Marten Andersson
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Marten Andersson (born November 26, 1974 in Stockholm, Sweden) (aka Mårten Andersson) is best known as the bass guitarist for the hardrock groups Lizzy Borden, George Lynch's (Lynch Mob), Starwood and Legacy. He is also known for smaller TV and movie acting parts as well as authoring a successful music reference book.
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[edit] Biography
Born as an only child, it was in the outskirts of Stockholm, Sweden that Marten developed an interest in becoming a musician after being exposed to bands such as KISS and Iron Maiden. Marten had a passion for playing various different musical instruments but soon considered bass his main instrument. Marten once asked his father to buy him a guitar only to have the guitar traded in for a bass two weeks later. At the age of 16 he had already performed shows and recorded with various local bands but he had bigger aspirations. He wanted to take on Hollywood. By the age of 18 Marten moved to Los Angeles to study music and it did not take long before he started touring the world and recording with the heavy metal band Lizzy Borden. Named after the band's lead vocalist and known for their outrageous and theatrical stage shows.
Andersson spent the next decade with Lizzy Borden, recording CD's and touring together with bands such as: Deep Purple, Kings X, Dio, Yngwie Malmsteen and Motörhead. Lizzy Borden previewed their latest CD 'Deal With the Devil' and their world wide tour at the 'Wacken open air Festival Germany', in front of 35 thousand people. Longtime Lizzy Borden fan, artist and multimedia entrepreneur Todd McFarlane (best known for his creation of Spawn and stylistic revision of Spider-Man) was enlisted to capture the essence of Lizzy Borden for the Stage show and the CD cover art. Tragedy struck the band on May 17th, 2004 when guitarist Alex Nelson was killed in a car accident and the band broke up soon after. Borden recently announced that they have reformed with new guitarist Ira Black and are in the process of recording a new CD and a worldwide tour.
In the late 90's Andersson recorded with Jessica Simpson's and Jennifer Lopez guitarist Joy Basu, as well as recording two CD's entitled 'Second to None' (1996) and 'The Rocks' (2000) with "The Jonas Hansson Band", fronted by Swedish guitar player Jonas Hansson. Hansson was considered by many as the first guitar ace to emerge from Scandinavia. The group featured members from Alice Cooper, Alcatrazz, Marty Friedman Band (Megadeth) and Silver Mountain.
In 2001, Marten Andersson released a solo project entitled, Legacy with various guest musicians, including Jonas Hansson co-producing and playing lead guitar. Andersson was handling bass and rhythm guitar duties. The CD was mixed and produced by Andersson and Hansson at Mastergroove Studio's in Granada Hills, California with the assistance of Mastergroove studio owner Dave Morse (whose credits includes Aerosmith, Guns N' Roses, Van Halen and Warrant). The CD received excellent reviews in the hardrock, Heavy Metal press but did not generate much noise in mainstreet media.
In 2003, Andersson co-founded the Hollywood rock outfit Starwood with Lizzy (Borden), Joey Scott and Joe Steals. The band, (considered by some an updated, more modern version of Lizzy Borden) released their debut CD "If It Ain't Broke, Break It!" worldwide on Metalblade Records (2005). Their signature high energy rock in the vein of Velvet Revolver, Guns N' Roses and The Darkness has made Starwood popular after just only one album and has gathered airplay all over the World with videos for the songs 'Subculture' and 'Bad Machine'. The band did a series of successful concerts in 2005 and are said to be working on a follow up CD.
In 2003, Marten was picked by former Dokken guitarist George Lynch to join his band Lynch Mob. Andersson most recently finished his fourth tour with the band, which included a marathon 26 shows in 30 days and a much talked about skit on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The line-up was: George Lynch - Guitars, Andrew Freeman - Vocals, Vinny Appice (Black Sabbath/Dio) - Drums and Marten Andersson - Bass
[edit] Acting
Andersson's acting credits includes parts in movies and tv shows such as 'Sweet Justice' (Melissa Gilbert), 'Rock N' Roll Detective' (NBC Pilot), 'Midnight Heat', 'Divas' and 'To the end of Times'.
[edit] Bass Equipment and more
Marten has been an endorser and long time user of companies such as ESP Guitars and Ampeg. Marten switches between 4-string electric basses and 8 string basses, mainly because of the fuller sound and his influence of bass players such as Tom Pedersson of Cheap Trick and Doug Pinnick of Kings X.
Marten holds bass clinics, music seminars, performs at music trade shows and gives a limited number of private lessons whenever possible. His book "Make Label Contact" (SCI Publishing), a reference and musicians guide, aimed towards musicians for record companies and demo submissions sold out in no time and is widely considered to be the definitive guide for any musician.
Andersson also dedicates himself to a variety of charity organizations for breast cancer and animal welfare. Marten resides in Los Angeles, California.
[edit] Touring and CD Credits
- Author of the book 'Make Label Contact' (SCI Publishing)
- Jonas Hansson Band 1996-2000
- Legacy 1998-present
- Starwood 2003-present
- George Lynch 2003-present
- Lizzy Borden 1992-present
