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.. MySpace Profile Help!Every decade, out of the relatively small music scene in Norway – the ice cold country in Northern Europe, considered by many to be among one of the best places in the world to live – comes an extraordinary guitar player with an equal focus on song writing and playing technique. And the 2000s are no different.
In the eighties, Ronni Le Tekro of TNT fame was voted second best by respected guitar magazines (after Eddie Van Halen) with only one album released internationally. The nineties saw the rise of Tore Østby from Conception, who stole Yngwie Malmsteen’s entire band to record the critically acclaimed Burn The Sun CD by A.R.K. in 2001. And in the 2000s we have the modern and futuristic Jorn-Viggo Lofstad from the Prog Metal band, Pagan’s Mind.
One can easily relate to Lofstad when reading Chinese astrology. Strong, brave, innovative, loyal and with abilities to take command, but also stubborn, restless and rebellious – all of which are qualities of the Chinese tiger – and of Jorn-Viggo Lofstad, a strong minded producer, songwriter and guitar player from Skien (a city close to Norway’s Eastern coast line).
In primary school, Norsemen have to suffer through playing the flute. The young Jorn-Viggo (born in 1974) didn’t sweat it though – his musical interest had already started to make its mark. When the teacher tried to have his pupil play the piano, Lofstad’s pre-teen character traits revealed themselves in the form of opposition. The kid was simply too restless to sit down. How to calm down the youngster became evident when he first laid his hands on an electric guitar. It had distortion, and there was no way back!
At the time, bands like Metallica, Dio and King Diamond made a strong impact on the aspiring guitarist, though Eddie Van Halen, David Gilmour, Ronni Le Tekro, Steve Lukather and Randy Rhoads were, and still are to this day Lofstad’s primary influences both as musicians and six-string players.
After working his way through the nineties playing in several bands ranging from Thrash Metal to Classic Hard Rock, Lofstad finally found the musical chemistry he was searching for when he in the late nineties played with a Toto cover band called "An Evening With Toto Music". Also in this band paying tribute to the kings of Melodic Rock, were rock steady bassist Steinar Krokmo and keyboard magician Ronny Tegner.
In 2000, a local band named Silverspoon released a debut album that raised a few eyebrows. Not quite happy with its name, and also seeking a more conceptual image, Silverspoon, featuring Nils Rue on vocals, Stian Kristoffersen on drums and Thorstein Aaby on guitar, renamed the band to Pagan’s Mind and asked Lofstad to join its ranks. Needless to say, he did, and he brought Krokmo and Tegner with him.
Infinity Divine, Pagan’s Mind’s debut from 2000, was produced by one of Lofstad’s old heroes, Ronni Le Tekro. The album received fine reviews and gave the band a solid reputation. However, most of the songs and arrangements were already written by the time Lofstad joined, so it wasn’t until Pagan’s Mind’s next CD, Celestial Entrance (released in 2002), that the world would hear what the playful soon-to-be quintet could create together as a band. Produced by legendary Fredrik Nordström and the band, Celestial Entrance was really Lofstad’s first chance to shine – and brightfully so.
Not only did Prog Metal fans worldwide greet Pagan’s Mind with open arms, resulting in appearances at Sweden Rock Festival and the well respected ProgPower festivals (both in Holland and USA) in 2003, but after jamming with one of the world’s premier rock singers in the band’s hometown, Jorn Lande, a fruitful collaboration between the two Jorns was established, resulting in Lande’s third solo disc, Out To Every Nation, released in 2004.
Not satisfied with the sound on Pagan’s Mind’s debut album, the next step for Jorn-Viggo and the band was to re-mix and re-record certain parts. As a bonus, the band turned in a jaw-dropping version of King Diamond’s classic “At The Gravesâ€, which also featured ace guitarists Gus G (Firewind) and Glenn Drover (Megadeth, Eidolon) doing the main solo section, while Lofstad took the ride-out in a Pagan way.
Enigmatic: Calling was the next step for Pagan’s Mind and Lofstad. Not only did he take his guitar sound a step further, not only was the album more driven by his Musicman and Peavy gear, and not only did Pagan’s Mind get rave reviews once again, but for the first time Jorn-Viggo was the sole producer and the sole guitar player.
No rest for the wicked, they say. Next up was another album with Jorn Lande. The Duke was recorded in 2005, mixed by Tommy Hansen in Jailhouse Studios in Denmark, and released in 2006. The two Jorns shared the writing and production credits for what is considered to be one of the best Classic Rock albums in recent years. More people realized Lofstad’s talent, and he was hired for guitar duties and arrangements on Beautiful Sin’s album, The Unexpected.
Landes old label wasted no time after The Duke’s success. Having released the first two albums by Jorn Lande’s band, which he simply calls Jorn, they sent the boys back into the studio to re-record and re-mix parts of the back catalogue, as well as to record additional bonus tracks. Lande is known for doing cover songs, so the decision was made to release two Jorn albums in 2007: 1) The Gathering, a collection of Jorn songs, and 2) Unlocking The Past, where Lande gives his vocal heroes a run for their money. This gave Lofstad the opportunity to record songs by amongst others A.R.K., Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy, Kiss and Whitesnake.
Other recently released and upcoming albums include Live In America, recorded at the ProgPower festival in Atlanta 2006 and released the following year. This is Jorn-Viggo Lofstad’s debut live album – ironically by the band Jorn, which plays Classic Hard Rock, rather than Pagan’s Mind, whose music more or less defines the festival name. Soon to hit the streets is Jorn’s new studio album, Lonely Are The Brave, set for a June 2008 release.
After seven years of blood, sweat and beers, the much experienced Lofstad took it over the top with Pagan’s Mind’s new album, God’s Equation, released late 2007 in Europe and early 2008 in the US. Produced by the Chinese tiger himself (with all of his qualities and non-compromising attitude) and mixed by none other than Stefan Glaumann in Toy Town Studios, Stockholm (credited for his work with Rammstein, Bon Jovi etc.), Lofstad again shows his unique guitar playing, supplied by more in-your-face and to-the-point song writing and backed up by a powerful Prog Metal band with more balls than a producer from San Fernando Valley could dream of shooting. This is the album Lofstad is most proud of to date, by far. God’s Equation took Pagan’s Mind back to the ProgPower Festival in Atlanta in October 2007, where the band and guitarist, whose T-shirt says “No Peavy, No Showâ€, not only stole the show with their own music, but performed as a house band in a two hour jam the last day, featuring most singers from the festival bill.
A prime singer who immediately recognized Lofstad’s talents at this jam, was After Forever’s Floor Jansen, who performed a breath-taking version of Heart’s “Alone†with Pagan’s Mind. This lead to a song writing process between Floor and Jorn-Viggo, and music is currently being written and recorded for a release ultimo 2008.
After three tours with Pagan’s Mind since the release of God’s Equation (with Fates Warning, Brainstorm and Sonata Arctica), and still promoting said album and putting together a DVD, along with working on the project with Floor Jansen and more activities with Jorn, you don’t even have to believe in Chinese astrology to realize that Jorn-Viggo Lofstad is ambitious, innovative and hard working, and that he will soon establish a name for himself – not only as the 2000’s finest Norwegian guitarist, but as a high class songwriter and producer worldwide.
