RAHWAY — The Hit Men are a group of musicians who have performed with members of classic rock groups such as Journey, Styx, and Steely Dan. Their unique multimedia concert experience allows them to share their own firsthand experiences during that era of music history accompanied by performances of the classic hits.
Steve Murphy, who plays drums and sings in The Hit Men, started his musical career in South Florida and moved to New York in 1987, where his career took off. He joined the group in 2016 however, during Covid, a majority of The Hit Men members decided to leave the group for various reasons. Mr. Murphy and band founder Lee Shapiro decided to take over and connect with people they worked with over the decades and completely updating the whole experience with new members keyboardist/vocalist Mike Dimeo, guitarist/vocalist Mark Newman, bassist/vocalist Greg Smith and guitarist/vocalist Tommy Williams.
“If you want to take a journey through the progression of classic rock it’s a great experience because we tell stories about working with these guys,” said Mr. Murphy. “We were in the studio with them or on tour with them on a tour bus traveling from city to city. All these artists that we grew up listening to and we tell stories about being with them and funny anecdotes and funny stuff they said or how we go into these bands or got to work with them.”
Along with their performances and recounting their experiences they also have a visual slide show behind them with pictures and video to accompany these musical stories. “It’s just a great night of music, great musicianship, great stories.”
One of these experiences that Mr. Murphy sees as a highlight of his career is spending eight years working with Alan Parsons from The Alan Parsons Project, touring over 40 countries and singing live while playing the drums. “A dream come true,” according to Mr. Murphy, as Mr. Parsons was one of his top artists he grew up with, recounting how he would buy and listen to their albums the day they were released.
Mr. Murphy is looking forward to returning to New Jersey as he lived in Essex County for 20 years, and also finds the New Jersey crowds to always be energetic and give him a memorable experience.
“Growing up and going to shows I was seeing that first hand before even performing,” he said, “Knowing the shows I had been to in Jersey had the same energy, they just bring great energy.”
Aside from enjoying performing for New Jersey audiences, Mr. Murphy just has an overall love of performing on stage.
“It’s natural, it’s inside me, It’s an escape-it’s not even an escape, it actually gets me into my natural state and it’s what I feel most comfortable doing,” he said, “It’s definitely something that centers me as a person that plays music that I love behind drums where I feel at home, It’s just something that makes me feel at home.”
Mr. Murphy will be performing with The Hit Men at UCPAC on Saturday, April 13.
