The writing credits

Slaydon

Slaydon

Member
Jul 28, 2008
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right outside Oslo, Norway
One thing that I wondered about the moment I first saw the songwriting credits on Paradise Lost is that Lepond and Rullo are absent and Pinnella only present in one song (but what a song!). Does anybody know why? I know that Lepond had a surgery and all that, but why isnt Pinnella more present?
 
It means the rest of the band didn't have that much input in the songwriting process, it's a conscious effort on their part to let Mike take most of the job for himself. It kind of makes sense, with this album being heavier and all.
 
Ultimate_Symphony said:
It means the rest of the band didn't have that much input in the songwriting process, it's a conscious effort on their part to let Mike take most of the job for himself. It kind of makes sense, with this album being heavier and all.
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Does that mean that heaviness is Mike's style? If you look at THE ODYSSEY, it seems true. The first three tracks all composed by Romeo solely are the heaviest, along with King of Terrors. But he also has that classical side and can compose great instrumentals in that vein. That's what I appreciate about him.
 
Yes, he did mention he was taking SyX to a heavier direction. He loves classical music but he still loves metal, in fact the most metal of the whole bunch is Romeo.
 
Slaydon said:
One thing that I wondered about the moment I first saw the songwriting credits on Paradise Lost is that Lepond and Rullo are absent and Pinnella only present in one song (but what a song!). Does anybody know why? I know that Lepond had a surgery and all that, but why isnt Pinnella more present?
Click to expand...

For whatever reason (translation: nothing I'm allowed to talk about), MJR is simply the one who wrote the most on this cd. Usually MJR will write the basics & then give them to the guys who'll add their bits..sometimes they have more to add to a cd as a whole, and sometimes not. It's NOT because 'Romeo is the most metal of the band members', though, it's just how things worked out on this cd.
 
One thing you have to take into account, is how down to earth and relaxed this guys are. Romeo has his own studio, in his house. So they have no time constraint and just kind of do things. Also if not mistaken, they don't all live in New Jersey. So it was difficult to get everyone together. And I could be wrong but This all happened around 2006, when they where on Gigantour. Somewhere during the writtein process, Jason Rullo was getting married I believe, or some sort of big family thing for him. And I assume Russell was working on having a baby. Writting on the road, distance, family, and there jobs. Remember that they had jobs, they didn't just write music all day. And back to Romeo's studio, they had just got new equipment before working on Paradise Lost. Needless to say, Romeo is the man, and based on the situations in there lives at the time, I suppose Romeo was the best fit. He was probably noodling around with his new equipment and was like "hey guys I have 2 hours of music written... Lets fix'er up and record an album" The 2 hours aint just a random number either, came from Romeo's mouth himself.

And even if i'm wrong, or am not even close, the one thing to remember is. How layed back the band is, and the 4..5? year period between albums, and how they operate, which is very chilled and relaxed. They write music, because they love it. Also Pinnella and Allen where working on there solo projects, and in Allens case with other bands.

Okay... Im done lol
 
I'm going to assume that Rullo wrote his drum parts... and each member, for that matter, wrote their own parts in some way, or tweaked Romeo's ideas. This is why I've always believed that song-writing credit should go to the BAND. Drum tracks consist of a writing process just like guitar tracks... it IS possible that MJR wrote everything and asked the others to learn and play their parts, but that's not likely. Oh, well...
 
_Gentleman of_the Snow_ said:
I'm going to assume that Rullo wrote his drum parts... and each member, for that matter, wrote their own parts in some way, or tweaked Romeo's ideas. This is why I've always believed that song-writing credit should go to the BAND. Drum tracks consist of a writing process just like guitar tracks... it IS possible that MJR wrote everything and asked the others to learn and play their parts, but that's not likely. Oh, well...
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As a drummer I sort of resonate with this, but on the other hand drum tracks are not really as "written" as guitar parts--usually (there's stuff like The Black Page obviously).

The key(s), tempo(s), and structure of the songs were all decided by Romeo beforehand, the last two being relevant to the drum parts. It's not the drum part that makes a song the song it is. Drummers copy licks and beats off of each other all the time, but you can't really copy a riff or melody or chord sequence without getting into trouble. In the western musical tradition, percussion has usually been more ornamental and not the foundational part of the piece and as much as a drummer can add to a song, even if he makes or breaks it, that's only our tastes. It's just a different rhythmical dressing to the same music.

