Mike Grosshandler

About Mike Grosshandler

Mike Grosshandler, aka Mike G., aka. “Harvey”, has been making a name for himself in the Albany, NY music scene since 1997. He is currently singer/guitarist for the rock band The Velmas, whose 2006 album “Station” was released on New York City-based City Canyons Records, as well as the guitarist/singer for Above The Flood, a new Capital Region-based hard rock band.

Over the years, Mike has kept busy writing, recording, and performing new original music, producing many recordings in his home studio. In the beginning, he used only a single microphone to put together some acoustic tracks. The original intent was to have some kind of demo for himself of each song he’d written. After receiving some positive feedback, he decided to release these acoustic recordings. The first of these became his debut solo album, “Scales” (2003). Mike released his second CD, “Wrote Myself”, in October of 2004, which received a positive writeup in the British magazine “Acoustic“.

In early 2012, after over three years of work, Mike released “Blue Skies Black”, a more ambitious project to follow up his previous releases. Mike again produced and recorded most of the tracks himself, mostly in his home studio, performing nearly every instrument on the album. The album also features six different drummers, a live horn player, and guest vocals on a song by Phil Taylor (Future Leaders of the World, Machina).

Mike has been voted “Best Local Solo Musician” and “Best Local Producer” by readers of Metroland.

Mike began his musical endeavors with the Long Island based alternative/grunge rock band State of Nowhere. SON existed long enough to release one self-titled CD before splitting up in 1997, its members going on to various projects. Mike moved to Albany and joined up with the band pourjayce, with whom he lent his guitar skills until 1999. That year, Mike and other former pourjayce members Figaro and Bruce reformed as The Velmas. In 2011, Mike joined up with Matt Shufelt and Ricky Little (both formerly of Split 2nd Alibi) and Steve Rajter to form Above The Flood.