Review by Taf Rock for MPM
Canadian musician Steve Hill has been on the scene in various guises for over 30 years – he released his debut album in 1997. Since 2012 Steve has concentrated on performing as a one-man band, indeed on the evidence of this his latest album he has become the epitome of a solo performer.
Eight tracks, 39 minutes in length Hanging On A String demonstrates why Steve is considered one of the most prolific guitarists to emerge from Canada in recent years.
The title track grabs your attention from the off. A fast paced blistering riff casts aside any pre-conceived ideas the listener may have had of one-man bands. Steve ‘woke up in a house on fire’ and ensures all and sundry join him in being fully awake – his kick drum battering down the doors of anyone unaware of the impending danger ensuring they escape the ‘basement full of smoke’.
Steve has had his fair share of perilous encounters whilst on the road. Each verse of the opener tells a true story be it the blazing house, the car crash or the plane with dodgy landing gear on an approach to a German airport all interspersed with lashings of heavily overdriven guitar.
A dark moody guitar sees Steve branding himself as the Devil’s Handyman, enhancing the persona with a creepy vocal. ‘Hey there buddy good to see you again’ he’s playing the part of a drug dealer peddling his wares as he confronts his unwary victims. ‘Take my hand come to my place … I can put a smile on that face’ he promises as he watches his victims ‘lose your soul and fall apart’.
The autobiographical ‘Show Ya‘ tells how a six year old Steve discovered music with Van Halen, progressing to playing guitar at age 13. Eventually a dodgy dude ‘wooed me … Got me… then he screwed me’. A typical tale of a burgeoning artist being promised all and gaining very little. Escaping the deal Steve goes it alone. He’s ‘still having fun… Loves to put on a show for Ya’.
It’s 2024 and we live in a World Gone Insane. Bullets fill the air as a doom laden guitar introduces a track which asks is it me or the world that’s gone crazy as we are bombarded with information we don’t know just what’s real or what’s made up. Reminiscent at times of classic Screaming For Vengeance era Judas Priest this song thunders down the tracks like a ‘freight train running through my brain’. ‘I start to shake, I start to sweat, I wake up in the night I’m soaking wet’. It’s hard to believe at times this is the product of a sole individual as the ferocious guitar continues at pace before crashing spectacularly to the ground with a display Hendrix himself would be proud of.
A touch of the blues now as our attention turns to Maggie – Steve’s guitar. ‘Born to rock n roll… Maggie’s got tricks… I pull the strings and she starts to sing’. Steve shows just how she ‘loves to seduce a crowd’ as she ‘wails and screams out loud’. A true marriage made in heaven.
All bar one of the songs on this album are written by Steve and co-writer Jean Pellerin but as Steve explains with You Know Who nowadays it’s possible for an algorithm to do almost everything as ArtificiaI Intelligence can seemingly do it all, writing articles and songs for you. All you need to do is sing along with them. ‘You won’t even have to think… there’ll be nothing left to do’. Somehow I doubt that our ‘new saviour’ would make such a superb job of creating an album as Steve has here.
Our final original song Turned To Dust reminisces on a past acquaintance no longer relevant to our life. We have moved on from the times when it was ‘you and I against the world’. It’s strange how someone so important at one time in our life ‘has turned to dust’. Ferocious drums and an eery guitar fill the air as the frenetic pace of this album continues.
The main album closes with a cover of The Doors ‘When The Music’s Over‘. Steve transforms this song with layers of Hendrix style guitar exuberance whilst retaining and enhancing the psychedelic tones of the original trimming the 57 year old song from eleven to eight minutes. Steve reminds us that ‘music is your special friend …. Until the end’.
My review copy of the album contains one final bonus track Just Have To Ask. A rip roaring heads down track which leaves me asking just how is it possible for a one-man band to sound so damn good. A listener unfamiliar with Steve would be astounded to find out this is the work of one man. An energetic fast paced album filled to the brim with rip roaring face-melting guitar this album deserves to be a success for Steve.
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STEVE HILL
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