exclusive opeth interview!!! :)

[Opethfan1980]

Originally posted by Windom Pearl
[B The singer´s absolutely great, other than that it´s more like mediocre. [/B]

THE SINGER IS GREAT??? OF STAIND???? AARON LEWIS???? CAPTAIN NO-RANGE??? ARE YOU ON CRACK???

Aaron Lewis can't sing his way out of a paper bag. His range is probably the most pathetic of any singer in the business right now, and his lyrics (and tone for that matter) are pathetically whiney.

 

[PaulRawNerve]

LOL!!! .. gotta agree i reckon!! ..

right, i am happy to announce that in just 3 days of this interview being online and only advertised in 4 places, that there has been 309 views of it!!! so that means that there are a huge amount of opeth fans around the place .. which is great news ,,

please, anyone who is into opeth and sees this, if you know other opeth fans, let them know, judging by the response so far, it seems like its a good one for the hardened fan to read!! ..

thanks again to everyone so far, for their great responses

 

[Windom Pearl]

Originally posted by Opethfan1980
THE SINGER IS GREAT??? OF STAIND???? AARON LEWIS???? CAPTAIN NO-RANGE??? ARE YOU ON CRACK???

Yes. Yes. Yes. And personally I find his range enough for the purpose, in objective level it really makes me wonder...by range you mean vocal range, like how high and low he can sing or what? In that case his range doesn´t differ much from any male rock singer. Agree with the whiney thing you said, though.

I´ve seen some live material from them and he sings accurate, without mistakes, and his voice is enough to make my pants wet. And without the voice Staind would be absolutely nothing.

 

[PaulRawNerve]

i still think their first album is the better one .. not a fan of the new stuff aside from a couple of songs ..

 

[PaulRawNerve]

i wonder if mikael akerfeldt expected a discussion about staind to begin from his comments in the interview!!!

 

[Windom Pearl]

Hardly, but I think he screwed up there anyway. Even as talented man as he is he made a fool of himself in my eyes with his comment. That´s because no matter what is said Staind aren´t that bad. I mean really, not THAT bad. And as a clean vocalist Åkerfeldt can´t afford to put Lewis down in public, no fucking way.

 

[PaulRawNerve]

but its still his own opinion ,, as someone who creates great music, he has his thoughts and believes that staind arent a great band ..

i have to agree .. granted there are worse bands around, but there are most definitely better bands worth concentrating time on though also, and its not like mikael or opeth doesnt have a great pedigree and background to judge music ..

but its still down to opinion at the end of the day. .

 

[Thorns of Sorrow]

Akerfeldts clean vocals are the best vocals I have ever heard in my life, they are absolutely beautiful, Aaron lewis sounds the same in every song, and they butcher that same old melody over and over again, and Mike put Staind down, not the singer, and even if he did purt Lewis down, he has ever right to IMO.

btw Mike Mushok, stainds guitar player, used to play in a shred band with guitar great Tony Macalpine, go figure. Its funny how much power money has to buy out musical integrity in some people.

 

[PaulRawNerve]

hey thorns, its true, ive seen so many musicians, and so many great bands get the money flashed in front of them and they change accordingly, its such a shame ..

something i doubt opeth would ever do which is one of the great things about them, they are currently the most popular they've ever been,, but nothing will change them, and when we saw em in leeds, you could tell they still loved every moment of it, rather than saw it as a chore.. thats a great band for ya! ..

 

[Opethfan1980]

Originally posted by Windom Pearl


Yes. Yes. Yes. And personally I find his range enough for the purpose, in objective level it really makes me wonder...by range you mean vocal range, like how high and low he can sing or what? In that case his range doesn´t differ much from any male rock singer. Agree with the whiney thing you said, though.

I´ve seen some live material from them and he sings accurate, without mistakes, and his voice is enough to make my pants wet. And without the voice Staind would be absolutely nothing.

By range, yes, I mean vocal range. Just listen to a few Staind songs. "Outside" for example. Lewis stays in pretty much the same note the entire song. He almost never varies, and when he does, it's so minute, it's difficult to tell. You might like his voice, but technically, he's an awful singer.

Akerfeldt is a very talented clear vocalist, with, probably around a four octave range (possibly even five). Listen to "Harvest" for example. He's harmonizing with himself during the verse, by hitting the high and low octave. I've certainly never heard Lewis do anything near this, as it would require him to leave his precious middle C that he loves so much.

 

[Windom Pearl]

In Outside he does the lift in the end of the song which goes pretty high (for a normal male ). But it´s true his voice makes it hard to notice.

Ahh! Good that you took Harvest here, see I´ve always wondered if falsetto is counted when talking about vocal range. Cause the Harvest verse higher voice is a falsetto.

 

[PaulRawNerve]

LMAO @ "precious middle C" !!! .. hehe .. well ,, i guess the facts dont lie!! ..

 

[Opethfan1980]

"Ahh! Good that you took Harvest here, see I´ve always wondered if falsetto is counted when talking about vocal range. Cause the Harvest verse higher voice is a falsetto."

To tell you the truth, I'm not sure either, but I consider it to be, because good falsetto isn't something that EVERY singer is capable of (although it isn't exactly the toughest vocal technique in the world).


I agree to some extent that Lewis' tone makes it difficult to tell his range, but there I've yet to hear one Staind song that I can't personally sing with easily. He's just not that high (given, he's a baritone, but even so, he hardly varies his range).

