“Devil’s Hand” is the self-titled debut album from a band that features guitarist / producer Mike Slamer and vocalist Andrew Freeman. The album was released on 7th December by Frontiers Music. So far I’ve played three tracks from the album on the Friday NI Rocks Show – the singles “Falling In” on 5th October and “We Come Alive” on 16th November and then most recently “Push Comes to Shove” on 28th December.


 

English guitarist Mike Slamer has a recording history going back more than 40 years to his first band City Boy’s debut album in 1976. That band released another six albums by 1981. He subsequently went on to form the band Streets with Kansas singer Steve Walsh in 1982, Steelhouse Lane in 1998 and Seventh Key in 2001 with Kansas bass player Billy Greer. In 2006 he released the Slamer album “Nowhere Land” via Frontiers, working with vocalist Terry Brock.


Andrew Freeman is probably best known as the frontman for Lost In Line, the band featuring former Dio members Vivian Campbell, Vinny Appice and Jimmy Bain (who was replaced after his death by Phil Soussan). The new Last in Line album is released in February. Initially Freeman started as the guitarist in Massachusetts band Thirty Stones and later joined The Offspring as a touring guitarist. Freeman fronted Lynch Mob on tour regularly between 2003 and 2010 when he joined Hurricane as lead vocalist for three years. In 2013 he joined the Raiding the Rock Vault show in Las Vegas. More recently he joined the band Lies, Deceit & Treachery.

 

In addition to Slamer and Freeman, the album features drummer Chet Wynd and backing vocals from Casey Purvis and Jeff Valdez. Slamer plays guitar, bass and keyboards. Mike Hansen and Andy Zuckerman are also listed in the credits.



About “NI Rocks Recommends”

The simple idea behind “NI Rocks Recommends” is to acknowledge and promote some of the great music being submitted to Rock Radio NI. The albums that I’ll be recommending are those that you’ll hear me playing tracks from on my shows. I'll not be giving marks or ratings or analyzing the tracks in great detail; just telling you something about the artist and the album. It’s a personal recommendation to go check something out, not a traditional “review”!