“My son is in a band, and he’s a singer, and his vocals … they’re screaming-growling stuff … and he’s got a pretty reasonable voice. Yet he practices really hard to get the screaming-growling thing without losing that voice every five minutes. So I’m, like, “Hats off to you.”” HardStuffVoicePracticeFiveMinutesSonBandLosingSingersReasonableHatsMy SonFive MinutesVocalHats OffGrowling Author:Bruce Dickinson
“I went down to London with the idea that I was going to do vocals over this crazy, crazy trip-hop digital beat. Within two or three months, I heard Hunky Dory by David Bowie and that changed me in one way, and I realized what I actually wanted was to have an E Street Band - individuals, not session musicians.” WayTwoIdeasWantedThreeIndividualHeardCrazyStreetsChangedMonthsBandMusicianBeatsLondonI RealizedOne WayHopsDigitalSessionVocalThree MonthsBowie Author:KT Tunstall
“I'm just as comfortable performing solo with just my acoustic guitar and vocal as I am with a band. The main thing for me is that the performance remain rooted in the words and voice, that there be no place to hide.” VoiceBandComfortablePerformancesGuitarPerformingRootedSoloVocalAcousticsAcoustic Guitar Author:Michael Gira
“Besides the vocal warm ups, me and my band have a secret hand shake that we do just to get us all pumped. It's nice.” HandsSecretNiceBandWarmShakesVocal Author:Jay Sean
“Every band should study Queen at Live Aid. If you really feel like that barrier is gone, you become Freddie Mercury. I consider him the greatest frontman of all time. Like, it's funny? You'd imagine that Freddie was more than human, but... You know how he controlled Wembley Stadium at Live Aid in 1985? He stood up there and did his vocal warm ups with the audience. Something that intimate, where they realize, 'Oh yeah, he's just a f***ing dude.'” IfsKnowsFeelsShouldHumansRealizingAudienceKnow HowGoneStudyImagineBandYeahWarmAidsAll TimeQueensIntimateBarriersControlledImagine ThatVocalStadiumsStood UpMercury Author:Dave Grohl
“I started as a drummer, so I sort of took on singing duties by default. I had sung backgrounds and some lead vocals from behind the drums in different bands that I'd been in, and I'd gotten great responses for the songs I would sing. I really started pursuing the possibility of being a lead singer based on the fact that I was working a full-time restaurant job and then playing gigs at night, hauling drums around. One day, it just dawned on me that, 'Hey, I could be in a band and be the singer, and it would be a lot easier!'” DifferentFactsWould BeJobsNightSongBehindsPossibilityDutyEasierOne DayBandSingingResponseSingersBackgroundsHeyRestaurantsVocalGigsDrummerDefault Author:Chris Cornell
“We heard about the Smiths later, through friends. What attracted us was how they could get across the meaning of the lyric through the tone of the vocal. A lot of bands just try to be catchy. The Smiths wanted to be more.” TryingWantedHeardBandToneVocalCatchy Author:Spencer Smith
“Caitlin Cary and I were always talking about X when we talked about whiskeytown, before it became an actual band. We like the concept of there being no real front person in X, yet this kind of switch up of vocals and really their sheer power, and their ability to sort of bastardise punk rock and midwetsren rock and even country into their own sound.” KindPersonsRealCountrySoundAbilityTalkingRocksFrontsBandConceptsPunkSheerVocalPunk Rock Author:Ryan Adams
“I still do one song by myself onstage. it gives people the extremely personal thing where it's just me on guitar. But, I think the songs are better as a band. I think with all of the extra little hooks and backing vocals, it just adds to what my initial idea was.” PeopleThinkingGivingLittlesStillsIdeasSongBandAddGuitarExtrasHookInitialsVocalPersonal Things Author:Butterfly Boucher
“My tastes range all over the place, from vocal standards to Motown to 70s funk & soul to 80s pop to film scores to artists like R.E.M., Ben Folds, Prince, Annie Lennox, the Police, Elvis Costello, Cat Stevens, the Ditty Bops, local bands that friends of mine are in, and the list goes on... I have no single favorite genre or artist.” SoulFilmArtistMinesGoes OnTasteBandStandardsCatPolicePopsListsLocalsGenreRangeScore80sVocalFoldsFunkAnnieMotownBopsFilm Scores Author:Stephanie D'Abruzzo
“I think the Internet really sussed things into perspective. Because twelve years ago, I could spend my days on writing and running my band and touring and making posters and practicing with my band and working on my vocals, but I didn't spend a large pie chart of my time sifting through criticism as well, and nowadays I do, and all female artists do, because to be able to promote your work, you need to live in those spaces.” ThinkingNeedsWritingYearsWellsRunningAbleArtistSpacePerspectiveInternetBandFemaleYears AgoCriticismMy TimeTwelvePieVocalTouringPostersSiftingFemale Artists Author:Amanda Palmer
“I thought about what I wanted to do besides playing violin and singing backup in a band. Don't get me wrong, playing and singing in That Dog was really fun, but I wanted to work on other musical projects and sing more. So I started a vocal project, i.e. Imaginaryland.” WantedFunDogBandProjectsSingingMusicalVocalViolinBackup Author:Petra Haden
“I work with this wonderful five-piece band, The Tony Guerrero Quintet, along with Kate Flannery, who was Meredith the Drunk in The Office, and Tim Davis, who was the vocal arranger on Glee. The three of us sing, and the band is amazing. We've been working together for about two years. So, we decided to do a Christmas album in July.” YearsTwoTogetherThreeFivePiecesWonderfulBandOfficeDecidedAlbumsDrunkWorking TogetherTwo YearsVocalJulyKateGlee Author:Jane Lynch