Hans Van Lier & The Sidekicks - Blues And More Than Blues (2012)

Hans van Lier (born in Groningen, the Netherlands 1961) is a versatile guitarplayer. His solo's are often lyrical, but he can also really storm. This always happens with great melodic sense. He masters various styles, and he is not afraid of rock 'n roll.
Hans is self-taught as a guitarplayer. At the age of fourteen he began playing the electric guitar. He soon learnt a lot of chords. On a given day he discovered a nice 'run', which he soon began to use as a basis for his playing. It turned out that he discovered the blues scale on his own. In this same year he did his first gig in Appelscha. (Friesland, the Netherlands)
Hans got a lot of inspiration from his direct environment where a lot of music was made. He studied the records of Blues players like Albert Collins, Buddy Guy, Elmore James, Luther 'guitar' Johnson and Stevie Ray Vaughan. After a few years as a rythm guitar player Hans went solo at the age of eighteen. During the following years he worked with various bluesbands. In 1978 he entered the Dutch Guitar Championship in Paradiso. He finished third!
Hans has done a lot of work with female singers. He toured with Lia Ona in Denmark, and Gina de Boer (the Dutch Janis Joplin) has been in his band too. He worked with a.o. Hanneke Kappen (recorded a CD with her), Inki de Jonghe (King Lier), Rosa King from Amsterdam and Tineke Schoemaker (well known from 'Barrelhouse', one of the most successful bluesbands in the Netherlands). Together with Tineke, Hans was the best during a jazz- and bluesfestival in Friesland. He has also done some work with male singers: B.J. Hegen, Lourens Leeuw, Hans Dulfer, Marcel Kapteijn (Ten Sharp), Eddie C. Campbell from Chicago and guitarplayer Mick Taylor, old member of The Rolling Stones. Chris Layton and Tommy Shannon, better familiar as Double Trouble of Stevie Ray Vaughan. And also guitarplayer Jan Akkerman.