Guitarist Erik Martensson once aspired to have a career in motocross. But after being involved in a crash and during his subsequent recovery, he began focusing his time on guitar and soon discovered his true calling.

Today, Martensson not only splits his time between his own hard rock band Eclipse and the “super-group” W.E.T; a project which also features Robert Säll (Work of Art) and Jeff Scott Soto (Talisman), but he’s also written and produced songs for a variety of artists.

After providing material for a Jimi Jamison (Survivor) and Bobby Kimball (Toto) project, Martensson was asked to write songs for a Jamison solo album. The result of which, “Never Too Late” has received critical acclaim both here and abroad. With catchy hooks and melodies that not only emphasize Jamison’s vocal prowess, it’s also an album that sounds fresh and new.

I spoke with Martensson from his home in Sweden about “Never Too Late” as well as his guitar laden new Eclipse album, “Bleed and Scream”.

How did this collaboration with Jamison take place?

I had originally written a few songs for the Bobby Kimball / Jimi Jamison duet album. Following the success of that, Frontiers records asked me to work on a solo record with Jimi.

When you approach a project with Jimi Jamison, what kind of writing process do you go through?

I had Jimi’s vocal range in mind when we started. I knew the sound that would fit him and also suit the fans. That was something that was really important to me.  I have the Survivor ‘Vital Signs’ and ‘Too Hot To Sleep’ albums so I know the style. But I didn’t want to just re-make an album from the 80’s. I wanted it to sound fresh. I wanted it to have one foot in the 80’s and one foot in the now.

Read the rest of my Guitar World Interview with Erik by clicking here.