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I can't remember if I posted about this a while back or not, but I'm going to be playing guitar in my wife's band. To be more specific, her old band split up (drummer and guitarist flaked out) so she and the bassist (now our roommate) decided to just start over from scratch. I had previously offered to fill in on guitars in the old band, but since they're starting over, it made sense for me to join right at the start.
For me, it's an opportunity to do something a little different from what I'm used to, not only in terms of playing with a female singer, but also from a songwriting perspective. I'm playing seven-stringed guitars for this, more clean and/or "ambient" parts, and the pace is a bit more relaxed - think Alice in Chains meets Type O Negative meets old In Flames - with a mellower vibe overall. When I think of metal that has more emphasis on strong melodies and memorable hooks than speed and complexity, the word "catchy" enters my vocabulary, and that's strange territory for me.
What I *don't* want to do is play exactly the same style as dozens or hundreds of other female-fronted bands. I know about Doro Pesch, and about Amy Lee, but nothing that falls in the middle. I'm familiar with the growling style of Angela Gossow or the almost exclusively operatic style of Lori Olson (Aesma Daeva, Therion, others) but that's about it, and neither of these describe what we'll be doing. Maybe if Tori Amos sang on Clayman, or Sarah McLachlan on that last November's Doom album? I don't expect to do something totally unique, but I don't want my attempts at trying a different style to turn into a virtual copy of a band or entire genre that I'm totally unfamiliar with. So, if anyone could name off a few bands (and provide audio links) to some bands I should perhaps be aware of - even if to totally avoid them - it would help me out! I went from being the fill-in to the driving force in this, so I have a lot more invested in this project than I originally expected.
For me, it's an opportunity to do something a little different from what I'm used to, not only in terms of playing with a female singer, but also from a songwriting perspective. I'm playing seven-stringed guitars for this, more clean and/or "ambient" parts, and the pace is a bit more relaxed - think Alice in Chains meets Type O Negative meets old In Flames - with a mellower vibe overall. When I think of metal that has more emphasis on strong melodies and memorable hooks than speed and complexity, the word "catchy" enters my vocabulary, and that's strange territory for me.
What I *don't* want to do is play exactly the same style as dozens or hundreds of other female-fronted bands. I know about Doro Pesch, and about Amy Lee, but nothing that falls in the middle. I'm familiar with the growling style of Angela Gossow or the almost exclusively operatic style of Lori Olson (Aesma Daeva, Therion, others) but that's about it, and neither of these describe what we'll be doing. Maybe if Tori Amos sang on Clayman, or Sarah McLachlan on that last November's Doom album? I don't expect to do something totally unique, but I don't want my attempts at trying a different style to turn into a virtual copy of a band or entire genre that I'm totally unfamiliar with. So, if anyone could name off a few bands (and provide audio links) to some bands I should perhaps be aware of - even if to totally avoid them - it would help me out! I went from being the fill-in to the driving force in this, so I have a lot more invested in this project than I originally expected.
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