Steve Ensall

Introduction

We are delighted welcome on board Steve Ensall, or “Ste Ensall”, “The E” or even “Stevie E” which ever you wish to call him, Steve doesn’t really mind, but Ste will do. However Steve as I will call him for the purpose of his bio is the newest latest edition to Elias.T.Hoth and comes in as the bands new session lead guitarist replacing Sam Barnett, which as you will all appreciate is mammoth ask and no mean feat. Finding a man of Steve talents and capability has taken a very long time indeed. What I will say is that Steve lead guitar talents are phenomenal however you our fans and audience will make up your own minds on the matter.

Back ground

Born in June 1988 in Chester UK, Steve grew up in another country known as Wales, North Wales in fact where he started playing guitar at aged of 12 in high school, it was at this juncture he realized that playing guitar got him more girls than playing football. Steve is a self taught musician and gained his knowledge by listening, watching, and reading books (definitely old school!) also watching classic archives material of live performances of some of our legendary greatest guitar hero’s. He says he initially played ukulele as it was far easier and more comfortable to hold and play, however he quickly transferred these dexterous skills over to lead guitar, “so glad he did”. There’s no doubt that the rock version of “Hex on you” would not quite sound the same on a ukulele. He is also a very accomplished drummer, bassist and key board player, but now has a proven track record as a top class lead guitarist. Steve has now been a producing original music since the age of 15 undertaking numerous musical projects professionally for the last 7 years over all a musical career to date spanning more than 15 years.

Track record

Steve started his musical career at secondary school in the early noughties he also went on to form his first band “DotCommunists” a Punk/Hard Rock band where he played drums at local music festivals.

He then altered direction somewhat when he joined his second band “Dusk” a Pop/Light Rock/Easy listening group as a lead guitarist. It was quite an unusual style for him says Steve, “but he wanted to diversify and broaden my musical knowledge and horizons” which has certainly set him in good stead for many of his subsequent future projects.

Next came band No 3 “Klandestein” a post-Hardcore/Metal/Alternative incognito duo. Steve orchestrated all the music including all the instruments recording and productions. Their music was strictly only available online and their respective identities were concealed to hide the fact that there were only two of them. Steve wrote, performed and produced all of the instrument parts and his cohort and partner in crime handled the lyrics and vocals. They gained a good online following, but being unable to play live made it difficult to sustain their musical illusion. But as we all know of course all bands need to play live to promote their own original music,

He then got a “State Warning” as you might say in his next venture where he joined the band actually called “State Warning” again a Pop-Punk/Rock outfit where he focused on and played lead guitar. This was his first ‘serious’ band, giving up work to commit and dedicate all his time and efforts to the group. The band gained a substantial following, during the UK pop-punk scene and played many UK festivals and supported many major artists.

During the next decade he then went on in his lead guitarist capacity to his 5th and final band, which was dare I say the famous and well renowned “Severenth” a (Metal/Post-Hardcore/Alternative gathering). The new line up included a reunion with his “Klandestein” partner but this time with a real band, by this time Steve it would seem had at last found his own Nirvana (not the Kirk Coban band by the way) in Severenth. As Steve says “Severenth were definitely his best and favourite bands to date, with everyone in the band sharing the same passion for writing and delivering high energy live metal stage performance”! The band did have a significant following all over the world, releasing a number of albums on Spotify and on CD in the UK and US, they also played major UK and European festivals. These included (Hammerfest, Bloodstock, Wacken [Germany], Hard Rock Hell [Ibiza], and supported many major artists in (Ozzy Osbourne, Motörhead, DevilDriver, Skindred and Bring Me The Horizon, plus many more. Severenth albums were actually reviewed by the Kerrang! Magazine and both given 4/5 K!’s (or stars). Severenth also under took extensive tours both within the UK and the US really an exceptional achievement.

For the past 5 years Steve has run his own studio and been a professional session lead, rhythm and bass guitar player, as well as a composer and producer for the music industries for both UK and American TV markets. Such projects have included music for United States ABC, NBC and FOX TV networks, The History Channel, Spike TV, British chef and notorious hard man Gordon Ramsay’s, 24 hours to hell, Pawn Stars, American Pickers, Ink Master, Monday Night Football and many sports coverage shows. So if you’re an avid TV watcher you have probably heard Steve already in his many musical guises.

The New Album

Above all Steve has made a phenomenal impact and stunning contribution to latest Elias.T.Hoth “O Rhesus Negative” album. His lead guitar solos and acoustic guitar work have been world class and inspired the new album songs to simply soar to new heights having massive creative influence on almost all of the album songs. Being a session guitarist Steve has also demonstrated a phenomenal diversity and ability to shift between the classic Elias.T.Hoth hard ass mean kickin gritty rock anthems and the new more recent delicate and emotional ballad material. He has also brought some electrifying guitar licks and riff to the new albums more raunchy 12 bar boogie shuffles. Steve brings us a wealth of unique talent and a great wealth of experience at every level. There is no doubt he has most definitely raised the bar on the albums lead guitar solos and indeed on every aspect Elias.T.Hoth “O Rhesus Negative” album and as for any future live stage performances by Steve there’s no doubt they will be absolutely awesome.