Mike Grosshandler (a.k.a. “Harvey”) has been making a name for himself in the Albany, NY music scene since 1997. He is the singer/guitarist for the rock band The Velmas, whose 2006 album “Station” was released on New York City-based City Canyons Records.
Mike has kept busy writing, recording, and performing music. Using only a single microphone at first, he began recording acoustic tracks at home, releasing the first batch of these on his debut solo album, “Scales” in 2003. His second acoustic CD “Wrote Myself” (2004) received a positive writeup in the British magazine “Acoustic“.
The follow-up album release “Blue Skies Black” (2012) was a more ambitious “full band” release. Mike produced and recorded most of the tracks himself in his home studio, performing nearly every part/instrument on the album – electric guitars, acoustic guitars, bass guitar, keyboards, vocals, and hand percussion. The album also features six drummers, a horn player, and guest vocals on the alt-hard rocker “Status Quo” from Phil Taylor (Future Leaders of the World, Machina).
In 2023, Mike released a new song, appropriately titled “About Time”, about the struggle to find happiness and fulfillment in life. It’s a 90s-inspired alternative/grunge rock song with a dynamic range of sounds and emotion.
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 released one self-titled CD in 1997 before Mike moved to Albany for college and joined up with the band pour.jayce. In 1999, Mike and other former pour.jayce members Todd “Figaro” Minnick and Michael “Bruce” Bruce reformed as The Velmas. In 2011, Mike formed Above the Flood with ex-members of Split 2nd Alibi and Hygeer. In 2021, Mike joined the blues-based hard rock band The Hard Luck Souls. Mike also performs as a solo acoustic act and in an acoustic duo called Midnight Radio with Brian Gentile from THLS.