Some other singers that mask their range through tone, are INCREDIBLY high. Take Chris Cornell, for example. He sounds alot lower than he is, because even when he's high, he has that crisp bite to his voice. He is an amazing singer.

 

[Windom Pearl]

I agree to some extent that Lewis' tone makes it difficult to tell his range, but there I've yet to hear one Staind song that I can't personally sing with easily. He's just not that high (given, he's a baritone, but even so, he hardly varies his range).

I have say the same thing about Opeth. Though I can´t make it sound nearly as beautiful as Mike. Still.

Some other singers that mask their range through tone, are INCREDIBLY high. Take Chris Cornell, for example. He sounds alot lower than he is, because even when he's high, he has that crisp bite to his voice. He is an amazing singer.

Yep. Those bastards!!!

 

[Opethfan1980]

Originally posted by Windom Pearl


I have say the same thing about Opeth. Though I can´t make it sound nearly as beautiful as Mike. Still.

I can hit the high notes that Mike hits, but he hits some lows that are out of my range, which is pretty impressive (I, too, am a baritone, albeit a high one), such as the "Keep the beast inside
Shackled within my hide" part in "Leper Affinity."

 

[Mikael Åkerfeldt]

Yes, Staind...
I am actually not putting them down as musicians...I mean they're a decent tight band and all, it's just the music...to me it's based on what I call "faked anxiety" which is a syndrome most of these NU metal bands suffer from. There's no conviction in the music or the way it's performed. I just hear the same droning vocal lines, same arrangements, same lyrics...I'm not gonna say "This is how it is!", because it's a free world, but for me bands like Staind means absolutely nothing, total "run of the mill" type of band.

I've never boasted about Opeth as musicians, I only boast about the music haha. I mean, in comparison to many of these Nu metal musicians I can barely play my instrument, and I'm a fukkin novice when it comes to singing. I don't compare skills, it's fukking not interesting to me anymore. I want to hear the nerve, the feeling, the meaning with a song I hear. If I don't get that I dismiss it. There are so many bands out there that they have to give me something more than just a "good performance" or execution of their songs...who gives a fuck about that anymore? I want songs that breaks my world, even the lousiest player can have a heart burning so intense for the music that he or she can put all the Malmsteens and Vai's out there to shame.

Still, coming from a metal past, I have a weak spot for technical arrangements and stuff like that, but it doesn't last. I still think "A day in the life" by the Beatles is the best song ever written.

Music for me is about passion, and if it hasn't got the passion there's nothing, nothing else in it for me.
I admit that saying I "hate" a band might be crossing a line...it's just a word that is so common these days.
Mike

 

[Windom Pearl]

Yes I got what you mean. I think it´s just kinda hard to know when the feeling´s are not faked. At least to me. And Staind...I´m in no way their biggest fan, just an OK band to me with good vocals. But who are we to tell they´re faking? Though compared to the option they aren´t faking it could on the other hand be better. Grown men whining about their parents...jeezh. I think the musical atmosphere goes pretty well with the lyrics there, I think that´s convincing. But it doesn´t make them a good band. Just that there would have been so many other bands, that would have really deserved the "worthless" title. Papa Roach do.

 

[yourdeadgroom]

Cheers Paul, cool interview

 

[Gleemonex]

Originally posted by Mikael Åkerfeldt
I've never boasted about Opeth as musicians, I only boast about the music haha. I mean, in comparison to many of these Nu metal musicians I can barely play my instrument, and I'm a fukkin novice when it comes to singing. I don't compare skills, it's fukking not interesting to me anymore. I want to hear the nerve, the feeling, the meaning with a song I hear. If I don't get that I dismiss it. There are so many bands out there that they have to give me something more than just a "good performance" or execution of their songs...who gives a fuck about that anymore? I want songs that breaks my world, even the lousiest player can have a heart burning so intense for the music that he or she can put all the Malmsteens and Vai's out there to shame.

When I think about that feeling, it makes me wonder if that's the reason so many people like rap. Because the last few days I´ve been having a bit of a rap music discussion. It began when i heard this icelandic rap song on tv, it had a really good melody. The melody reminded me of something, it felt like an old classical tune. But, then througout the WHOLE song, it was nothing but that same short melody over and over and over again. By the end of the song, i hardly liked it anymore. So i started to think how it´s always like that in the rap songs i´ve heard. Sometimes they don´t even compose the music themselves, but take other songs and chop them to pieces. And everything they really create are the lyrics (well, except for when they use old lyrics too). So i thought to myself that they weren´t really musicians. They hardly create ANYTHING in their own music, and they don´t create music with variation and flow.

Now that i read this.. i wonder if my judgements (ouch, i know, one shouldn´t judge ) were too harsh. Maybe they have that nerve, that feeling, that meaning. Even if i don´t like the stuff, it might bring joy to others and have great meaning for them. Maybe others listen to it with the same intensity as i sometimes have when i listen to the music i favour. Yet, even as this thought has barely left my mind, i realise, i still loathe (c)rap music. *sigh*
if any of you had the patience (or boredom) to read through these rambling thoughts.. can you please tell me your views? Is it possible that rap music has that feeling and meaning? Are they truly creating something?

 

[Don Corleone]

Originally posted by Mikael Åkerfeldt

Still, coming from a metal past, I have a weak spot for technical arrangements and stuff like that, but it doesn't last. I still think "A day in the life" by the Beatles is the best song ever written.

THATS ONE KICKASS SONG!



what you have said so far is so true. i like staind, they are OK -thats a matter of taste- but they are no way near my fave bands like opeth (fave band on earth), anathema, katatonia, etc...