History

Metal (1984-1991)

Randy Ellefson 2011I grew up listening to hard rock and metal, like Iron Maiden, Metallica, Accept, Judas Priest, Scorpions, Ozzy Osbourne. During 7th grade, I saw a classmate play guitar at the talent show and became obsessed with knowing how people knew where to put their fingers. Before long, my parents got me an acoustic guitar for my birthday, followed by an electric and amp for Christmas.

A natural composer, writing songs quickly became my focus. In 9th grade, I built my first electric guitar with some help for a science project. I soon built a second and have seldom played a manufactured electric until 2022, when I bought my son a 7-string. These are the guitars heard on my albums and pictured here.

I wrote and recorded songs for a hoped-for twin-guitar metal band, which I formed after high school, but the group disbanded amid in-fighting.

Classical Music (1991-1996)

That same year, I became a serious classical composition major in college, but it’s hard to follow those rules when you haven’t taken the courses for them yet. While struggling, I took a semester of violin, flute, and classical guitar for amusement, which turned to dismay when transferring schools. I was forced to audition on classical guitar despite not majoring in it. To my surprise, the school accepted me as a guitar major instead of as a composition major. I now needed to acquire four years of playing skill in only two years. Practicing as much as ten hours a day, I succeeded, earning a Bachelors of Music, Magna Cum Laude, in 1995.

A few weeks later, in November of 1995, I recorded 19 classical guitar pieces at home, eventually releasing all but one as The Lost Art album. The remaining piece, “Fantasia Etude,” is an original composition included on the Serenade of Strings album.

Back to Metal (1993-1996)

During the degree, in 1993, I became an instrumental guitarist after successfully merging classical composition techniques with my rock and acoustic guitar playing. I began writing and recording demos for the Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid album. By August 1996, I had 29 rock instrumentals and a half dozen acoustic ones, the latter inspiring the all-acoustic album (Serenade of Strings). I took a year break from college before applying for a master’s program in music theory, intending to follow that with a doctorate and a life as a college professor of music, but fate intervened.

Tendonitis (1996-2001)

The Firebard (2014)In August 1996, all of that classical guitar practice caught up with me and I developed severe tendonitis in both arms, losing all guitar and piano playing, plans, and the rest of my life. Temporarily crippled, I was unable to work or do much else. A full year passed with no guitar but I learned to play my drum machine with my feet, taping letter openers to a book so that stepping on one would depress the drum pad. All drums on the debut album, The Firebard were performed this way, and it allowed me to make music.

When I resumed playing guitar in August 1997, it was with severe limitations. It wasn’t until 2001 that I could play all of my own rock music again. Acoustic guitar was too hard on my arms and I seldom played it until 2006. Piano has largely remained gone, as has classical guitar and classical music.

My Career Starts (2001-2008)

I built up my home studio and began recording The Firebard, which took a long time due to serious restrictions on my playing time. I released the debut in 2004 to good reviews and airplay in Canada, Australia, and the United States, earning endorsements with Peavey, Alvarez Guitars, and Morley Pedals and gaining interviews. I also authored articles for guitar-related websites. I built a third custom guitar.

I soon recruited local players (including James Goetz on rhythm guitar) to perform live but found the local scene unsupportive despite getting invited to the local All-Star Jam in 2006. After a half-dozen shows, the band broke up in 2007 just before I released the follow up, Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid, which featured session bassist Dave DeMarco and my live drummer Jeff Moos.

I finally returned to playing acoustic guitar in 2007 to resume writing the Serenade of Strings album, which slowed down due to joining James and Dave in an Iron Maiden tribute band that found little club support and broke up after a half-dozen shows. I finished recording Serenade of Strings in 2009, with Jeff on drums again, and released it with The Lost Art in 2010.

Metal Band (2009-2016)

I’d decided to return to my roots, doing twin-guitar metal and a vocal metal album, which I thought would be the fifth Randy Ellefson release but instead became the debut album, Utopia, by a new band, with James on drums and Dave on bass (and me doing all guitars). With a mix of new and old songs, all backing tracks were recorded by 2011, when the first singer backed out. By 2016, I would go through five more singers who didn’t work out for one reason or another.

Return to Instrumentals (2011-2014)

With the metal band on hold, and me now a drummer, I returned to instrumentals, releasing Now Weaponized! and a re-recorded The Firebard. A slew of other songs were recorded, enough for two more instrumental albums (one rock, one acoustic), and another metal band album. And then I became a father and semi-retired, partly to focus on writing books, which had been backburnered a long time. Now music would go on the backburner.

Hiatus (2014-2022)

I wrote a lot of books!

The Return (2022-Present)

With my son now a guitarist and drummer, our jamming led to me writing new songs, so I finally returned more seriously and upgraded my studio. Once I announced my return on Facebook, a previous Utopia singer asked to come back and we’re working on that as I ramp up my playing to finish instrumental albums. Stay tuned…

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