December 20, 2004

Interview with Torben Lysholm

Torben Lysholm is the rock star we all saw ourselves being as children, happy-go-lucky, full of life and hope and …TALENTED! I truly enjoy creating these interview questions and view them as a window into the vibrant world of those writing our lives soundtrack. This interview with Torben is fun, fast moving and full of color. I always enjoy the responses that go into depth about how the artist feels about the issues and Torben certainly did not let us down there. His latest album “Sensational” is also a far cry from a let down, with masterful riffs and more hooks than a fisherman’s toolbox!

I hope you enjoy reading Torben’s thoughts and taking a look at this great guitar player’s outlook. Be sure and watch for more to come from Torben with his new band Mysterell and check out his older work with Pangea. Also with Christmas just around the corner I just wanted to say a quick and very grateful Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

1. To begin the interview I would like to start out by inviting you to introduce yourself; Torben Lysholm, the man behind the voice the guitar and the music.
Sure! Well, your question has a little twist there. You're dividing me into the three different rolls that I play in this whole thing. And that's actually very appropriate because it IS three very different things. It's always been that way for me so I've never really thought about it too much.
Well, let me answer in the same way:
The Torben L. behind the guitar is a rather confident guy who's not only aware of his qualities but also humble to the fact that there's much more to learn. He's very aware that he has limitations but also that he can communicate through his instrument with authority. He certainly remembers how much he has had to rehearse to become good enough to realize ideas in his head to a degree that enables him to have albums released, and he also knows that he could be even better with the discipline to rehearse some more. He never warms up before recording. Well, maybe five minutes.... on a good day...
The Torben L. behind the voice has gone through many phases through the years. Although he was always respected for his ability to carry a good melody, he was never really regarded the dream singer for the rest of the guys in Pangea. In any of the lineups. The primary reason that he remained the singer of the band was that everybody knew that getting rid of the singer would mean they would have to look for a new guitar player as well.
It wasn't until he was very well received by the press that he kind of grew the confidence that he has to day. But he still to this day needs reassurance that his work is good enough.
The Torben L. behind the music is a complex guy because through the years things have developed in a way that he not only writes the material with help from and for the other two but he's also the engineer, producer, arranger, mix-engineer and mastering-engineer on the project. He's separate from the other two because he can take these qualities with him into other projects and act in any or several of these functions independent of those other guys. He has of course acquired all his knowledge through the existence of the other two. If it hadn't been for them he most likely would have been working with electronics or as a computer programmer today.
All in all I've been singing and playing since I can remember. I can't remember not having this intense need to perform. I remember when I was around 5 my parents had given me one of those drum kits for small kids that you can still get today with rubber skin that doesn't really say anything when you hit it, and even for small kids the kit is too small. Anyway, I would sit just outside the front door on the steps where I could overlook the main street in this small town. It was almost right in the center of town so there was a lot of people passing by, and I would sit there and play these drums hoping that someone would stop and tell me what a fantastic drummer I were. It was of course intensely embarrassing to have my mom tell that story to every new girlfriend I had when I was older, but it's clear of course that I was always determined that this is what life was gonna be for me.

2. Mysterell's debut album "Sensational" hits the market on December 6th and has a great deal of excitement built up around the release, what are your feelings in these final days before your newest project goes public?
Well, somewhere inside there's still that little kid that hopes that somebody will stop for a while, listen and then tell me that I'm fantastic at what I do. And on that side I will never take for granted that someone in the world thinks that what I have created touches them in a good way. I have received a lot of fan mail from all over the world and I can't even begin to describe how good it feels to get that kind of response. On the other hand I'm a professional artist that knows what he's doing. It's a professional piece of work that is going to be tested. For me there's quite a lot at stake here, so along with the mere excitement of having had the chance to release an album on a great label like Frontiers Records, there's also this serious side to it. Right now I'm focusing on the thrill of it though. I really really want this to work, so I have my fingers crossed and I'm
constantly checking the internet to see if there's new pages about it here and there, and it's beginning to look quite good.

