Ever since I started playing guitar, I’ve worked with ideas and fragments for my own songs. Most were never finished – parts of the melody were missing, and the whole text was often missing.
In recent years I have worked more concentrated in composing, recording and releasing my songs. I sing all the vocals myself, play all instruments, as well as arrange and produce myself. It is an incredibly exciting and rewarding creative process.
The songs are all in the American rock tradition, with a touch of country, folk and pop. The guitar is my main instrument. All the songs are composed on this instrument, which is why guitar is of course also very prominent in the arrangements of my songs.
My songs are released on all the most common streaming services, from Spotify through Apple Music (iTunes) to YouTube. You can choose to follow me on Spotify. Then you’ll automatically be noticed when I release new music.
Listen to my songs below by tapping on the cover pictures. Also read about my gear, my recording studio and about my bands, ‘Electric Five’ and ‘The Heroes of the Air’.
Tap on this link to go to my artist page on Spotify.
Tap on this link to go to my artist page on SoundCloud (free music page)
My Music
Stories Told is my first album. It’s a collection of the 10 songs I’ve released in recent years. The title of the album, Stories Told, alludes to the fact that all the songs contain a small story.
It is an old dream that is now coming true. Since I started playing guitar, I’ve dreamed of releasing an LP – or an album as it’s called now a days. But for a long time it was a completely impossible dream, as it required one to attend a recording studio, which was very expensive. And then you had to have a record deal to get it published, which very few artists got. Now you can record your songs on an ordinary computer and have your music published on all streaming services.
Spirits Flying In Your Mind is inspired by our encounter with an elderly Native American in Navajo Nations capital, Window Rock. The Navajo Nation is a semi-autonomous territory administered by Native Americans of the Navajo tribe. It is an area that is 10 times larger than Zealand in Denmark and spans across parts of the states of Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico in the USA.
We were lucky enough that the elderly Native American let us in, and showed us around the Navajo Nation’s modest and beautifully decorated parliament. For over an hour he told – with great dignity, seriousness, and enthusiasm – about the history of the Navajo people, their daily struggle for survival and the challenges they face today in preserving their culture, faith, and identity in a modern society. It was an experience that has marked us for life – and now also in this song.
When I had released the single Frosty Morning, it struck me that I had now released both a song about autumn, Autumn Light, and a song about winter, Frosty Morning. It could be fun to see if I could also make songs about the other two seasons – spring and summer – and release all 4 together as an EP. During 2022 I composed and recorded the two songs about spring, Spring is Here, and summer, Golden Grain Dances. Someone might think that it is daring to follow in Vivaldi’s footsteps, who made the classic work ’The Four Seasons’, but my songs are in a completely different genre, so I dare the attempt.
The melody for Golden Grain Dances came almost by itself, one day I was playing my guitar. It was initially a very subdued song – almost a bit Americana in style – which during the recording session developed in a more rocking direction.
I got the idea for the lyrics one day when I was passing a rolling, ripe cornfield. Immediately came the stanza ‘golden grain dances’ and from there it developed into a song about the season – summer. The mood of enjoying the good weather, the activities of birds and insects, the fuzzy feeling that comes from the heat and the love that thrives – all elements of the song.
Spring Is Here is a song about the feeling you get when spring finally arrives and displaces winter. Everything wakes up from its winter slumber, the trees are in blossom, the birds sing, and you can go out into your garden again. In many ways it is like a new beginning and a feeling of total freedom.
A few years ago, the rays of the sun, one early morning, made a beautiful play of color on our lawn. With that as inspiration, I painted a painting I called Frosty Morning. With the same inspiration, I have composed and recorded a song with the same title.
The text revolves on one side about the beautiful play of colors on a frosty morning, and the clarity of love you can experience at the same time, for the one you love. At the same time, cold is what you can unfortunately experience in the public space, with irreconcilable statements and protests, which the text in the middle piece binds to.
The lyric to How I Remember You is about my grandmother who died many years ago. She was a hard-working seamstress, sewing shirt in a factory.
She meant a lot to me, as she handled me with love and always stood up for me, just as she did to her other grandchildren.
Musically, it is a song that – despite the hard challenges in life – signals joy, hope and optimism.
The EP, Alone, is a compilation of the 5 songs I released in 2020.
The title of the EP relates to the mood we all have experienced during the years with the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the fact that I have composed, are singing all vocals and plays all instruments by myself on all the songs.
Autumn Light is a song about the similarities between the seasons of a year and the process of getting older. It describes the different phases both offers, each of which has its beautiful sides, but at the same time points to the perishable. This adds a twist of love, which gives the melancholy vibe that is often associated with autumn – and especially the autumn light.
It’s the first song where I’ve worked with a major vocal arrangement.
On our summer vacation in the United States in 2018, we drove along Route 50 in Nevada, which is also called ‘The Loneliest Route in America’. This road leads through desolate desert-like areas interspersed with individual mountain ranges. Along the way there are a few abandoned towns. During ‘The Gold Rush’ in the 18th century, thousands of fortune-tellers piled on these towns to look for gold. They never found it, but there was a limited amount of silver and a portion of copper that has long since been extracted. Now only a few people live in these abandoned ghost towns, but still exude a bit of the atmosphere that once was.
