A composer and guitarist since 1984, Randy Ellefson ("Rand") was influenced by the all-out riffing and soloing of the 1980s rock scene. The dark ballads by metal bands were also an inspiration for his acoustic guitar playing. He quickly developed his own style, making recordings at home but failing to get a band off the ground. He also assembled two electric guitars in 1985 and 1987 and hasn't played a manufactured one since.
His other hobby, writing fantasy stories, turned serious in 1988 when he wrote the first book of a trilogy and invented his fictitious setting. Deciding he wasn't quite ready for the trilogy, he put it on hold but continued planning other novels, writing stories, and inventing the setting. The latter grew to include eight all new fantasy races in place of the standard elves, dwarves, and dragons.
By 1991, he’d become a serious classical music composition major in college, but it's hard to follow those rules when you haven't taken the courses for them yet, so he switched majors to classical guitar halfway through the degree. In just two years he mastered four years of guitar requirements by practicing up to 10 hours a day, earning a Bachelors of Music in classical guitar, Magna Cum Laude, 1995.
Meanwhile, he succeeded in merging classical theory into his rock guitar playing and stumbled into being an instrumental guitarist, using classical techniques to create songs from one small idea or motif.
A year later, all that classical guitar practice caught up with him when he developed severe tendinitis in both arms. He couldn’t play guitar for a year and took five long years to regain his skill level. The injury also cost him his career plans and the rest of his life. Unable to type, he began writing fiction with a dictation program and using a special foot mouse, making computer use was possible without further injury, so he sought a new career using them. By March 1999, he'd become a professional software engineer and now holds two of Microsoft’s highest certifications (MCSD in C# .Net and MCDBA).
With his guitar playing still rebuilding, Rand focused on fiction and wrote the first two novels of a new trilogy in 2001-2003, then looked toward publication in 2004. In the meantime, his rock playing had recovered enough to start recording his debut album, The Firebard, by 2002. Tendontis made it a slow affair, made worse by Rand doing everything personally, including all guitars, bass, drum programming (done with his feet), engineering, and production. When the album was ready for release on June 29, 2004, the fiction was laid aside once again to do music promotion.
The album has since earned Rand endorsements with Peavey, Alvarez Guitars, and Morley Pedals, plus good reviews, interviews, and frequent comparisons to Joe Satriani and Steve Vai. He has also regularly published articles at Guitar9.com and other sites.
In 2005-6, Rand formed a live band and performed several times before losing members, which prompted him to record the second album, Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid, this time with Jeff Moos on drums and a local session bassist filling in. Recording was completed in late 2006 and the album independently released July 31, 2007. The live band reformed and resumed performances as well, though the local scene is not favorable to this genre and the live band's future is in doubt.
Rand also returned to fiction in 2006 and completed a new novel in 2007, with more in the works. He also returned to playing acoustic guitar with work resuming on a long-intended all acoustic guitar album, several new songs being written for it this year, with recording scheduled for 2008. It will be the third album.
Once a dominating force in his life, tendonitis is now a minor nuisance and he does no treatment of any kind for the first time since the injury. He has even done light workouts with weight to tone muscles long under-used. He can play two or even three days in a row again for several hours, depending on the level of effort expended.