yeah...There's definitely not enough love for you guys.

B

Beyond the Pale

Member
Mar 24, 2005
164
0
16
My name's William. >_> I was at the recent Hamilton St. Cafe show. You guys played Breath of Gloria and my sister got all giddy because it was the day before her birthday and we were taking her to see you guys as an early birthday present. =P


Put on an amazing show. I mean, wow. Especially when I See came on, you tore it apart. And the cover of The Trooper..oh man.


But yeah, I've been showing people you guys ever since before The Silvery Image came out, and I still don't think you guys get all the recognition you deserve. You're probably one of the best metal acts to appear in the last 10 years. I'm looking forward to seeing you guys again on November 5th. Maybe I can spot the remaining members I didn't see and get my CD booklet signed by the rest of the band. Heh
 
The problem is, the scene is so crowded with prog-power-neoclassical-medievil-metal right now, everyone who hears about or listens to suspyre will write them off as just another Symphony X wannabe - but they're much more than that.
 
Hey William! I remember you. It's funny that it was your sister's birthday the next day, because it was mine as well. Nice Pain of Salvation reference in your user name by the way - Beyond the Pale is one of my top ten pieces of music of all time right now, heh.
Anyway, it's funny that we get compared to Symphony X so much. I love the band, who I heard of from Rich when we just started Suspyre, so I was excited to hear a band that has the progressive elements of Dream Theater mixed with the more traditional melodies and metal elements of Blind Guardian. The only similarity I see between us and Symphony X is the vocals; I know when Clay first heard Russell Allen he was amazed. The orchestral stuff they do is similar as well, and when I first used their album, "V" back in 2001 I was not just inspired, but like "hey, that was my idea too!", haha. The way the music is arranged however is very different. For starters we have two guitar players that play sometimes two completely different parts and sometimes a melody in simple two-part harmony. Symphony X doesn't do that - Romeo playes mostly plays chunky riffs during a verse with a keyboard or vocal melody over it. I rarely hear Romeo play a counter-melody while there's vocals going on. Also, when there aren't vocals, Romeo takes more of a soloistic violin / Yngwie sort of approach. The one guitar becomes the main idea; we would do it with two guitars, or have the orchestra play the melody. It's just that their instrumentation is very different.
Wow, I didn't mean to start writing an essay to compare and constrast Symphony X and Suspyre, heh. But yeah - it's cool that you guys are commenting on this stuff. When you hear the next album you'll hear some riffs that are very in place with Symphony X, and some stuff that I doubt they would ever touch (hint: saxophone), no matter how awesome they are, heh. Anyway - thanks for all your comments everyone!
-Gregg
 
I only compared you to Symphony X right in the beginning, mainly because Clay has a very Russell Allen feel to him in City Under Sands, at least in my opinion. His voice reminded me of it in some parts. But once I heard your entire album, I knew you were definitely something unique and different, and much better if I may say so myself. =P

One question I have relating to the show at hamilton though. Why didn't either of you do the solo in Serpent I Am? It was just like, "chugga chugga" for 15 seconds. Was that the part that had the chapman stick? Or was it just like, you monentarily forgot it and just went with the flow? <_<

Also, do you ever plan on recording your cover of The Trooper? It brought my friend that I went with to tears. Haha

Annnnnnnnd one final question, and this one is something that may be a little more difficult. >_>

Do you ever plan on putting like, Guitar Pro/Powertabs up for your music? I'm not even close to the level that you guys are on on guitar, but it'd be great to sit there and attempt to play the stuff you guys play. I'd be more psyched to learn your guys stuff than even like, Pain of Salvation at this point. And they've been my favorite band 3 years running. I'm sure there's a few other musicians who listen to your music that might wanna give it a try. If only I was good enough to play by ear. *sigh*
 
I remember when we started recording The City Under Sands with Clay. I originally had a different vocal melody for the verses, but since Clay changed the lyrics (Kevin O'Hara, our first singer, wrote the original ones) I told him to give a new spin on it.

We never played the solos for Serpent I Am live, heh. It's just fun to do that 5/8 over 4/4 riff all in unison. The solos (and that section, in fact) were actually added to the song afterwards; there was no intention of even having solos in that song, and they were improvised, so we'd have to figure out what we played. Maybe for future endevours we'll change something there.

We did think about recording covers, but then if we were to release it we'd have to go through all this legal stuff.

The reason there are no tabs available is sort of complicated. The way I write music for Suspyre is all in notation. I write a part for two guitars, bass, drums, and vocals. Some of the additional guitar parts and vocal harmonies are written at the same point, but a lot are added while we're recording. So, I do have most of the parts that we play live written in notation, but not tablature. To do that I'd have to 1) learn how to use Guitar Pro or Powertab and 2) go through it and tab it. I have considered making professional looking notations with tablature using Sibelius, which I actually know how to use. I was going to do this for the whole album, get it published and duplicated, then sell it on the website (not too expensive of course). But, I don't know if it's really worth it. Since people seem interested in this, maybe I'll add it to my list of projects. It's very hard to get our songs by ear because some times there are three or more guitar parts at the same time, and sometimes there are 7-string parts.
 
I've got the entire new album in Gp4. When I did the album, I put everything in gp4, because it's the best performance-achieving midi software. As Gregg said, a lot things are changed and added in the studio, so they may not be entirely accurate.
 
