SOUND VISION; TOMMY HENRIKSEN OF VAN NUYS TAKES SLOW ROAD TO MUSICAL SUCCESS.Byline: Fred Shuster Daily News Music Writer When singer-songwriter Tommy Henriksen moved to Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. , he found himself broke and at loose ends. At one point, he had friends back in Long Island mail him their used clothing so he could sell it at garage sales. ``I worked at Kinko's, roadied for Alice Cooper - the only thing I didn't do was wait tables,'' Henriksen recalled. Now the Van Nuys resident is waiting to see what will happen with his just-released, self-titled debut album on Capitol. The disc, which is sometimes reminiscent of Seal's work, features a mix of rock, pop and international influences and includes a cameo from Nina Hagen Nina Hagen (born Catharina Hagen on March 11, 1955) is a singer from Berlin, Germany. Early years and samples of chanting Tibetan monks. Henriksen may be a new name to many, but he's certainly paid his dues. In five years of trying, he played in a series of local bands specializing in every type of music, from metal to pop to classic-rock, while gigging at local clubs from the Viper Room Coordinates: The Viper Room is a nightclub located along the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California. It was opened in 1993 and was partly owned by actor Johnny Depp until 2004. to FM Station. ``It took all those years to get signed,'' he said. ``I just knew this was the first time I actually had something I really felt good about musically.'' Henriksen's intriguing debut, which includes the track ``I See the Sun'' from the ``Blast From the Past'' soundtrack, was co-produced and engineered by Keith Forsey, known for his work with Psychedelic Furs, Simple Minds and Billy Idol. ``My demos actually sound like the record,'' Henriksen, 30, offered. ``That's unusual because when you get with a producer, they have their own ideas and you have your ideas, and then things change. But Keith and I were on the same path.'' The album's vocals and guitar overdubs were cut on Henriksen's 12-track Akai tape recorder, and the basic tracks were completed at Forsey's home. Aside from multi-instrumentalist Henriksen, the primary musician on the record was Northridge-based keyboardist Jamie Muhoberac, who played on Seal's albums. ``I wanted to incorporate a lot of instruments not usually heard in pop and rock music, like the sitar sitar (sĭtär`), fretted string instrument with a gourdlike body and a long neck, similar to the lute. It has from 3 to 7 gut strings, tuned in fourths or fifths (or both), and a lower course of 12 wire strings that vibrate sympathetically with , tabla tabla Pair of small drums, the principal percussion in Hindustani music of northern India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The higher-pitched daya, played with the right hand, is a roughly cylindrical one-skinned drum, usually wooden, normally tuned to the raga's tonic. drums, the moon lute lute, musical instrument that has a half-pear-shaped body, a fretted neck, and a variable number of strings, which are plucked with the fingers. The long lute, with its neck much longer than its body, seems to have been older than the short lute, existing very early , the Irish pennywhistle, the banjo banjo, stringed musical instrument, with a body resembling a tambourine. The banjo consists of a hoop over which a skin membrane is stretched; it has a long, often fretted neck and four to nine strings, which are plucked with a pick or the fingers. , accordion and the Swedish bagpipe bagpipe, musical instrument whose ancient origin was probably in Mesopotamia from which it was carried east and west by Celtic migrations. It was used in ancient Greece and Rome and has been long known in India. ,'' Henriksen said. ``I listen to a lot of world music myself, and I want to encourage other people to know about the different cultures and sounds.'' Beyond the use of a variety of global instruments, Henriksen actually grew up in the blue-collar hamlet of Port Jefferson Station, N.Y. ``It's like living in the Midwest except people go, `Yo, wassup?' '' Henriksen says with a laugh. Henriksen believes that despite recent mergers within the music industry, there's still room for everyone. ``Some musicians could be envious because you might be doing better than they are,'' he said. ``But I always believed the music industry is big enough. Just move over and let me have my shot.'' CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: no caption (Tommy Henriksen) |
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