That drive gave me the inspiration for this song.
Happy Feeling of Those Days is a song about the happy and carefree time when I was a child and teenager and grew up in a small village. In different versions, I have tried the song’s melody for a number of years without finding its final form – until now.
When I wrote the text of the middle part, I had my best old friend – who sadly died far too soon – in mind.
A few years ago, I stood on the beach of Sanibel Island in Florida and thought that the words ‘On the beach of Sanibel Island’ had a lovely melodic sound.
I decided on the spot that one day I’d write a song where those words were an integral part. A number of years passed without me getting anything done about it, but suddenly both melody and lyrics took fast form and it was recorded.
It’s a song about how difficult love can become and what a great loss it can become if you don’t take good care of it.
The melody for this song I had ready many years ago, but couldn’t really get a handle on the lyrics. However, it almost gave itself when I gave it full throttle as a romantic love song.
Essentially, it is an extremely simple melody, with a very simple text and a simple arrangement. But often it’s the simple things that’s the best.
My gear
When I play with a band, I use
Guitars:
- Fender Stratocaster, American Standard. Candy Apple Red body and bright maple fretboard.
- Fender Stratocaster, Mexican. Sunburst body and dark rosewood fretboard.
- Taylor 814ce V-class, acoustic wester guitar. Sitka spruce on top, Indian rosewood on sides and back and ebony fretboard.
- Taylor 210e, acoustic western guitar. Sitka spruce on top and ebony fretboard.
Amplifier:
- Fender 65 Twin Reverb Amp
Effect pedals:
- Vox 847A wah-wah
- Fender The Bend, compressor
- Fender Santa Ana Overdrive
- Fender Pugilist Distortion
- Fender Bubble Chorus
- Boss Tremolo, TR-2
- Boss Digital Delay, DD-3
- Fender Marine Layer Reverb
In addition, for home and studio use, I also have
Guitars:
- Aria acoustic western guitar
- Eko acoustic 12 stringed western guitar
- Di Giorgio acoustic Spanish guitar
Bass:
- Squier Jaguar (courtesy of Kasper Lose)
Midi keyboard:
- Alesis V49
Amplifiers:
- Fender Hot Rod Deluxe III
- Vox AD30V
My studio
Technological developments have democratised the process of recording and releasing music.
When I started playing in a band, you had to go to a recording studio to record your music. It took place on tape recorders where there were a maximum of 8 or 16 tracks. Indeed, when The Beatles recorded their first records in the Abbey Road studio in the early and mid-60s they even had only 2 or 4 tracks to work with. And then you had to be signed to a record label to get your record released. All of this was completely unattainable for most of us.
Today, all Apple computers, iPads and iPhones come with a free studio software, GarageBand, that’s much more advanced than the studio equipment that The Beatles had throughout their careers. If you want to use another software, they can be purchased for quite modest amounts.
You don’t need to be signed to a record label anymore to get your music released. If you can limit yourself to have your songs released on 9 streaming services (including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Shazan, etc.), you can get it for free.
I use GarageBand on an iMac 27″ to record and produce my songs. It gives me an unlimited number of tracks to record on. For my song Autumn Light, I used 56 tracks. Moreover, it gives me everything I want from effects to improve the sound and correct errors in the recording. It’s sufficiently advanced for me!
I record vocals and acoustic instruments through a Røde NT1-A microphone. As an interface between microphone or electrical instruments and the computer I use a Focusrite Scarlett 212 sound card.
Electric Five
After our band, Heroes of the Air, disbanded in 2022, I looked for other musicians to form a new band. In the course of a few months it succeeded.
Electric Five was formed in the spring of 2023. The band consists of Katja Bartels, vocals, Carsten Johnsen, guitar, Keld Ludvigsen, guitar, Carl Mænnchen, bass and Evelio Alonso Fuentes on drums.
We play rock from the last 5 decades with a high energy level.
Originally, Niels Bødkerholm was on guitar, but after a little over 1 year of creative and pleasant collaboration, he chose to leave the band to take on new challenges. He was replaced by Carsten Johnsen.
Heroes of the Air
Together with colleagues in the Civil Aviation Administration, I formed a band in 2007, so the name of the band became very logical: The Heroes of the Air. We broke up in 2022.
The Heroes of the Air played well-placed, dance-friendly cover music from the 60s until today. It was music you could sing along to and it included a.o. songs by: Bryan Adams, Eric Clapton, Beatles, Santana, Prince, Oasis, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Joe Cocker, Thomas Helmig, TV2, Gasolin, Dodo & The Dodos, Kim Larsen and more..
The great routine of the Heroes of the Air ensured a good atmosphere, with music all generations knew.
The band consisted in the latest version of Allan Ekstrand, vocals and guitar; Christina Chlala, vocals; Keld Ludvigsen, guitar and choir; Finn Larsen, bass and Michael Brøner Larsen, drums. Former members of the band was Martin Streit, Bass, Jesper Longsholm Skov, drums, Thorbjørn Ancker, guitar, Jan Larsen, drums and Martin Larsen, drums.
