Heri Joensen

Heri Joensen (born February 21, 1973 in Tórshavn, Faroe Islands to the parents Joen Anker Bruun Joensen and Anna Johild Joensen (born as Jacobsen), is the vocalist and guitarist for the Faroese viking metal band Týr.

Týr's guitar section is comprised of Heri Joensen along with Terji Skibenæs, the other members are Gunnar Thomsen (bass) and Kári Streymoy (drums). Heri Joensen is also Týr's main composer and lyricist, often using material from Faroese ballads in his native language.

At the age of fourteen, Heri Joensen saw a guitar in a shop window in Tórshavn. A few weeks later he bought it, and with it an amplifier. Both were of very low quality, and his only former experience with musical instruments was the obligatory flute classes at school. To this day he does not understand how his parents and brothers could stand the noise.

Heri Joensen's first band was called "Cruiser", in which Gunnar H. Thomsen (bass), also played. Cruiser played two gigs, had some change of line-up, and continued, with some success, as Wolfgang. Here Heri Joensen and Gunnar Thomsen got to meet Kári Streymoy (drums). "Wolfgang" went on as a rock entertainment band and could be seen touring the Faroes as late as the summer of 2000.

In the fall of 1997 Heri Joensen moved to Denmark to study music. One evening in January 1998 Heri Joensen met his old bandmate Kári Streymoy at a ball in central Copenhagen, and the rest is history. Heri Joensen finished his musical studies at D.A.R.K. Copenhagen in January, 2003, majoring in Guitar and Music Theory.

Heri Joensen lives today in Runavík, Faroe Islands, where he is married and has a little son (born 2005), called "Tórur" (Thor). He works as a teacher and speaks Faroese, Icelandic, English, Danish and some German [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heri_Joensen] .

Trivia

*Inspirations: Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, John Petrucci and Randy Rhoads.
*Favourite bands: Dream Theater, Dio, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Savatage, Pink Floyd, the Dubliners and Enekk.
*Favourite composers: Edvard Grieg, Antonio Vivaldi, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johan Sebastian Bach and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
*Compositional inspirations: Faroese and Nordic folkmusic, classic, progressive metal and jazz.
*Hobbies: Ancient and medieval history and etymology.
*Heri Joensen endorses Bjarnastein Guitars.

ources

External links

* [http://www.myspace.com/herityr Heri Joensen's MySpace page]
* [http://www.tyr.net Official Týr Site]