Review: Steve Hill ‘Hanging On a String’

By Hal Horowitz

It would have been logical for Canadian blues rocking guitarist Steve Hill to gather a few like-minded musicians to tear through a set of mostly original tunes as his supporting players urged him on.

Which is what he did after the release of his 1997 debut.

But that was too easy.

Instead, in 2012 the industrious and musically agile musician became a one-man performing machine, playing bass drum and snare with his feet, using an extension on the neck of his guitar to hit the crash and hi-hat cymbals, while whipping off solos and chords like a caged animal. Bass? Who needs that?

First came a hat-trick of albums, Solo Recordings Volumes 1-3, netting him a clutch of Juno and Maple Blues awards. The concept was so warmly received that he kept going, appropriately naming his 2018 live set One Man Blues Rock Band, a title he retains as a pithy reminder to new listeners of what to expect.

Now comes the live in the studio ‘Hanging On a String’ where Hill, along with multiple Grammy winning producer Darrell Thorp brings that raucous stage intensity into a slightly more controlled atmosphere.

But this collection faced difficulties too, due to Hill having two car accidents, one of which broke some ribs, which forced the project to be delayed. He took three months to recover, further nailing down these songs which were captured to tape in just five days. According to the pre-release notes, most of the eight tracks were first or second takes.

Judging by the results, it sounds it. Take the White Stripes, The Black Keys, and George Thorogood, throw ‘em in a blender and emerge with the typical Steve Hill tune.

Push play on the opening title tune, stand back and hang onto something sturdy. His raw guitar tone, maxed out with filthy, occasionally distorted reverb, is reminiscent of Link Wray combined with John Fogerty, Billy Gibbons and the Cramps’ Poison Ivy Rorschach. Add some Jon Spencer Blues Explosion along with Hill’s gruff, unvarnished vocals and you’ve got the recipe for a gutsy, gritty dark blues album that kicks off in high gear and seldom lets up to allow the listener to catch their breath.

Without knowing this is captured live to tape with one guy playing drums and singing simultaneously, you’ll swear it’s the work of at least a three or even four- piece. Even when the tempo drops as on the grinding “Devil’s Handyman,” Hill takes the form of the titular demon, singing like Howlin’ Wolf downing a quart of rotgut liquor while roaring into swamped-up six-string lines sounding like there is a full band behind him.

For “World Gone Insane,” Hill cranks out gooey chords before twisting the beat into double time, spitting Tony Iommi’s Black Sabbath-styled guitar lines and rocking into nearly seven brain-melting minutes that’ll take you on a sonic rollercoaster into hell.

There’s plenty of blues here, in particular on the thumping “Maggie,” a girl that seems to have put a spell on the singer, but it’s boiling under the guitar/drums assault with psychedelic goop dripping from its core.

A closing cover of The Doors’ “When the Music’s Over” injects poison into that already intense song’s veins, extended to eight frazzled minutes. It lacks the original’s sense of sonic yin-yang but makes up for that with an amps-to-11 thunder and vocals that make Jim Morrison sound like a choirboy.

At just 40 minutes, ‘Hanging on a String’ feels like an epic production belying the single-man performance (check out a video for proof) that’ll rattle the roof of the sturdiest structure. Steve Hill has this unique approach tightened to a science, proving something we already know. That in the right hands, less can be more.

“Hanging On A String”