Steve Hill celebrates 30 years of career. The 48-year-old singer and guitarist has been doing what he loves since he was 16 and he has no intention of slowing down.
“I’m doing what I love in life and I’m still passionate about this job. It’s still a lot of fun for me. Those 30 years have passed very quickly,” he said in an interview.
Two years after he started playing in bars, the young guitarist, aged 18, performed with the Bob Harrison Blues Band at the bar L’Odyssée in Trois-Rivières.
“He needed a guitarist for this show. One of his friends, who had already seen me play, asked him to try me,” says Trifluvien, who was at CEGEP in his final year.
Photo courtesy of JS Désilets
After the Friday and Saturday shows, Bob Harrison offered her the job.
“The following week was four nights in Montreal and a month later it was the sold out Spectrum,” he added.
Since then, the virtuoso-turned-singer, director, man-orchestra and even businessman with his record company has organized shows in Quebec, Canada and Europe. He’s always on tour.
Dear Illusion, his 12th opus, released last November, received excellent marks, including a nine out of ten from British magazine Classic Rock.
Thankful
The man-orchestra formula, which he has introduced and improved over the years, has allowed him to perform in Europe.
“This formula is possibly one of the highlights of my career. It allowed me to play all over England and Germany and find myself in publications like Classic Rock which I’ve been buying since I was a teenager.
He has opened for many of his heroes including BB King, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Vaughn, Carlos Santana and the Fabulous Thunderbirds. He also played with Howlin’ Wolf’s Pagliaro and Hubert Sumlin, which is one of his biggest inspirations.
Steve Hill is very grateful to the public who buy his albums and visit him at performances.
“There’s only one reason it’s been going like this for 30 years and that’s because the fans keep coming to see me,” he said, adding that he’s been fortunate to have a job that does makes people happy.
Next October and November he will return to Switzerland, Germany, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands, where he played last autumn.
“It’s fun to see these places. It keeps growing. I’m privileged,” said the guitarist, hinting that he might have become a comic book writer if his recording career hadn’t really taken off.
It doesn’t matter in Quebec, where he plays most often.
“All my shows have been sold out since the beginning of the year. It’s wonderful,” he added.
A web series
The guitarist admits he doesn’t often look behind him. He laughs when asked how he will celebrate his 30-year career.
“At work. We celebrate with a big show and continue the projects. Honestly, everyday life doesn’t change much for me. Either I’m on tour or I’m working on an album. Life goes on,” he said.
The musician has just started a web series called Garage chez Steve Hill on his YouTube channel, in which the guitarist welcomes musicians to his studio. Bleu Jeans Bleu, Matt Lang, Pépé and his guitar, Hanorah, Johnny Pilgrim and the Deuxluxes are among the guests.
“It’s like doing a talk show in my garage. It’s also a sitcom with fictional characters and a kind of soap opera based on my life where there isn’t much reality,” he said, laughing.
Steve Hill will take the stage at Club Soda in Montreal on March 2nd for an event concert where he will delve into the songs of Dear Illusion, revisit tracks from all of those albums and pay tribute to Jimmy Hendrix.
“It’s a horn trio show with several songs from my latest album. It will be a 3 hour concert. We put the package,” he said.
After a 30-year career, Steve Hill wants to keep doing what he loves.
“As long as there is an interested audience and I can keep going, I will. I’m in the best shape of my life and I don’t want to stop. I feel like I’m starting,” he concluded.
♦ All show dates are online at the stevehillmusic.com.