Danish gutar whiz Torben Enevoldsen has released an album plety of chops and good taste and feeling. The album is called "Heavy Persuasion" and features melodic and shredding playing from this guitar master. Torben answered our questions very kindly.

I read that the point of break in your playing was in 1990. What was that made you decide to practice more?

That's true. I heard the first Steeler album and was blown away by the guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen, so from that point on I realized that I had to really start working on my chops if I were to reach Yngwie's level of musicianship.

"Heavy Persuasion" is different from "Guitarisma" in a lot of ways - first of all I think I have matured a lot in my playing and song writing on "Heavy Persuasion" and also, I went in a completely different direction in terms of the actual recording process. On "Guitarisma" I'm using mainly hired guns as well as programmed drums. On "Heavy Persuasion" I was recording with my band, so that gives the whole thing a very different feel. The material on "Heavy Persuasion" is also a bit more heavy, so there's quite a big difference between the two all in all. However, I would like to emphasize that I am still really proud of "Guitarisma", but being a musician also means that you have to evolve, so each album will hopefully show some form of progress.

The line-up on "Guitarisma" was completed by mainly hired guns, and they were all busy working in different bands (Pangea, Prime Time, Savage Affair) and to be honest, I wasn't really looking for a band at the time. Things changed and later on I realized that I really wanted a band, so I got in touch with Flemming Hansen (Bass) and he was very interested and soon after I asked Mickey Hurricane (Drums), who had done a few albums with a Danish band called Merzy, and he also said yes, so here we are...

Well, the first time I picked up an Ibanez guitar was back in 94 and I was instantly hooked by this particular model, a 540S which I still own by the way, and I haven't really tried out other brands that suited my style of playing. My two main guitars now are the Ibanez RG-620 which I have customized a bit, replacing the stock pick-ups with DiMarzio's "Humbucker From Hell" for the neck and "The Tone Zone" for the bridge. This I can truly recommend by the way, they sound really amazing!! And the other is the Ibanez RG-3120 with DiMarzio's "PAF Pro" (for the neck) and "The Tone Zone (for the bridge). What I find special in these guitars are the looks, the great necks, the 24 frets + you get the great Lo Pro Edge Tremeloes!!!

It was recorded in 1995 and contains 3 songs: "Just In Case", "Calm Waters" and "What If...?". Christian Rajkai did the bass and my good friend Torben Lysholm did the engineering, mixing and programming and the whole thing was done in the Hot Sound Recording Studio here in Denmark. Later on, the 3 songs got remixed and put on my debut album "Guitarisma" and finally released in December of 1998.

In the studio the songs are definitely planned in terms of arrangement, but regarding the actual playing I always leave room for improvisation. When playing live it's a little different, some stuff is worked out but there's always A LOT of jamming going on. It helps to keep things fresh and inspiring I think.

How much I practice varies a lot these days, but I do practice every single day. But compared to back then, I think that maybe now I tend to work a lot more on the writing process than on the actual practicing process...

Concerning music theory training, I have no formal training but I do know what I'm doing in terms of theory.

I always start off with a melody. Then I will automatically start working on the arrangement. I build my songs in the same way a vocal band would do you know, with a verse, chorus, bridge and a solo. So to answer your question, I will say that I normally do the solo last, after the actual song is completed.

I found out that hard rock instrumentals comes quite natural to me, so that really helped me to find myself musically.

No, but I would like to mention that I have just been recording 3 new songs. In January I went to Lars Eric Mattsson´s studio in Finland, The Lion's Cage, and I recorded "Zantac", which is going to be the bonus track for the re-release of my debut album "Guitarisma" which will be released in a few weeks. I also recorded my own version of Jason Becker's "Altitudes" as well as a guest solo for Lars Eric Mattsson's "Outro Jam" which will be released on the Jason Becker Tribute album "Warmth In The Wilderness" this summer. Finally, I recorded a brand new song called "Strange Encounters" which is yet to be released.

Interviewed by Federico Marongiu

Just in Case - Demo CD (1997)

Guitarisma - CD (1998)

Heavy Persuasion - CD (2000)

Torben Enevoldsen - guitar, additional drum programming

Flemming Hansen - bass

Mickey Hurricane - Drums and castanets