Glenn Snelwar Biography

I started playing the guitar at the age of 12. I was interested in a lot of metal bands throughout my teens (Iron Maiden, Metallica, Slayer), but also was exposed to Yes, Kansas, Pink Floyd and Emerson Lake and Palmer, though my older sister who played keyboards and was certainly an influence in introducing me to progressive music. As a result, Damon Trotta, Rodney Zodda and myself formed a progressive metal band while growing up in the New York area. We purposefully went out of our way to write songs where one part never repeated itself. We were heavily influenced by bands like Voivod, Celtic Frost, New York Hardcore as well as a lot of the bands mentioned above. This was during the late 80's, and nobody really understood what we were doing. I don't think we did completely, either - but it sounded good to us, and that's all that mattered.

We all went different ways, and at the same time I entered college, I heard King Crimson for the first time. Hearing Lark's Tongues in Aspic was a revelation for me - the intensity of that music was what Damon, Rodney and I were striving for, but we had never heard them while we were coming up with our own craziness during our practice sessions in the basement. I began searching out other progressive, more 'obscure' bands like Univers Zero and Magma, and quickly embraced the combined heaviness, intensity and sophistication at work in these bands. At the same time, I started studying classical guitar and became very interested in composers such as Leo Brouwer and Heitor Villa-Lobos. I was being encouraged by my teacher to pursue classical guitar full-time, but I was still very much interested in heavy music, and didn't feel that I had the commitment to classical music to pursue it in the form of university studies.

I chose to continue studies in the sciences - but throughout my education I consistently pursued getting bits and pieces of compositions, and any ideas I came up with onto my 4-track cassette recorder. Things got out of hand when I was trying to bounce up to 10 tracks onto my 4 track machine, so that I could get the ideas of layered guitar parts I was hearing in my head onto tape. I was intrigued by combining heavy guitars and classical guitars together - not just for 'shock value', but to have the two styles work effectively together in short, tight compositions that forced the listener to focus on the interplay between the acoustics and electrics. Part of that strategy was to omit solos, and that is still prevalent in my approach to writing - the foundation of the compositions get saturated with all the layers, that often the solos aren't necessary to me.

In 1994 I was able to record the compositional approach I had in the form of a three song demo, Reflections (see Results for more information). I will never forget seeing the review of the demo in Guitar Player's Spotlight column for the first time.

I started working on a second demo, Torn Between Dimensions, in 1995. Progress was slow, as I was focused on completing my education. While writing sporadically during this time, I was asked to contribute and co-write some songs for Sean Malone's Gordian Knot project.

In the past, things were cyclical for me in regards to actively pursuing writing and recording. I spent a few years after the Gordian Knot CD almost entirely away from the guitar, and became more involved with my career as a chemist. Then in 2002, I received a CD in the mail with a track from Damon that inspired me to layer guitars over it. That quickly got out of hand, and I ditched the old 4-track for some new recording gear. I also got a few new instruments and started experimenting with adding mandolin and keyboards to the mix of acoustic and electric guitars.

When I started writing for Torn Between Dimensions, I felt 'At War With Self' would be an appropriate project name - I usually find myself in a frustrated state when ideas for compositions are running rampant in my head, and for some good reasons and others simply excuses, not follow through on my instincts of how essential it is for me to do what I do. I feel that my instincts for taking up the writing process were worth the attention. Torn Between Dimensions and my involvement with Gordian Knot have given me the opportunity to write and record with other musicians I have held in high regard. These projects have also given me the chance to hear from people around the world that appreciate the music, which is the most gratifying part of all.

The next CD will be entitled Acts of God, and is a collaboration between Damon Trotta and myself. It's strange how things work - we're twice the age we used to be, but we're re-creating the craziness and intensity that we were striving for back then in the basement. The only things that have really changed are some of our musical tastes, the location of the basement and the technology. We're still the same fools that used to wonder why we were doing what we were when we wrote songs with ten million parts. We're still reverting back to the question - 'does it sound good?' After pursuing careers, and going down many paths in life over the years, this nonsense that we create is what makes the most sense to us. And that's all that really matters.

2009
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