3. The Mysterell album is a new step for you in a successful journey through the music industry, in your own words would you tell us how this album differs from those from Pangea? Is this a better reflection of who you are, or just a different side of you?
Nah, I wouldn't say that it's a better reflection of who I am. It's certainly another time now, and it does reflect a Torben L on the move. It is always difficult to analyze your own stuff, but I'll try to explain from my own point of view. In my opinion it differs from Pangeas material in a
few ways. First of all the style. In Pangea we had our style. A more or less decided way of doing things. There are certainly songs on "Sensational" that would never have made it to any Pangea album ever. Secondly there's the instrumentation. There were no keyboards used on the Pangea albums. Now I alone decide what goes and what doesn't. The size of the band is a dynamic
thing, and thus the soundscape varies from song to song. There's probably more... It's certainly another time now, and it does reflect a Torben L on the move. This album will mark the transition. This is the first of a series of albums I intend to make under the Mysterell name, and I think I'll be receptive to how this album is perceived and what the expectations will be for the next albums when that time comes. What the fans like will be my focus when choosing the material. I'll keep writing as I've always done, but when choosing the songs for the album I'll be listening to what the fans would like to hear from me next.

4. To many (including some close friends of mine) you are heralded as being a guitar master! How long have you been playing and what do you feel the guitar has done for you in your lifetime?
A guitar master? Wow, they're too kind! That's certainly great to hear. When I was learning to play and trying to develop good tone and touch myself, I was listening to guys like George Lynch for instance whom I think has the ability to make the guitar sing like few others. His playing could send chills down my spine. The solo in Dream Warriors is a good example... I
thought to myself:"I want THAT!" But it's really difficult to learn. Let alone teach yourself. I was attracted to guitar players like him probably because I could sense that I had some of "that". Without really knowing what "that" is. And when people tell me who I sound like, for some reason a lot of people feel an urge to tell you who you sound like when you're on your
way up, they also pull out guys that I never thought of or felt inspired by. But that's ok. I can't control it anyway. These days I like to improvise my solos in particular more and more. There are of course the themes and so on that are composed ahead, but much of the lead and fill-ins stuff is very much improvised. To me playing the guitar has a meditative effect on me.
Especially when recording solos. I completely forget time and place, and in some odd way I really think I can hear that when I play them back afterwards. What tells me that I've nailed a solo and that I can move on to recording the next one is when it sends those chills down my spine. And I feel truly grateful that I can feel that way for something I created. But I couldn't get that experience or sensation until sometime when we were almost done with recording Pangea's "The First". And then only a little bit. Again the funny thing about it is that others rarely have the same favorite bits that I do myself...

5. Who would you credit as being an inspiration to you as a guitar player, singer or in life in general that has helped you reach were you have?
Oh, there's so many I could mention. The short list would include guitarists like Eddie, Yngwie, Lukather, Huff, Lynch, and singers like Stanley, Lee Roth, Coverdale, Harlan, Lynn Turner.
In life ... Well, I'm quite philosophically minded. I read a good deal of philosophical literature when my schedule allows me to.

6. The great artists seem quite often to have multiple talents when it comes to music, and this is definitely the case with you, your skills on the guitar, your strong vocals and of course your song writing abilities! How involved were you with the writing of the songs on Sensational?
Quite heavily. I've co-written a couple of songs on this album, "Help Me Find A Way", "Remember Me", and "Bring The House Down", with Lene Riebau and Torben Enevoldsen. The rest is my own stuff. As for the multiple talents, I think it has to do with how you regard yourself. As a guitarist, a singer, a drummer,...or just as a musician? The guitarist says:"What do I need to learn how to hold a drumstick for??" whereas the musician says:"Hmmm, how do
I hold a drumstick properly? I might need the skill some day."

