. It was together for six years and we went from practicing in my parents’ living room to various garages to playing school functions, backyard parties, Orange County shows, to Hollywood clubs and bigger venues.
Article continues below“We played with Van Halen many times – and Eddie used to show up at our shows! And we also played with The Police, Quiet Riot, The Motels…
“The scene was wildly fun and sometimes terrifying. We were know-nothing kids, mostly younger than all the other bands we shared stages with. We even auditioned for Clive Davis at Arista Records, among others.
“Eulogy had a very big local following, but the band ultimately fell apart. I still think we were a great band with some fantastic songs at that time. There’s a lot going against bands staying together for long. Our personal chemistry was explosive, which made it hard, especially without much experience or perspective.”
Anderson’s subsequent band also went the same way as Eulogy.
As he recounts: “Immediately after Eulogy broke up, the bassist Dirk Van Tatenhove and I formed a new band named Soldier. Dirk and I were the lead singers and songwriters.
“When Dirk switched to acoustic guitar we had Dennis Smith on bass and backing vocals, Lanny Fabian on drums and I played guitar. Killer musicians! But even though we had a development deal with Columbia, that band only lasted about two years as Dirk wanted out of the music business altogether.”
Following the demise of Soldier, Anderson launched yet another band, The Living Daylights.
“I was very proud of the band,” he says. “We were pumped and excited for a while, but unfortunately, entropy set in once again.
“I’m still not sure what the lesson was from that band. Maybe that I should take the power into my own hands as much as possible.”
Fortunately for Anderson, a senior figure at Columbia Records heard The Living Daylights and made an approach to the guitarist that put him on a new career path.
“David Kahne was a producer and A&R man at Columbia,” Anderson says. “David liked a Living Daylights song, which surprisingly led to me playing on the Bangles album that he was producing – Different Light. And for me, this opened the door into the studio scene.”
Different Light, the Bangles’ second album, was released in 1986 and yielded two huge hit singles in Manic Monday (written by Prince) and Walk Like An Egyptian (by songwriter and producer Liam Sternberg).
It was in 1993 that Anderson joined alternative rock band Ednaswap with songwriters Scott Cutler and Anne Preven. The group’s self-titled debut album was released in 1995 and featured a song that would become a major hit two years later for actress turned singer Natalie Imbruglia.
That song was Torn, written back in 1991 by Cutler and Preven with English musician and producer Phil Thornalley, who had worked with The Cure in the ’80s as both producer and bassist.
Anderson recalls: “Scott Cutler, my songwriter friend, was working with singer and solo artist Anne Preven. They invited me to London to record Torn. I was super excited to go as I had never been there before. The session was at Phil Thornalley’s home studio.”
He says of his own contribution to the song: “The lyrics and chords were already written when I came in and created the guitar parts, including the big slide-melody outro. I was super jet lagged and loopy, but I was able to focus, and we created the song.”
He notes: “Natalie’s hit version is extremely similar to that original version.”
Ednaswap eventually fizzled out around 1988. “We put out three or four major label records and toured the whole US,” Anderson says, “but we never saw the huge success we were hoping for.”
Anderson joined Paul McCartney’s band in 2001 and has since made four solo albums as well as recording with Macca.
Regarding his solo work, he says: “My favourite songs I’ve written are probably Born On Earth, Electric Trains, Coming Down To Earth, Point Of Interest, Danny the Doubler, and Little One, which was about my daughter.
“I’m proud of the records I’ve made and am always striving to follow my muse into new territory.”
As for the future, he adds: “I’ve got a backlog of songs to release, so I’m working on getting those out as soon as I can – that is, when I’m not working with Paul, recording another project, or spending time with family and friends.”
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.