Award-winning and critically acclaimed Canadian blues rock one-man band, guitarist and singer/songwriter Steve Hill will release his new studio album, Hanging On A String, Friday 1st November, through No Label Records.
Ahead of that, and out via streaming platforms now is his new single, ‘Devil’s Handyman’ – Available on all streaming platforms from here, you can check out the accompanying video here at RAMzine.
‘Devil’s Handyman’ is about an all-too-common story in the world of rock and roll – Addiction. The narrator is the dealer, talking to his clients, acting like a comforting friend at first and gradually taking control over his life. It starts with the line, “Hey there, buddy, good to see you again,” and ends with, “I’ll be there until you start to lose your soul and fall apart.”
The music video for ‘Devil’s Handyman‘ was directed by Mat Lucas and shot at Studio 606. The shooting of the performance where Hill is playing guitar and drums, is the actual recording of the take that was used on the album, on the first day of recording, January 8, 2024.
There’s a pretty cool opening to the video; the buzz of feedback announces a guitar’s primed for action and panning in on Hill’s boots as they kick start his bass drum clueing us in this is a real one-man rock band. From thereon, while the camera closes in on his face, Hill takes us through a road less well travelled aurally. It’s a blues route for sure but one taken metaphorically as if passing along rusting, long-disused train tracks yet still leading to that proverbial crossroads where deals are made and lost by all. His guitar more noise rock, his voice a mournful but precise deep alt.rock narrative. Moody for sure.
Recorded in Los Angeles at Dave Grohl’s Studio 606, produced by 10 times Grammy winner Darrell Thorp (Foo Fighters, Radiohead, Paul McCartney) and mastered by six times Grammy winner Michael Romanowski, Steve Hill’s latest album is said to be as close to the heart as you can get. Decades of dedication to the lifestyle of a working musician have shaped him and his craft, and his new batch of songs are based on his own successes and failures and the life lessons he’s learned from them.