It's weird when you start trying to decide what makes a song, and while it would be cool for drummers to get more credit, it is hard to justify it in most songs. Now, I would love for some more drum features; Rullo is really fantastic and could certainly "write" something, but I think the credits are fine as is at the moment.
 
Don't get me wrong, I completely see where you are coming from.

It's easy to play a rocktime beat over a song (which has been done plenty of times, and it wouldn't be labeled as stealing), but a lot of songs, especially prog songs, require a drummer to write their parts from scratch. But yes, there's a difference between writing parts for a song, and creating the song itself.

Also, many guitar riffs, chord progressions, and so on, are repeated on a regular basis. Almost every mainstreem rock song follows the same formula over and over again (which is why I can hum along to a song I've never heard before, and be spot-on the entire time).
 
guitarguru777 said:
Mike is a metal head, what do you expect, Granted he also loves Kansas, and Rush, but first and foremonst hes a Metal head, hes from fucking jersey what do you expect .... lol
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So cursing is allowed at this forum??:Smug: Anyway, I'd like to see Pinnella, Lepond and Rullo write each their song on the next album. It would be interesting, if nothing. I think we'd get some satisfying results as well. From the first two particularly.
 
Slaydon said:
So cursing is allowed at this forum??:Smug:
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Yes, because we're not 8 years old and aren't afraid of so called "cursing".

"Ooh, he used a word that has been deemed unsavory by societies social norms, oh no call the care police"
 
Slaydon said:
So cursing is allowed at this forum??:Smug: Anyway, I'd like to see Pinnella, Lepond and Rullo write each their song on the next album. It would be interesting, if nothing. I think we'd get some satisfying results as well. From the first two particularly.
Click to expand...

I'm sure all the members contribute, but regardless, with Romeo being the base of operations it seems like he'll have a main part in any writing process, and frankly I don't have a problem with that at all...I personally would love to see some more action with Rullo, for example, but I also really respect that he knows how to complete the songs and play "in" them as opposed to playing "over" them like a lot of drummers do, if that makes sense.

Angra, for example, spread around the writing duties a bit more on their last album and what resulted was another really cool but sort of disjointed and underwhelming album. If SymX can pull this off while keeping their extremely high songwriting standards, great, but I worry that spreading the responsibilities around will make it more difficult to craft the collective spirit of the whole album.

A lot of bands have great songwriting talent but don't pay attention to this subtle fact of albumcraft and see album-writing as more about the songs, and less about this cohesion. Or many times, as bands become more famous and the members start doing lots of side projects and such, and the management and financial issues start to take center stage, the album-writing decays--even if the songs themselves are still solid. It's hard to put a finger on it, but there is a subtle inferiority to an album that isn't as tightly packaged in this sense.

Symphony X albums have been rock solid since the beginning and have maintained the passion and dedication, which is great. Symphony X has always seemed to me to be Romeo's brainchild and I hope it stays that way. That's not to slam on the other members, because without them the band wouldn't be what it is. I guess it's sort of a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" kind of thing. Whatever SymX is doing, I hope they keep doing it because it really works.
 
Slaydon said:
I'd like to see Pinnella, Lepond and Rullo write each their song on the next album. It would be interesting, if nothing. I think we'd get some satisfying results as well. From the first two particularly.
Click to expand...

Pinnella has co-wrote a lot of songs and passages in the band's history. Lepond had a few credits and minor ideas (mostly on The Odyssey), and Rullo has had practically none. I agree with you about the rhythm section - I hope they come up with some great ideas for the next album.

What I want to know is who co-wrote Frontiers... I can't seem to find the info anywhere! I only wonder because it has a lot of cool keyboard parts, a bass solo, and a drum solo...
 
Detective Clarence Beauregard said:
Pinnella has co-wrote a lot of songs and passages in the band's history. Lepond had a few credits and minor ideas (mostly on The Odyssey), and Rullo has had practically none. I agree with you about the rhythm section - I hope they come up with some great ideas for the next album.

What I want to know is who co-wrote Frontiers... I can't seem to find the info anywhere! I only wonder because it has a lot of cool keyboard parts, a bass solo, and a drum solo...
Click to expand...

From the Japanese booklet that came with the import Odyssey:

Frontiers
Music by Michael Romeo, Michael Pinnella, Michael Lepond, Jason Rullo
Lyrics by Russell Allen

Another reason why I LOVE "Pharaoh". For the writing credits, it simply says SYMPHONY X. :heh:
 
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