Watching Steve Hill play live really is a wonder to behold. Through a contrivance of simple tech, including a drumstick attached to his headstock to clout the cymbals of his drum kit, Steve can play drums, bass and guitar simultaneously – the 21st century’s answer to the traditional one-man band.
His latest album, Hanging On A String, has just hit the streets, but the journey to its release was far from straightforward, as he explains.
You had a rough ride between this album and your last, didn’t you?
“Dear Illusion came out in November 2022, and a week after the album was released, I was driving home from a gig and I fell asleep at the wheel five minutes before getting to my place.
“My van was a total wreck, but I somehow survived with nothing broken. All the gear was fine and for 24 hours I was like the luckiest guy on earth. Then the next day, my father died unexpectedly. I just pulled the plug on everything. I had to take some time off, you know?”
“Later on, in April 2023, I had just finished a tour of the west coast of Canada and I stayed over at my tour manager’s place in Calgary. I was leaving the next morning, so I was sleeping in the basement on a mat that really was not comfortable, but it saved my life because I couldn’t sleep properly.
“I was dreaming of barbecue and when I opened my eyes there was smoke everywhere. The house was on fire. Long story, but we got out of there and I went to take my plane at the airport and every time I’m about to leave on a plane, I take a photo and post on social media. I wrote down, ‘Woke up in a house on fire…’ and that’s the first line of the title track on the new album.”
How did you end up recording at Foo Fighters’ studio?
“It just happened that Brian Loudenslager, who’s the guy behind Lauten Audio microphones, is a friend of mine. He’s hired me to do the NAMM Show in the past. I do it with Darrell Thorp, who’s the engineer and producer on the album. Darrell would be the star of the event, I’d be in a box playing, doing my one-man band thing, surrounded by Lauten Audio microphones.
My buddy Johnny Pilgrim picks me up and 20 minutes later we get hit by a car. I got broken ribs. I tried to record the album, but every day, a new nerve would pinch and it was getting impossible
“Since then, Brian would tell me, ‘It’d be great if you’d come and record in LA,’ but I’m up north, out in the woods in Canada, so going to record in LA is a great dream, but it didn’t seem possible. He’d been telling me that for, like, seven years and I’m like, ‘Sure, Brian, it’d be great.’ But two weeks after seeing my post about waking up in a burning house he had booked the studio, hired Darrell, and paid for the whole thing.
“I had three months to write the album. So, basically, I do nine to five; I do my gigs on the weekend for three months, and I’d send the demos to Brian and Darrell. I was booked on August 26 2023, my buddy Johnny Pilgrim, who lives in LA, picks me up and 20 minutes later we get hit by a car. I got broken ribs. I tried to record the album, but every day, a new nerve would pinch and it was getting impossible, so they decided to postpone the recording to January.”
After all that, did the recording experience turn out to be a good one?
“It was awesome. I mean, you can’t rent the place unless you know the Foo Fighters or the engineers that work there. I think Darrell’s made all of their records in the last 10 years and so it was awesome just to record on that Neve console from Sound City. That’s the board of rock ’n’ roll, you know?
“And recording on tape and recording with that team, and using the Foo Fighters’ gear… I’m using Dave Grohl’s bass drum and I’m using their amps. Chris Shiflett has this great AC30 from the 60s; that’s the main amp on the album. That and a Princeton Reverb – until I blew it up and replaced it with a black-panel Deluxe. He probably doesn’t know…”
Do you play all the instruments live in the studio the same as you do on stage?
“Yeah. I record everything live. I play all the instruments at the same time. I had six days to do it back in January, and I did it in five. We’d do three takes at the most. So they’re all first, second or third takes and I’d do two songs a day. I’m really proud of this record.”
The humbucker seemed to fit more with the sound on this album and, although it was not the best guitar of the bunch, it was the best for the occasion
Which guitars did you take into the studio with you?
“I had my ’59 Junior TV Model that I’ve been playing on tour for years. I had a sunburst Strat and an Epiphone Flying V, and somehow I used the Epiphone on half the record. I had just acquired it, like a month or a month and a half before I went to California. It’s really, really lightweight – like, 5.5lb – and as a one-man band that makes a huge difference. I’m always trying to find the lightest guitar possible. And it stayed in tune!
“The humbucker seemed to fit more with the sound on this album and, although it was not the best guitar of the bunch, it was the best for the occasion. I’ve bought a lot of Chinese guitars in the last couple of years.
“I was into Jazzmasters and before that I bought four Squiers and modified them a lot. I’ve got a ’61 Jazzmaster, but I wouldn’t put a drumstick holder on it, you know? I’m more comfortable doing all of these experiments on Epiphones and Squiers.”
It sounds like there’s quite a selection of fuzz and overdrive pedals on the new album, too?
“There’s four pedals that I used. The first one is made by Madsen – that’s a guy in the States [Maynard Madsen] – it’s called the GE Boost. It’s a treble booster, like a [Dallas] Rangemaster.
“The second one is made by RicoLabs and it’s called They Call It Fuzz, and that’s basically a [Colorsound] Tone Bender that they modified. Then I’ve got a Klon and then a Warmdrive by Warm Audio. And that’s all I used: basically, I had the treble booster, the fuzz and the Klon on at all times and sometimes the Warm Audio.”
Are you looking forward to getting out on the road and touring the album?
“Oh yeah. I’m packing my stuff today because I’m leaving for California. I’ve got some meetings there and we’re shooting a video, and then I’m coming back at the end of the month. Hopefully I’ll be able to come back to the UK in 2025. It has been way too long!”
- Hanging on a String is out now on Idla.