Well, guitar pro and powertab both have notation also if I'm not mistaken. Although I'm not sure if you can put that in and then have it translate to a tab. Blarg.

To be honest, I'm surprised you don't have any of it in tab, considering writing it out in tab is a LOT easier than notation. Heh. Well, yeah, if you end up working on that, that'd be awesome. I'd definitely buy it.
 
GreggSuspyre said:
The reason there are no tabs available is sort of complicated. The way I write music for Suspyre is all in notation. I write a part for two guitars, bass, drums, and vocals. Some of the additional guitar parts and vocal harmonies are written at the same point, but a lot are added while we're recording. So, I do have most of the parts that we play live written in notation, but not tablature. To do that I'd have to 1) learn how to use Guitar Pro or Powertab and 2) go through it and tab it. I have considered making professional looking notations with tablature using Sibelius, which I actually know how to use. I was going to do this for the whole album, get it published and duplicated, then sell it on the website (not too expensive of course). But, I don't know if it's really worth it. Since people seem interested in this, maybe I'll add it to my list of projects. It's very hard to get our songs by ear because some times there are three or more guitar parts at the same time, and sometimes there are 7-string parts.
Click to expand...

I actually learned the entire album by ear. True story... or... not. He's right. I recorded with a music stand in my face the entire time.
 
See, for me writing in tab is not easier. I prefer traditional notation by far. I like to see the shape in which the music goes, not just a bunch of numbers. If I want to know the fingering, I'll write it in. Music is about shapes and lines and direction, not numbers.

But yeah, Noah does have the album (or at least a version of it) in GP4 since he played bass on the album, heh. But the guitar parts are not transcribed exactly how we play them since they weren't created in GuitarPro, so if you'll have to put in your own tabs if you want to know where to play it on guitar.
 
Eh.


Well, in the end it's all on you guys to see what gets done and what doesn't. If you end up releasing a book with the notation and stuff, it'll give me more incentive to learn how to read music properly. I need to anyway, I'd feel hollow as an aspiring musician if I just chose to be lazy the entire way through.

I just wish it was that simple. haha
 
There's nothing wrong with just being able to read tablature. It's just I prefer traditional notation because it's the way I was taught and I'm a composer; I use it all the time for everything. Tabs are great for knowing where to play the exact part, but this information can just as easily be disclosed by putting the Roman numerals under the music (the position) and the circled Arabic numbers (the string) and bold-faced Arabic numbers above the notes (the finger, which is only used when you're out of position).
 
I've learned the traditional notation for the saxophone, so I figure it wouldn't be too hard to do the same for guitar. It's just going to be mighty tough getting the hang of playing chords just by looking at the notes, though.
 
I have a really weird composing technique... This is all I need:
http://www.guitarseek.com/go.php3?add=http://www.all-guitar-chords.com&backadd=
The tools on this site have made a huge difference in my compositions.

First I'll pick a key signature to use and go through the chords and try and come up with something interesting. I'll try and figure out some good riffs or fit in ones I've already developed. Then I'll work on developing the structure of the song and figuring how the vocal harmonies will work.

Once the foundation tracks are down i'll tackle the midi drum track and experiment with different things- I like playing some sections out of time to sound a little more progressive... Although I haven't gotten far enough to actually change time signatures yet.

By the time that's all done I'll experiment with different scales to develop my leads and solos.

The sad thing is that I really don't know much theory, but I can write pretty intricate stuff and it actually sounds like I might have a shred of talent. Never bothered to memorize any scales (not even the pentatonic), but I can come up with a lead pretty quick if I have the tab in front of me. I completely depend on my scale charts, I'd be horrible if I was in a real band.

The one thing I can't do well at all is hear something that I like and understand why I like the sound. I don't know why those notes resolved in such a way to create a certain mood or feeling. That's where having a strong understanding of classical theory comes in.

The compositions in suspyre's music are phenominal. I could tell immediately that they are written by someone who has a very strong understanding of music theory. It great to hear some of your writing techniques, gregg.

-BT
 
I can't wait to hear the whole thing. It's gonna be probably one of my top contenders for "Album of the Year", much like The Silvery Image was last year.

The only three albums I see possibly coming up against this will be Arsis' "United in Regret", Pain of Salvation's "Scarsick", and Kristoffer Gildenl&#246;w's untitled solo album.
 
That's so funny that you mentioned the new Arsis album, because Noah also played bass on that album.

We'll put a new song on Myspace shortly. That means we'll have to remove one. We'll have to resubmit April thought since we don't want that version floating around. The new mix sounds even better and some things are slightly different. Rich has been apparently slaving over it to make it sound perfect. "The kick drum is .01db too loud, now the rhythm guitar needs a little less 5k," etc etc. I know that Myspace and MP3s ruin the sound quality anyway, but still, it would bother me if people are listening to that and thinking it's us, heh.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

B
You guys rule
Replies
9
Views
1K
Suspyre
Rev. Clayton
R
GuitarShredder
You guys rocked the Metro!!!
Replies
8
Views
905
Daylight Dies
MadTinus
M
chewybang
Are you guys busy Friday Night? If not...
Replies
3
Views
430
The Iron Maidens
chewybang
C
K
Howdy guys!!
Replies
5
Views
243
Introduce Yourself!
Niki Mysteria
N
P
THANK YOU TO MARK AND THE GUYS!BWBK!
Replies
2
Views
542
Jag Panzer
TheGraveDigger
T
Top Bottom
Back