Hamish Rosser

Hamish Rosser
Hamish Rosser performing with Wolfmother at Sydney Entertainment Centre in 2012
Background information
Birth name	Hamish Rosser
Born	(1974-05-16) 16 May 1974 (age 49) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Genres	Hard rock, alternative rock, garage rock revival, post-grunge, indie rock, neo-psychedelia
Occupation(s)	Drummer
Instrument(s)	Drums, percussion
Years active	2002–present

Hamish Rosser (born 16 May 1974) is an Australian rock musician. He is best known for his time in The Vines and his current position in Wolfmother.

Early life

Hamish’s musical journey began when he took up the guitar at the age of eight. By the time he turned eleven he had switched to drums and bought his first set of drums with money saved up from a paper round in his Sydney neighbourhood. Rosser's first gig was with high school punk band called "The Warthogs" who covered The Clash, The Ramones and the Sex Pistols. ^[1]

Rosser studied chemical engineering at Sydney University ^[1] and stayed there for four years until he left to pursue a career as a musician. ^[2]

Career

Rosser was asked to join The Vines to replace the band's previous drummer, David Oliffe. ^[2] He left the Vines, along with guitarist Ryan Griffiths, in December 2011. ^[3]

Rosser started touring with Australian hard rock band Wolfmother in 2012, where the band were looking to start working on their third studio album. After a year of touring with the band, Wolfmother split up temporarily while frontman Andrew Stockdale worked on his solo album Keep Moving. Rosser performed drums and percussion on several tracks for the album. However, before embarking on a tour for the album, Stockdale reformed Wolfmother and prepared a tour under the band's name instead performing both Wolfmother and his solo tracks. ^[4]

Rosser left the band in 2013, then rejoined in 2017.

In 2016, Rosser joined children's rock 'n' roll band Bunny Racket, and performed with them at Splendour in the Grass in July of that year. ^[5]

In 2023, Rosser rejoined the Vines to record a new record with Craig Nicholls.

Personal life

Rosser and his wife Kristy's first child, Oscar Rosser, born in June 2012 in Queensland. ^[6]

In 2011, Rosser was living in Redfern, New South Wales. ^[7] In 2017, Rosser sold his Redfern house and moved to Byron Bay. ^{[8] [9]}

Skinny Blonde beer

In 2008, Rosser launched a beer called Skinny Blonde along with winemaker Richie Harkham and artist Jarod Taylor. ^[10] The beer won the Peoples Choice awards at the 2008 Australian Beer Festival held at the Rocks in Sydney. ^[11]

In June 2009, Skinny Blonde attracted national controversy across Australia over its beer bottle packaging which, through the use of modern ink technology, has a 1950s style pin up girl called 'Daisy' on the beer bottle label, slowly revealing herself as the beer level drops and the bottle temperature rises. ^[12] This angered feminists who claimed the beer was "another blatant example of the alcohol industry objectifying women to move product". In response, Rosser stated,

This generation of Aussies have grown up on the beach and topless girls in bikinis are commonplace. The label and website is in no way meant to offend women or anyone else, rather embrace the Australian beach culture. ^[13]

He was also quoted as saying that the beer was a "bit of cheeky fun". ^[13]

Discography

Studio albums ^[14]

with The Vines

• Winning Days (2004)
• Vision Valley (2006)
• Melodia (2008)
• Future Primitive (2011)

with Andrew Stockdale

• Keep Moving (2013) AUS #32

with Wolfmother

• Rock Out (2021)

References

1. "Artists: Hamish Rosser". Zildjian. Archived from the original on 6 November 2005. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
2. "Biographies". Dream in the Insane. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
3. "Bitter Fruit". The Sydney Morning Herald - smh.com.au. 31 October 2008. Retrieved 5 July 2009.
4. Smith, Sarah (12 July 2013). "Stockdale revives Wolfmother two months after "split"". FasterLouder. Junkee Media. Archived from the original on 10 January 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
5. Klinkenberg, Alistair (24 July 2016). "Let All The Children Boogie". The Daily Splendour. p. 24. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
6. Wolfmother borrowed my daddy, The Daily Telegraph, 30 June 2012, retrieved 3 May 2024
7. Hamish Rosser Q&A: the Vines' drummer tackles Smith's questions, mrandmrssmith, 17 October 2011, retrieved 16 April 2018
8. Macken, Lucy (16 October 2017). "Rocker leaves Redfern". Domain.
9. "The Vines' Winning Days turns 20: An Interview with Hamish Rosser (2024)". indie miners. 29 March 2024. I'm in the hinterland, not far from Byron, on a five acre property...
10. McCabe, Kathy (19 March 2009). "The Vines members launch boutique beer Skinny Blonde". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 4 July 2009. Retrieved 1 July 2009.
11. "Beerfest: The Australian Beer Awards". Archived from the original on 12 September 2009. Retrieved 1 July 2009.
12. Morrell, Sally (15 June 2009). "Booby beer will go flat". Herald and Weekly Times - heraldsun.com.au. Archived from the original on 17 June 2009. Retrieved 5 July 2009.
13. Deery, Shannon (13 June 2009). "Health, women's groups demand ban on Skinny Blonde beer". Herald Sun. Archived from the original on 15 June 2009. Retrieved 1 July 2009.
14. Hamish Rosser Discography, Discogs, retrieved 16 April 2018