7. With this albums songs in mind is there one or two that are favorites of yours that you could share some of the history with us and why they are so special to you?
Three songs stick out for me. The first one is "When You Love" which to me is one of the best songs I've written. I'm not sure what it is but it affects me deeply every time I hear it on a lot of levels. It doesn't have a certain history. It was just one of those songs that came to me in a matter
of minutes. The second one is "Help Me Find A Way" which was mainly written by Lene Riebau who is my partner in life as well as being a gifted composer and singer. She also sang with me on backing vocals for most of the songs on the album. Of course that is a special song to me. We also co-wrote "Bring The House Down" but that was more out of a LET'S-KICK-SOME-BUTT-mood we were in. A lot of fun. The third one is "Remember Me" that I co-wrote with Torben
Enevoldsen. Without him knowing it, that is!! He knew that I was writing material for this album and he told me that he had a couple of ideas on a minidisc that he couldn't really use himself. He played them to me, and when he left I wasn't sure if I was going to use any of them. But suddenly I discovered that I was regularly humming this one and I dug it out and played
his minidisc again. I constructed the whole thing from his basic idea, and he didn't hear it until I invited him over for a final check on the master. We help each other a lot that way. During the intro he wasn't suspecting anything of course but when the riff started his face changed for a moment, and then he lit up in a smile. "I knew I knew that riff!" he said. Incidentally he thinks that it's one of the songs on the album that I sing the best, and that makes me glad that he think I did good with what was originally his idea.

8. I believe that Sensational will be well received by the fans and that they will surely ask for more. Would you tell us what your plans are for following up this album and for the next couple of years to come?
In terms of live gigs there are no plans what so ever at this point. But there's a lot of guys eager to go out and play with me, so should sales figures start to reflect a need for me to get out there in front of people. I will certainly rise to the occasion. NO doubt about it. We'll see!
I know that I could probably promote the album even better by doing it, but at this precise point I'm waiting to see if the ship will sail at all. I SO hope you're right!

9. During the next couple of years what changes would you like to see happen in the music industry?
Hmmm, that's a tough one. I think the music industry is very dynamic and will continue to be so always. The things like greedy middlemen that I would like to see removed from the face of the earth will always be there. You just have to steer around them. I would however like to see people get over the initial awe of being able to retrieve thousands and thousands of songs over the internet illegally. Because they're removing the very foundation that the whole supply of music is built on.

10. You are a well-respected figure in the music world; do you have any advice for musicians and bands that are just starting out?
Absolutely! Stick with it! If you believe in what you're doing, stick with it! And at a certain time when someone offers you a deal, then take your time before signing it. Talk it over and see if it feels right. If the someone offering you the deal gets impatient and starts pushing into signing
here and now, then walk away from it. Odds are that for some reason they're more interested in making you sign the deal than in doing a good job of promoting the album when it's released. And don't be afraid of walking away from something that really doesn't feel right. If it doesn't feel right, it usually isn't. It's your career and your decision. At the same time you should be open to changes. Maybe you as a band feel you've got the perfect thing going, and suddenly you get in touch with someone that are willing to sign you to their label if you do this or that instead of something else you're doing. Then take a step back and view the whole thing as if you were
to give this band advice on what to do. Be as objective as possible all the time when it comes to managing the band. See if you can find someone fairly intelligent who's "been there" and listen to their advice. There are forums on the internet where you can seek good advice too. Not everybody agree but gather as much info and advise as you can and find the common denominators. When it comes to the music just do whatever the hell it is you wanna do, but
when it comes to business, conduct business in a sensible way. That's what determines your future. Be yourself on one hand, and manage yourself on the other!

11. And do you have a closing message to your fans reading this interview and experiencing Sensational for the first time?
I know that there have been fans all over the world wondering what happened to me and the rest of Pangea. Well, here I am. I have withdrawn from Pangea but I'm sure they'll soon stick their heads out again. On my behalf I'll say this; I'm done with only releasing an album every second or third year. That's not what I sacrificed so much in my life for. Through Frontiers Records and in co-operation with their very professional staff I'm headed out on this new adventure. They have even given me the opportunity to participate in other projects as well and so this album is the kick-off for a new exciting era. There's much much more to come, so when we finally DO
meet out in the world at live gigs we will have a lot to share. I may be the creative part but you all make it worth while doing!

There you have it! Thanks a million for a good interview, Kathy. Cool website!

All the best,

Torben

Posted by Kathy at December 20, 2004 05:30 PM