You have a new new band, Section A, please tell me a little bit about
who is in this band... SECTION A consists of Andy Engberg (ex-Lions Share) on vocals,
Andreas Lill (Vanden Plas) on drums and yours truly on guitars, keyboards and bass. On the
album however, we have special guest appearances by Derek Sherinian (Planet X) and Günter
Werno (Vanden Plas) who are doing the keyboard solos.
Why did you decide to put together a band instead of doing another
instrumental album? I wanted to do a vocal album this time and since I would like to
continue doing instrumental albums as well, I thought that I should release the vocal
stuff under a band name. I wanted to avoid any confusion that might occur in a situation
like this, so I thought that this way of doing it would make it a lot easier for people to
tell the two projects apart. However, this band was actually just a project to begin with,
but due to really good chemistry we decided very quickly to turn it into an actual band.
Which guys would you consider to be your main influences? Initially I was turned on to the guitar by the following great
players; Richie Blackmore, Tony Iommi and Edward Van Halen. Later on though, I heard
Yngwie Malmsteen on the first Steeler album and was completely blown away. His style of
playing turned me on to other contemporary “shredders” such as Tony MacAlpine,
Paul Gilbert and Vinnie Moore. I still love all of these guys, but I think that I’m
currently mainly inspired by such different players as John Petrucci, Michael Romeo, Allan
Holdswoth and Frank Gambale.
How would you describe your music to someone who is not familiar with
it? As great music!!! J No seriously, I think that I would define it as
being very melodic hard rock, but with definite progressive influences. The thing is that
some of the stuff I write is somewhat straight ahead and then again, sometimes I feel like
experimenting a bit and this is when the more progressive elements enters my music.
Generally I just like to keep things interesting.
How did you develop your own style of playing, did you take any
lessons? I never took any formal lessons. I started out simply listening to a
lot of music and jamming a long to it and then later on when I got into players like
Yngwie Malmsteen, I started working very seriously on my alternate picking. I have spent,
and still do by the way, a lot of time practising different scales and patterns in order
to master this particular aspect of playing the guitar. But regarding my phrasing and
such, I guess my style of playing developed over time just listening to my favourite
players and as I mentioned earlier, jamming along to different albums at home.
What is the most important, feeling or technique? can you survive
with only one of them?
I think that you can say a lot,
just playing one note and really wailing it. Feel, touch and phrasing is what it's all
about to me! But in order to express yourself on the instrument, you definitely need to be
able to master the technique of it at some degree. Every aspect of playing the guitar
involves mastering the technique at some level. It’s impossible for me to choose
between the two because I think that you really need a bit of both. It’s like having
to choose between sheer intellect and pure emotion. What is important is the music, the
song. The song has to come first! This is a very black and white question I think, so I
can’t really give you a straight answer, sorry. What kind of equipment are you using live or in the studio?
When I recorded “Heavy
Persuasion”, I used my Ibanez RG-620 which I have customized, replacing the stock
pick-ups with DiMarzio's "The Tone Zone" for the bridge and the amazing
"Humbucker From Hell" for the neck. However, I switched from mainly playing a
6-string to a 7-string guitar a couple of years ago and now I’m completely hooked, so
at the moment I am constantly playing my Ibanez RG-7! It’s got DiMarzio pick-ups as
well and it’s really easy and great to play on! I use Dean Markley strings
exclusively, gauges .009 - .011 - .016 - .024 - .032 - .042 and the low B on the 7-string
is a .052
I use the Soldano X-99 preamp and
the 9200 Marshall power amp through 2 Marshall cabs with 4x12" speakers each.
I’m not big on effects so I
only use a bit of delay, reverb and some chorus on the clean stuff. Sometimes however, I
like to add a bit of wah so for that I use Morley’s Bad Horsie.
Which musicians would you like to play with some day? Wow, there’s far too many to mention, but here’s a few
names for ya: Russell Allen (Symphony X), Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater), Gregg Bissonette,
Jens Johansson (Stratovarius), Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater), Jason Rullo (Symphony X),
Billy Sheehan, Stu Hamm and the list just goes on and on and on…
What kind of music do you like the least? Opera and schlager type music. I really hate that stuff!!
Do you ever listen to music that is very different from what you do,
if so what? All the time! I listen to a lot of pop and mainstream rock music like
TOTO, Chicago, John Farnham, The Corrs, Tina Arena and so on. I also listen to a lot of
fusion such as Allan Holdsworth, Frank Gambale, Scott Henderson’s Tribal Tech etc.
Are there any plans to tour? At this point in time there are no plans of touring unfortunately,
but I really hope to be able to do some touring next year!
What other plans do you have for the near future? I am currently writing new material for the second SECTION A album
which I hope will be released in a year or so. I also have half the material for my third
all instrumental album written, so I might just release this album quite soon after the
release of the second SECTION A album. Apart from that, I will be involved in a few
projects as well so I will definitely keep busy!
How is the musical climate for hard rock in Denmark?
We don't have much of a scene
unfortunately. However, we do have quite a few magazines and radio stations supporting the
music. The club scene is almost impossible to get in on, because the bookers don't really
want neither original nor instrumental music. There's a lot of so called jam bands in
Denmark and they are playing live regularly, so it's actually quite hard to get gigs!
Right now I don't really have anything to do with the actual scene, apart from doing
occasional interviews with magazines and radio stations.
What are your feelings about the world we live in and how do you look
upon yourself in 15 years from now? With September 11th in mind, I really think that the world we live in
is somewhat twisted and crazy and that nothing is for certain, but all in all I think that
most people are decent and that they treat each other with respect so I keep a positive
mind about things. In 15 years from now, I hope that I’m still writing and performing
my own music and hopefully making a ton of cash doing it! J Most importantly though, I just hope that I’m well and enjoying
myself!! All the best, Torben Enevoldsen
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