General Music Chat

I've always been a blues/classic rock guitarist but my darker side has leaned towards the hardcore/screamo flavor. To feed this unhealthy appetite I put together a new band a couple of months ago. If your a fan of hardcore/metal/screamo, tell me what you think. If not, just tell me what you think about the music composition. Thanks!

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu ... =244798983

Mike,
We all come back to the blues. But for now, the new band sounds great! Hold out for a "Really good" drummer .(one with a lot of energy)!

If your a fan of hardcore/metal/screamo, tell me what you think. If not, just tell me what you think about the music composition. Thanks!

All the tracks have good stuff in them bro. I've been a fan of your guitar skills since I first saw your profile. Your band is pretty good.

Screamo SUCKS!!!!!!

Had to get that out of the way.


Vocalist - decent on singing. His screaming kind of sucks, his voice is too high and shallow to pull it off effectively, IMHO.

He has a decent singing voice, which has got some of the flavor that is popular with young bands these days. i.e. high pitched, head voice, and the phraseology or vocal accents.

But look dude...

Everyone I talk to in the music industry tells me that screamo is short lived and is on the way out soon. I tend to believe this. It is a gimmick, like disco, and will have about the same life expectancy.

There is no point in writing lyrics that can't be understood. The talent to scream, which IS a talent, is a very limited talent. Heard that guy scream once, you have heard him EVERY time. There is no real diversity.

"Ok, he's screaming on that song too... what did he say?"

"I don't know dude, probably the same thing he was screaming about on the last song!"

My band just finished a battle of the bands here in Atlanta, and almost all of the bands were young screamer bands. In all seriousness dude, we wiped the floor with ALL of them. The kids that were there to see their favorite screamo bands only got into it occassionally. They mostly sat there stone-faced and just watched all the bands. When we played though, everyone went nuts and got into all our songs. The other band's fans were screaming for us, more than any of the bands they came to see.

Real music that means something is on the way back brother.

There is a place for anger, but almost no one wants to be angry, all day every day. Part of the problem with alot of music today is that it is soul-less. Who wants to be soul-less forever? Everything is cyclical, and people are ready for something real again.

Mike,
I have to agree with Criag on that "screamo" issue. I also agree that you're an exceptional guitarist. All in all, it seems that you got a good thing going.

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the feedback and I do know what your saying. It's definitely not for everyone. It's different for me also. I do still play my Blues/Classic/Rock gigs but this has also been fun hanging out with my old high school buds in the band. I love writing the music and playing so who knows what itch I might need to scratch next. Thanks again!

something I do when I hear screamo. Later...

Like the rest of the members here who have posted I'm impressed with your guitar playing. I mean really, you sound big league. Most of the music sounds good there, but again I agree with the others the screaming parts suck. He is a good high and tight singer, but his screaming is bad even for screaming. His singing voice reminds me a bit of Coheed and Cambria. That's cool. Good luck on getting a drummer.

i have to agree with the masses here...the music sounds fine to me but the singer is a dead weight...as paul said when he sings he sounds great but he sounds like a different person when he tries to scream..it isnt a natural thing for him and it sounds forced and just doesnt work...

my advice would be to try and play tunes that suite his singing voice and steer well clear of the "screaming"...most people scream because they cant sing...and not the other way around..keep it simple and do what feels natural, trust me it will sound alot better...

i was wondering if you or your singer think the sreaming sounds good?

if you want a screamer go and find one..but i think your better off with the singer you have and just let him sing.

good luck with the drummer hunt...you guys could have a good thing going if you stop trying to fit into a certain type of style(scremo or whatever the kids are calling it these days) and just play what YOU want to play.

Yeah definitely. He is a good singer, and worth keeping, especially if he is a long-time friend like you said, and his voice fits the style of alot of music today. But I'd be worried he is going to ruin his singing voice eventually bro. Then what? Also, stressing your vocal chords out, and not taking care of them, can produce nodules on your vocal chords that can become cancerous, or at the least, ruin your voice.

I know as a kid, I rejected the warnings about loud music. I am paying for it now. I still hear decently, but I know it is not as well as I used to. Your body is nothing to screw around with.

Mike,
We all come back to the blues. .....<snip>

We do?

Your body is nothing to screw around with.

For real! Especially eyes, ears, throat, lungs etc etc etc. Well shoot, all of it!

Be careful with your back, and your knees, too.
But, the most important things for me, now, are my hands, arms, and fingers . . . .

There are two priorities for me....

The Heart
The Mind

Mike, as far as trying other things, I say anytime you even try to expand your experience, it is beneficial in one way or another. Too bad it involves screamo, though. hehe... Look, I try not to knock any "style" of music, but every time I try to give emo/screamo a chance, well..... It seems to me that we finally have an entire genre of music that, in the words of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, "...actually requires you to suck." Once again, it's just my opinion.

Another thing.....if you want to indulge your darker side, and your base is the blues, there is a lot of blues that is some of the darkest music I've ever heard. You know, the tritone is a musical staple of the blues... Also, I view the blues as more of an attitude or feeling than as a style of music. Beethoven had the blues. It's pretty much the same way punk works, too.

my 2 pennies....

That's ok guys, you should hear what my father has to say about screamo. It's not pretty. My older brother who passed away recently was one of the best guitarist I've ever heard and played in bands back in the 80's and my father gave him hell as well about his music, spandex pants and makeup. What's so funny is my father played guitar in bands back in the early 70's and he said that his dad gave him hell for being a long haired hippy who played devil music. I guess I'm part a long line of musical disappointments now.

I guess I'm part a long line of musical disappointments now.

You're not a musical disappointment. It's like a rite of passage for rockers to have their parents/elders tell them that kind of stuff. When I was 16, I was playing "Pride(In The Name Of Love)" on my guitar in my bedroom. My dad came in and told me to turn down "that terrible music" which he thought was actually coming from my stereo. He meant it as a put down to the music. I actually felt complimented, in a back-handed kind of way.

Just because I or anyone else don't like something doesn't have to lessen its value for you.

Footnote: I don't even like U2 anymore......