The Sonic Adventures of Acacia Avenue

Torben Enevoldsen of Acacia Avenue

The Sonic Adventures of Acacia Avenue

Acacia Avenue is a melodic rock adventure that music fans of acts such as Journey and Toto will want to travel through time and again.  Their latest magnum opus is entitled Worlds Apart, now available from Perris Records! In this interview, Acacia Avenue mastermind  Torben Enevoldsen discusses a few of the terrific compositions contained within the sonic passages of Worlds Apart, collaborating with thrash-meister Michael Bastholm Dahl of Artillery on this project, future plans, and a whole lot more!

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Acacia Avenue, and how long the band has been together.
My name is Torben Enevoldsen and I’m a guitarist, song writer and producer who lives in Copenhagen, Denmark. I am the founder and main song writer for Acacia Avenue. I play all guitars and keyboards, most bass and I also sing lead and background vocals. I started Acacia Avenue back in 2008, but our first album wasn’t released until January 2010.

Where are you based out of and what is your local music scene like there?
We are based out of Copenhagen in Denmark. The local music scene is actually quite good and we have a lot of very talented bands and musicians here. We do not however have many clubs supporting original hard rock and AOR music, so gigs are hard to get unless you play in a cover band.

Is there any overall story or concept behind the album title Worlds Apart?
No, there’s no concept. The songs are all based on separate stories, mainly dealing with the ever so popular subject of love 😉

How does Worlds Apart compare to the previous Acacia Avenue albums?
I think that this album is very much structured in the same way as the other 3 albums. I like to combine more hard-hitting songs with softer AOR-type songs and that is also why I like to have different singers participate. I simply like the overall variation of style, singers and sound.

Select two songs from Worlds Apart and what inspired the lyrics.
Stand Up And Shout is the opening track on the album and this song is about courage really. To have the bravery to make yourself heard and to stand up for your beliefs. This can be very difficult for some people for various reasons, and since I know a few people personally who deal with this issue, I got inspired to write a song about it.

Fly Away is a more traditional love song and it’s about a love lost and the pain that goes along with it.  Basically having to deal with the frustrations of an unrequited love. I guess that most of us can relate to a topic like this.

Who did the amazing cover art for Worlds Apart and how much input did you have on it?
Carl-André Beckston did the artwork for the album. I have worked with André for 15 years now and I am always blown away by his work. I didn’t have much input on it, apart from giving him the title of the album. I actually prefer to work like that with him because he is so damn good. I simply give him a title and then he gets back to me with a sketch. I may suggest a few things then, but that’s it. That seems to work very well for us.

At this point, has Acacia Avenue ever played live or plan to do so in the future?
We haven’t played any live gigs just yet, but we would love to do so. However since everyone involved are very busy people, a tour, or a series of gigs would have to be planned very meticulously.

If Acacia Avenue could open for any band either now or from the past, who would it be and why?
I would love for Acacia Avenue to open for either Toto or Journey. I love both bands and they are very much a source of great inspiration when it comes to writing new material for an Acacia Avenue album.

How did you wind up signing with Perris Records?
I was shopping the 3rd Acacia Avenue album, entitled Early Warning, back in 2015/2016, and I sent it to Tom and Perris Records for review. He loved it and we have now worked together ever since.

What other bands are you involved with outside of Acacia Avenue, and what has been going on with them?
Well, right now I am working very closely with the Canadian singer Rob Moratti (Ex-Saga, Final Frontier). We are working on his third solo album. I am also finishing up a new all-instrumental solo album, which is scheduled to be released in a month or two. Apart from that I am involved in a few projects, but I am not really able to talk about those just yet, sorry.

Michael Bastholm Dahl of the thrash metal band Artillery is now in Acacia Avenue.  How did he become involved with a band whose music genre is so decidedly different?
Michael is a very versatile singer, and just like myself, he is into various types of music. When I asked him to join us, we talked about the direction and since he liked the style, he was immediately interested in participating.

What’s up next with Acacia Avenue?
Right now, we are busy promoting the new album. There is also going to be another video released very soon, so we are doing all we can to promote the album as well as possible.

Any final words of wisdom?
I would like to thank you for doing this interview and for supporting Acacia Avenue. We truly appreciate it. Also, I hope that everyone who reads this interview will take a minute to check out our two videos and visit the official Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/acaciaavenuetheband/

(Interview by Ken Morton)

Acacia Avenue on Facebook
Perris Records Official Home Page