Can't Meet in the Middle!

[NSGUITAR]

Aloha Amigos


For those of you who don't know, I'm in a metal band. The two founding members of the band are Jordan Whelan and Adrian 'Bone' Green. They are both former members of Road Runner band Still Remains. We're called Anthem Alone

Myspace.com/anthemalone

In the past 6 months or so, we've allowed anybody to download a track and record vocals over it as a vocal audition. We've received well over 1,000 vocal auditions.

Well, needless to say, about 10% of those were anything even worth listening to.


We now (we think) have it narrowed down to a top 3!

The only thing that really sucks is that all three of these singers have amazing voices, like.. perfect voices, but their writing skills are not completely perfect.

In all reality we'd like to have a singer who has a perfect voice and perfect song writing skills. We REALLY wanted Casey Sabol as our vocalist, but he was not interested, because he wants to pursue his career in producing.

We were days away from being signed and flying Spencer Sotelo, but the day before we were buying a plane ticket for him he bailed and joined Periphery. =(


So what would you guys do in this situation? I'll say this, all three vocalists are also ready to take music full time and be in a singed, full time touring band.. But it's just we can't meet in the middle with them having a perfect voice AND perfect song writer.

My thoughts are that we all collaborate as musicians, all five of us, and create vocal melodies together, as a band rather than having the vocalist do it all.. 5 minds are better than 1.. Sometimes.

 

[Rhys Llewellyn]

Hey man.

I guess it's how ruthlessly you look upon it.

If you guys are capable of arranging and writing the music well, then why do anything differently? As far as owning rights to a song, we all know that's where the money lies, if you ever get famous.

It's great having additional input, as it should be in any band, but if you've already written a ton of stuff, why change that working flow?

If the singer can't suggest ideas (which I agree, is a bit shit), is he happy to take directions?

Harmonies are harmonies be they on guitars, violins or vocals, so I shouldn't imagine this should be too difficult.

Worst comes to the worst, you have a pliable session singer who sings for pretty much free. lol.

*Oh and btw, I don't know any of the names mentioned. If they're in well established bands or whatever I apologise.

 

[Chris_P_Critter]

This is a tough one because, who's to say that these dudes wouldn't do well once they had a chance to write a song from the ground up with you? You all really need to practice and get a chance to gel together. Getting entries based on an internet contest is good way to find potential, but hardly an accurate way to judge ones musicianship.

Pick the best one - give it a trial run - write a new song together, and see how it goes. If it's not meant to be, you'll know.

 

[JeffTD]

1. You should be happy you dodged a bullet on that Spencer Sotelo thing.
2. I find my bands' vocals turn out best when me, the bassist, and the vocalist sit down and work together on creating melodies and harmonies. The kid is an awesome lyricist/songwriter in his own right, but having all three of us work together makes it even better. I would seriously sit down with all of them and 'write' a song with them, or write the vocal part, eliminate the guys who don't produce good results in the end or that are a pain to work with, and narrow down the rest based on who you really enjoy working with.

 

[Melb_shredder]

Agree on working together. It usually yields the best results from my experience to be honest.

 

[Ermz]

Looking for great singing and writing skills in one package is a bit ambitious IMO. This is rare even in the pop/rnb industry. Just take the guy whose attitude best matches your own, who has good ambition and the ability to execute the vocals. Then help him with writing the vocal parts... don't always leave it all to one member.

 

[Ola Englund]

Hey dude, singers don't need writing skills, they need a guitar player to tell them how and what to sing! Easy as that.

 

[TheDriller]

Take the guy who is easiest to work with and will cause the least heart-ache/bullshit down the line.

writing can always be a collaborative effort between yourself and the vocalist.

 

[NSGUITAR]

Thanks guys! We all share quite similar viewpoints, but for some reason the people in my band don't. =(.. One of our members wants a perfect voice/songwriter, but I don't see the point, since all 4 of us are already good songwriters!

 

[Mago]

One of our members wants a perfect voice/songwriter

He shall do that himself if it is so easy then^^

 

[midget donkeys]

I would recommend evaluting things this way:

1. Which singer do you guys get along with best? You are going to spend alot more time stuck in a van with this guy then you ever will making music with him. Not wanting to kill him is key to avoiding breaking up.
2. Singing ability.
3. Writting ability.
4. Hot sisters.

 

[departed]

4. Hot sisters.

oh god, don't go there! take that from personal experience haha

 

[Paulie!]

I'd have auditioned had I known! Damn, need to pay attention to the OT section more often maybe? (or get on Myspace more often....)

-P

 

[NSGUITAR]

I'd have auditioned had I known! Damn, need to pay attention to the OT section more often maybe? (or get on Myspace more often....)

-P

You still can dude. Go to our myspace for info! We're not 100% set on them yet, so still give it a try.