Metal Reviews

Almost every singer is at least coerced into their vocal lines, unless they can hit at least 3 octaves, they don't have a big sandbox to play in. They have to be able to sing in key and work with the notes everyone else is playing.

It is a lot like a rhythm player and a lead player doing two completely different things, it just doesn't work.


And never ever hire anyone's girlfriend for anything ever.

Wise words as you can see in Spinal Tap!

Did I say hire?

If you're lucky she could design costumes for you based on your star signs.

No. It doesn't even matter. Don't get anyone involved that automatically has ties to any band member, whether it is a friend, co-worker, ect.

It has to be all business in a band. Every member has to look out for the whole. Anyone with an ego has to go.

I'm assuming by FS's posts that this isn't a situation like Megadeth where it is one person's band and everyone else is there to support that one man's vision.

I don't want to throw the singer out, he's a friend, a nice guy, and he HAS talent, he's just stubborn and limited musically.

For mine, our two guitarists sit down and power stuff out. As the drummer, I can't do much in terms of notes and blah blah but I offer opinions on rhythm and song order of course. Luckily our guitarists work well together and are able to figure stuff out without too much fighting. We've never had a bassist be part of the songwriting at all; though we just got a new one and he's slightly more vocal. And when we had a singer (we've since changed to one of the guitarists vocalizing) we pretty much overruled everything he suggested

Then you have to talk him into it... That's what we had to do, and it worked out fine.

A good idea would be for the band to get together in a relaxed enviroment without thinking about songwriting at all, you know like in a camp fire, then you could be all making hot-dogs and marshmallows laughing and having a good time, after that you could be all sitting aroud the fire and start talking about your aspirations, your goals, your fears, your feelings, your childhood and all that crazy stuff thats been in your heart for so long just waiting to get out, dont be afraid to cry, crying is ok a metal band should be like a family and families sometimes cry, you wouldnt believe it but your life story could inspire some of your bandmates to write a kick ass metal tune and viceversa, after that a group hug would be an excellent idea or better yet you could take out your acoustic guitar and start playing some nickleback songs, that should lead to more crying wich is ok because those are inspiration tears my friend, finally while youre sitting around the fire you should tell your singer that you want to talk with him in private, when youre all alone tell him: "look man i know you really want to be in this band but... holy shit there is some crazy bug on my boot!" and when he takes a closer look you just kick him in the throat now that he cant sing anymore you should have no problem in kicking him out of the band.

The crying part got me first, I thought he was serious up til then.

Zad spoiled it for me. I keep laughing just thinking of it.

Nickelback -->

I realize that I'm getting to the party rather late but here are my thoughts, for what they're worth.

First, Adveser has given some great advice. Listen to him. I don't think that I would have suggested anything differently at all. You do learn to write just as you learn to play. Keep things simple at first to build that songwriting muscle, so to speak. Then just progress.

I will say that being in a band can be the most rewarding experience and the biggest headache EVER, due to personalities clashing. It takes patience and an open mind for everyone to collectively work together.

One of the best videos I've ever watched is Aerosmith's "The Making of PUMP". Steve Tyler and Joe Perry go in and work out a few riffs and ideas to a few songs then the other guys come in and add bits and pieces to flesh it out. The interesting thing is that they were all open new ideas but they played to the song. If a piece didn't fit, needed tweaking, or just needed to be dropped, it happened. They all were open to criticism and dealt with it fairly well. It was a great behind the scenes look into how a band as big as Aerosmith writes and records material. Watch it if you can get your hands on a copy. Sme of the stuff in it is hilarious as well.

Each band handles things differently due to their own members. Play to your strengths and good luck with everything.

Call me a cynic, but I'm willing to wager some Pounds that it wasn't like that all the time. Like, when the cameras left.

Yeah, Some Kind of Monster looks much more honest to me.

I don't know. Aerosmith had gone through the worst with drug and alcohol addiction previously and it almost cost them their careers and their lives. I got the idea from the film that as they cleaned up, the drugs/alcohol didn't interfere with their judgment and hence created a better working relationship for everyone involved. There were times that they banged heads but for the most part they knew that the song was what was most important so they seemed to be very receptive to criticism.

The shitstorm arose when the record company sent in their man to "clean up" the songs and aid the band in choosing "hits" to go on the CD. Steve Tyler became agitated as hell dealing with this guy. I think it was John Kolodner who was sent in. Tyler was great to watch during that process.

Thanks for the kind words everyone. It makes my struggle to be a musician more satisfying knowing the same things i'm doing are considered good advice.