EBS is celebrating their 30th Anniversary this year. And I understand there’s a big announcement, we found out what was in the box!
Bjorn Englen: The announcement, what’s In the box? The EBS Retracer Delay Workstation. And there are some new products coming out. I know of at least one really cool product that’s coming out, that’s going be pretty amazing, coming out this year sometime. It’s not ready yet to be sold, but there’s a prototype. I don’t want to reveal anything just yet.
Also, there is a new book. EBS 30 Years which is being released at this show. How can fans of EBS Professional Bass Equipment obtain this book outside of NAMM?
That’s a good question. I’m thinking the EBS Sweden.com. You know?
Okay!
I’m sure you can get it there. ebssweden.com
How long have you been endorsing EBS?
I’ve been with them for 15 years. Yes, exactly 15 years because I signed with them in NAMM 2003.
Loyalty
Yes. So I’m one of their longest endorsees. If not, their longest at this point.
Take us through a rundown of your gear?
Well, I play Mari Strings. I play them for over 20 years, 21 years to be exact. I play Ibanez Basses with a Hipshot D Tuner and that Babicz Bridge. I use Straptight Strap Locks which is a plastic thing that is inexpensive, easy to remove and install and everything. And then, I use the CAD wireless systems, AL Bane leather straps, Rock’n’Roll Gangster clothing, of course, EBS Amps, EBS pedals, Boss Tuners, flip on tuners and regular tuners and Seymour Duncan pickups, Signature series Spectraflex cables. I think I’ve covered it all.
Wow, nice.
You also have Signature Bass Strings with Mari Strings. How is that going?
Very nice, Very good. He’s a wonderful person and wonderful to work with. And the strings are very consistent as far as the, I never got a bad string or bad set. You know sometimes you get a string that is weak, it never happened. They last a really long time, they sound strong for a while, and they’re very even they sound good all throughout the string. So there’s really not any dead spots so they’re excellent strings. And then my gauge is a little bit different, I have a little thicker E string and a slightly thinner G string which makes it easy to bend the string but also the primary thing is the thicker E string for the D tuner and the D tuned, sometimes the D tune the whole bass a hassle of step and that E string is going to take the beating really quick if it’s not thick enough. And also I like to have a little thicker A string that some sets only have on 80, this is an 85.
So how can they find your signature strings?
They can find them on eBay, Amazon, on my website bjornenglen.com and through Daniel Mari as well or any retailers that sell his strings worldwide.
You are the bassist for Dio Disciples and the talk is about Dio Live, the Ronnie James Dio Hologram. This year “Dio Returns- World Tour” will hit Europe and the United States. Can you tell us a little bit about it? And how has the experience been not having a frontman to interact with?
Well, it’s really not true because we’re doing most of the songs as Dio Disciples and we’re just throwing in like four songs with a hologram. So it’s really just the Dio Disciples show that’s spiced up with a hologram. So that’s the misconception a lot of people had when they were like, criticizing it before we started doing it because they thought they were going to make me do like a whole show with just a hologram, which is not the case. And the songs that we do the hologram is, we’re not obviously interacting there’s no person there but Ronnie’s live vocals are there, so we still get that live feel. And the band, you know, most of us played with him and the band is there, and it sounds great and it’s a lot of fun. The reactions’ been good at the shows that we’ve done so we’re still fine tuning it, We’ll going to be back in the fall with a fine-tuned hologram and it’s going to be even better next time.
Recently I found out you are part of a new band called Plenty Heavy. A trio of Greg Marra on Vocals, Mike Hansen on Drums, and you are on Bass. Tell us about the band, how it got started?
I worked with Gregg previously a long time ago. I met Gregg about 13 years ago and we started working together actually 12 years ago. So we worked together before playing this instrumental music that he was doing a lot of before. And we’ve been friends ever since. And Mike Hansen and Gregg have been friends for a while and Mike is a great guy, a great drummer too. It’s just primarily the same, the right players and we sound good together but we’re also good friends and good vibe, you know, so that’s important.
An album has just been released, how can fans pick up this album?
Yes. They can go to plentyheavy.com, pick it up there and it’s on all the digital markets, anywhere in digital platforms everywhere.
I still haven’t figured out a catchy phrase to end the interview with. Is there anything else you would like to add??
I have, yes. Soul Sign is going to be back and running this year. And also, I got an album coming out with a great artist called Tarra Lynch that is a really cool musician. Vinny Appice and Tony MacAlpine are playing on it and some other great players. Brent Woods who’s producing is awesome, he plays guitar on there too. A little bit I think, he’s mainly producing but he, he’s really great to work with, he’s wonderful to work with so I’m really looking forward to that coming out. And I got some other thing cooking too so.
The same musicians on Soul Signs?
Yes, Mark Boals vocals and Mike Cancino drums and Jan Eric Mengeling on guitar.
Perfect!
So it’s going to be awesome and you know-
Good. I can’t wait. I’m so excited!!
Oh I know, Oh my God we’ve been down to long.
I ask you about it every time, this time I wasn’t going to ask. That is how we met years ago. As always, it’s great to see you. NAMM seems to be our yearly meeting place.
I know, thank you. I know right, always fun. It’s wonderful to see you.
Thank you!!
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