Sam Totman

Ian Samuel "Sam" Totman is a New Zealand-English musician, best known as a guitarist and the main songwriter for the power metal band DragonForce.

Sam Totman
Sam Totman performing with DragonForce at the 2019 Rockharz
Background information
Birth nameIan Samuel Totman
BornLondon, England
GenresPower metal, speed metal, black metal (early)
Occupation(s)Musician
InstrumentsGuitar, bass, keyboards, vocals
Years active1992–present
LabelsSanctuary, Noise, Roadrunner
Associated actsDragonForce, Babymetal, Power Quest, Demoniac, Shadow Warriors
WebsiteDragonForce.com

Early life

Totman was born in England, but grew up mainly in New Zealand.[1] He moved back to England around age 22, mainly because England's music scene offered numerous shows to attend every week, an option he did not have in geographically isolated New Zealand.[1] He began playing classical guitar at the age of nine, receiving formal training for several years.[2]

Career

Totman was part of the blackened power metal band Demoniac, which also featured his future DragonForce bandmate Herman Li. During his time with Demoniac, Totman was referred to as Heimdall (the Norse God of vigilance). Demoniac struggled to achieve any real fame outside of Australasia, despite releasing three albums and relocating from Wellington, New Zealand to London, UK. Due to this, Demoniac split sometime in late 1999, shortly after the album The Fire and the Wind was released. Most of the members went on to form power metal band DragonHeart, which later became known as DragonForce. Keyboardist Steve Williams and bassist Steve Scott left Dragonheart to form Power Quest with whom Totman recorded on their demo and first album, Wings of Forever. Totman also provided guest instrumentation on the band's following album, Neverworld.

As the songwriter, Totman wrote both music and lyrics for a majority of their discography.

gollark: Elegant!
gollark: Fun osmarkscalculator™ feature: if you do `x = 4`, and then `F[x] = 3`, it'll actually make a rule `F[4] = 3` rather than `F[x] = 3`.
gollark: osmarkscalculator™ even calculates that x^a/x^(a+1) is x^Negate[1] (it does not support unary operators).
gollark: It's just that good.
gollark: osmarkscalculator™ can add it anyway.

References
  1. Ramanand, Elizabeth. "Interview: Sam Totman of DragonForce". CHARGED.fm. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  2. "Sam Totman – DragonForce". Retrieved 25 June 2010.

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