Photo by Jean-Sébastien Désilets
Steve has always loved concept albums. Even though the songs on Hanging on A String weren’t written with a concept in mind, when you put them all together, it feels like a concept album, set in a dystopian world where music is the only salvation.
The funny thing is that it’s not set in the distant future, it’s right here and now, and the hero is not a made-up character, it’s just Steve doing what he’s been doing for decades. Its themes are both very personal and universal. It’s about a one-man blues-rock band trying to make a living and dealing with accidents and bumps in the road and forging ahead no matter what, it’s about the life of a musician as it gets harder to tour in these post-pandemic times, having to deal with new challenges like being replaced by artificial intelligence.
The album starts with the line “Woke up in a house on fire” and the conception of the album started with that line. Steve had just finished a tour in Western Canada and was sleeping in a friend’s basement when he woke up surrounded by smoke.
Like the song says, “I got my buddy out of there. Good thing I generally have a hard time sleeping…”
He then went to the airport and before taking off, posted a photo of him on his socials, with these words: Woke up in a house on fire. His buddy Brian Laudenslager who owns the Lauten Audio microphone company wrote back, “Man, that’s a good line for a song!” to which Steve agreed! Brian had been telling Steve to record in Los Angeles for years.
“He had hired me in the past to do demos of his microphones at events like the NAMM show and other industry events,” says Steve. “His good friend, 10X Grammy winner Darrell Thorp, was the sound engineer whenever I did those shows.”
A few days and conversations later, Brian had booked Darrell and the Foo Fighter’s Studio 606 (yes, the one with the classic Neve console that used to be at Sound City) to record his next album. He then had 90 days to write an album’s worth of material and learn how to play it live (he recorded every instrument at the same time in the studio).
He spent five days a week in his home studio for three months crafting the songs and was ready to nail it all down. He flew to LA where his friend and songwriting partner Johnny Pilgrim picked him up at the airport and 20 minutes later, they were hit by another car that ran a red light. This was his second car accident in less than a year, as he had previously totalled his van, fallen asleep at the wheel coming home from a gig nine months earlier, and miraculously survived a massive wreck that all witnesses said should have killed him…
He did his best to record with some broken ribs, but his injuries got the best of him and the producers decided to postpone the recording. He healed and perfected the songs for another three months and finally came back to 606 in January 2024, and this time nothing could stop him… He had six days to record the album, and he did it in 5! Never were more than 3 takes needed and most of what you hear are first or second takes.
Says Steve, “I’ve never been prouder of anything I’ve done in all my life. This is the music I’ve been wanting to do and never thought I could ever perform that as a one-man band. Raw, in your face and straight to the point. This record is about perseverance, resilience in the face of adversity and my never-ending love for guitar music.”
“I truly believe this to be my best work so far and I hope you enjoy it, too.”
We’ve heard a lot about Steve Hill over the past 30 years, and we’re about to hear a lot more. From backing up some of the biggest acts in his native Quebec as a teenager, to becoming a bandleader in his 20s, to solo artist, to writer, performer, producer, multi-instrumentalist,
to one-man band extraordinaire, Steve has followed his own path for most of his life.
That path has brought him Juno Awards and Maple Blues Awards along with accolades from the biggest guitar magazines on the planet. The man has had an incredibly busy life and more than his share of ups and downs, but you haven’t heard the best of it yet…
His latest album is 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 Steve’s new batch of songs are based on his own successes and failures and the life lessons he’s learned from them.
His latest album, Hanging on a String, a true “concept album by accident”, shows this one-man orchestra at its best, on an extraordinary recording that is undoubtedly the finest of his career.
TRACK LISTING
Hanging On A String (4:21)
Devil’s Handyman (3:32)
Show Ya (4:39)
World Gone Insane (6:48)
Maggie (4:46)
You Know Who (4:10)
Turned To Dust (3:13)
When The Music’s Over (8:00)
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Produced by Darrell Thorp and Brian Loudenslager
Performed by Steve Hill
Engineer: Oliver Roman
Assistant engineers: Charlie Lo Presti, Marisa Mow, Jerred Polacci
Mixing engineer: Darrell Thorp
Recorded at Studio 606, Los Angeles, California
Mastered at Coast Mastering, Berkeley, California
Mastering engineer: Michael Romanowsky
All songs by Steve Hill & Jean Pellerin
Except When The Music’s Over
by Jim Morrison, John Densmore, Robbie Krieger & Ray Manzarek
ALBUM TRACK BY TRACK
HANGING ON A STRING
You don’t go for the brass ring when you’re hanging on a string. It’s hard to elevate yourself when you spend your time trying to stay alive. Each verse goes through a real story on the road where I cheated death.
DEVIL’S HANDYMAN
A song about the drug epidemic from the point of view of the dealer in which he encounters a young man on the street, a Hollywood starlet on her way down and an old junkie.
SHOW YA
An overview of my life from the first moment I go into music, right up to the last few years, touring in a post-pandemic world where things are not what they used to be or what I thought they would be. But still, the reason I do it is the same, for the love of the music and the love of entertaining an audience.
WORLD GONE INSANE
The big question is: Has the world gone insane or is it all in my brain? Have you ever been so disgusted by social media, alternate truss, and the lack of over meaning with the new works that you just want to disconnect, get rid of every technological tool, and go live in a cabin in the woods?
MAGGIE
Maggie my girl, Maggie my world, Maggie’s always been the star. Maggie, Maggie, my guitar! Just your regular dom/sub love song about a guitar.
YOU KNOW WHO
It’s about our new saviour, artificial intelligence, where we won’t even have to think, just relax, and have a drink, and I won’t even have to sing. It’ll write the songs and we’ll just have to play along.
TURNED TO DUST
A look back on a past you shared with a lover or a version of humanity that is no longer relevant as times have changed. Trying to go ahead and move along when all that you knew and loved has turned to dust.
WHEN THE MUSIC’S OVER
The old Doors classic, still has relevant now than over 50 years ago. No matter what happens, music is there. When the music is your special friend, dance on fire as it intends. Music is your only friend until the end.
STEVE HILL
