interview with Torben Enevoldsen
Have any of you played in other bands? Yes, everyone involved have been in, and are currently involved in other bands. Apart from Acacia Avenue, I am also in Section A, Fatal Force and Fate. I also do instrumental music under my own name.
How is it that you started playing music? I have loved music for as long as I can remember, so getting started on an instrument myself seemed inevitable. I started early, but I did not however get serious about it until I was in my early twenties.
What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you? Well, there has been a lot of people involved in Acacia Avenue over the years, but these singers will be on the new album: Rob Moratti (Ex-Saga, Final Frontier), Steve Newman (Newman), Andy Engberg (Section A, 220 Volt), Torben Lysholm (Pangea, Mysterell), Mats Levén (Candlemass, Ex-Malmsteen) and Albin Ljungqvist. I am playing the guitars, bass and keyboards and Dennis Hansen (Section A, Fatal Force) is playing the drums. Our ages span from the mid-thirties till the early fifties.
Have you had other previous members? Oh yes. These singers have participated on the two previous albums: Tony Mills (Ex-TNT, Shy), Lars Säfsund (Work Of Art), Geir Rönning (Prisoner), Peter Sundell (Grand Illusion), Mikael Roupé (Bamboo Brothers) and Nicklas Sonne (Defecto, Section A). Thomas Heintzelmann (Decoy) played drums on the first album and Carsten Neumann (Savage Affair) played the bass on a track called "An Illusion".
Did you make music even when you were young? I did. I wrote some terribly naive songs growing up.
Where are you from? I am from Copenhagen in Denmark.
What year did the band form? I got the idea for Acacia Avenue in 2008, but we didn't get started until 2009…
What's your style of genre? The style is very melodic hard rock, but sprinkled with a heavy dose of AOR
What inspires you? I’m not sure exactly. Life in general probably and the music I listen to and the people I meet.
How often and where do you reherse? Personally I rehearse every day, but since Acacia Avenue is a project band, we don’t really rehearse as a band. With members living in Canada and the UK, that is simply not possible.
How have you developed since you started with the music? It’s hard to say, but I think that our style is a bit more defined now.
Do you have other interests of work outside the band? I do. Apart from my other bands and projects, I do a lot of session work. I also teach, which is very rewarding.
Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? No, not at the moment. I think that if you can find a good and solid booking agency to work with, then that will help you a lot as an artist. It will certainly give you a lot more time to focus on the music.
Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? No, we have a label.
What made you decide to make this music? I just wanted to go back to my roots really. Growing up I listened to a lot of Boston, Toto, Journey and Deep Purple and Thin Lizzy and so on, so this style of music seems quite natural to me.
What are your songs about? Mainly love, but in all shapes, sizes and forms.
Who does the composing and writes the lyrics? I do all the composing, but the words are more of a joined effort. Some singers are satisfied with my lyrics, but others like to get involved themselves. In that case, the singer co-writes the lyrics with me.
Do you start with the music or the lyrics? I always start with the music.
Do you compose in a certain inviroment? I prefer to write music when there’s no one around. Just me alone in my studio.
Have you done any covers live? We haven’t done any live gigs yet, so no.
What language do you sing in? English
What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days? It’s very frustrating, but there’s not much to do about it. We just have to accept it and just try to adapt in some way.
How do you think the music industry have changed because of this? Well. everyone is losing money and labels are shotting down left and right. Many artists are doing everything themselves these days and are financing new releases through crowd funding and so on. A lot of us are not motivated by money, so the music will always find its way to its audience - one way or another.
What do you think of my work? I'm a big fan! Everyone who supports music and does so for the sheer love of it, are amazing in my book!
How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? It definitely depends on the views obviously, but hopefully people who don’t know about us will go check out our music and maybe even buy an album.
Do you have any role models or idols? I am still very much a music fan, so yeah. I am a big fan of Edward Van Halen and Steve Lukather for instance. I love their playing and music. I am also a big Journey fan and I have tremendous respect for Neal Schon. He is an outstanding song writer and he is extremely productive and very much a role model for me.
Why do you think that they exist? I have no idea, but I am truly grateful for that.
Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? Not really. It depends on the band or the artist. As long as the music speaks to you, then you should be able to get inspired from it.
What have been your biggest obstacles? In the early years, finding a great singer for sure. There weren’t all that many to choose from in Copnhagen back when I got started, so that was truly a gruelling task!
What advice would you give other bands or artists? If you mean upcoming artists, I would say that they should not focus on the money and fame, but try to focus on making the best music possible. Play as many gigs as possible and use the internet and social medias to the max. This probably goes without saying these days, but it truly is a very powerful tool that we didn't have when I got started.
How do you get psyched for a gig? I just hang out with the guys and drink a few beers.
Do you have any new material? We certainly do. I am currently busy mixing and recording our third album, which hopefully will be released in the Spring of 2016.
What are your web sites? You can find me at: www.torbenenevoldsen.com and Acacia Avenue have this page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/acaciaavenuetheband/
How can people reach you? Through my website or Facebook.
What are your plans for the future? A new album release and after that, it’s back in the studio to write new music for our fourth release.
Do you have something to add? I want to thank you for doing this interview and I hope that everyone who reads this will check out our previous albums, available on iTunes, Spotify etc. Here's a track from our first album, entitled "An Illusion", featuring Lars Säfsund (Work Of Art) on vocals:
