After playing in a band and then a string of cover bands in the early ‘00s, Mike Masser felt burnt out on everything music related. So he took a step back from it all. After some encouragement from a friend and his wife a decade after hanging it up, Mike decided it was time to get back in. Only this time he’d be putting himself front and center.
When Mike Masser was in Hand Over Fist in the early 2000s, he was the guitarist. He never sang and at the time didn’t think that was for him. Nevertheless, Hand Over Fist found local success on radio stations like KZGL and KUPD thanks to a pair of LPs and one EP; Night Creature, Diablo Del Sol, and Die Trying. Signed to an indie label at the time they played throughout the Southwest and appeared in local newspapers and magazines. After they broke up, Mike still craved the stage and found himself in a number of cover bands to feed his urge. Then one day he’d had enough. Playing didn’t feel the same anymore, so he hung up his guitar and focused his attention elsewhere.
One of those places being on his now wife. If it wasn’t for her and another friend’s encouragement, Mike wouldn’t have tried music again. Alas, they did and he picked his guitar back up. Only this time around he was going to try his hand at being the vocalist as well. He wrote and recorded his solo debut Desert Sun and looks back on it as more like “an experiment” to see if he could do it. After realizing that he could, he got to work on his new album, One More Shot. Inspired by the likes of Randy Rhoads and the incomparable Ozzy, Mike Masser’s sound is rock and roll throughout, minus one song he penned for his wife. “Desert Sun” stands out from the rest as it has what Mike notes a “classical but not quite” sound to it.
On top of his sophomore solo record, One More Shot, Mike Masser is also working alongside his friend Jeff Watson in Rictus of Rage. Mike notes the EP they’re working on will be harder than his solo releases.
SOURCE: Official Bio
LINKS:
https://www.reverbnation.com/mikemasser
https://www.facebook.com/mikemassermusic
https://twitter.com/Demo86314
