Danish band Thorbjorn Risager and The Black Tornado are described as one of the most successful blues & roots bands on the European continent and they’re selling out venues across the world as their popularity increases.
Thorbjørn Risager & The Black Tornado: Talent, Dedication and Perseverance. As this band enters its fourteenth year, they really seem to be on the verge of a success that will open some new doors, in new territories. And with all the hard work they put into this project, they surely deserve it.
In 2003, singer and guitarist Thorbjørn Risager asked some of his favourite musicians to join him in a brand new band, they were initially known as Thorbjorn Risager Blues 7, later changing the band’s name to The Black Tornado in a bid to sound more professional.
In 2014 they secured a record deal with German based record label Ruf Records who have helped raise the profile of the band significantly, especially with the release of multi-award-winning album Too Many Roads.
The release of Too Many Roads saw the seven-piece combo fronted by singer and guitarist Risager gaining widespread notoriety in the U.S. and being invited to play in locales as far away as Mumbai, India.
The album took home the Danish Music Award as the Top Blues Album of 2014 and also earned Germany’s illustrious “Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik,” (German Record Critics’ Award) an annual prize presented for achievement in recorded music.
In September 2015 Thorbjorn Risager & The Black Tornado released their 10th album in 10 years, Songs From The Road, a live album recorded in Bonn, Germany.
Songs From The Road shows that the success of Too Many Roads was no fluke. Thorbjørn Risager and his highly skilled accomplices have perfected a spicy blend of musical ingredients. The hundreds of shows they’ve played during the past few years have them running like a well-oiled machine.
2017 saw the band release Change My Game, again out on Ruf Records. Change My Game finally achieves the studio sound that Thorbjørn has always heard in his head.
For the first time, the eight musicians decided to self-produce and mix the entire album, and the result is a visceral production that showcases their best material to date. Rock-influenced songs like Dreamland are hard, fiery and ferocious.
Ballads like lead-off single I Used To Love You have an aching emotional power. Meanwhile, for the fans who love the Tornado’s fresh take on classic blues, there’s Train, which opens with a locomotive sound, a lone vocal and an acoustic guitar – before the band turn up the heat and bring the song to its horn-driven climax.
At a time when technology rules the music industry, Change My Game is an album that runs on human chemistry, and that’s testament to the 800-plus shows that this lineup has played together in 21 countries from Canada to India.
Firm believers in the power of live music, Thorbjørn and the band will take Change My Game out on the road in 2017, with a touring schedule that will see them raise roofs across the planet and convert countless new fans to the cause.
For more info & additional tour dates – Thorbjorn Risager & The Black Tornado
Check out the full album here –
