Starting an Industrial Metal band: How To

[Matt Till]

...

this is actually just a trap...

I'm waiting for Benny Strangeman to pop his head in, then I'm gonna hit it with a shoe.

... man this is gonna be sweet...

...










...


So...


What kind of gear does it take to make an industrial metal band. Ministry, (Later) Prong, Nine Inch Nails, etc.

I'm really getting into Ministry a lot, and I hear they kick the arse live. I just bought Dark Side of the Spoon and it is afrigginmazing. But how is it done live. So much to do for a one time two piece band. I'm sure they got touring musicians, but what about gear. Aside from the standard guitar, bass, drum setup.

[Adam Barkley]

I have "And All That Could Have Been"; the live dvd of the tour supporting NIN's Fragile album.

The rough setup on that dvd was:

3-5 Keyboards
1 Theremin
Several Guitars (Trent plays guitar on the occasional song, as does the bassist)
1 Drum set


Also, I think everybody but the drummer sang at some point.

[tekhna]

Originally Posted by abark000

I have "And All That Could Have Been"; the live dvd of the tour supporting NIN's Fragile album.

The rough setup on that dvd was:

3-5 Keyboards
1 Theremin
Several Guitars (Trent plays guitar on the occasional song, as does the bassist)
1 Drum set


Also, I think everybody but the drummer sang at some point.

I was watching that today, and that is about right. Only thing is add in a few synth drums onto that drum kit. He uses a sort of mix and match kit. Need a stingray and some les pauls.

[Gia]

synths synths synths.

[Mike Money]

face paint, and pinstriped suits. (john 5, anybody?)

[tekhna]

Originally Posted by Mike Money

face paint, and pinstriped suits. (john 5, anybody?)

John 5 rocks!

[haujobb]

That's simple, don't.

[page]

Hmm Industrial........ Songs about textile mills and child labor and how you lost your job as a factory steel worker to a machine. Wait oh you mean the other industrial!

[Against Will]

Synths are expensive. Just use trashcans.

In the late 70's/early 80's Bronx, there was a DJ that made his own speakers out of leftover speaker cones and used trashcan's as the cabs. I think it's be cool if you played in a band where you built your own amps out of trashcans and refrigerators. You can even do like Neptunes does and make your own instruments out of scrap metal!

Hella awesome!

[Benjamin Strange]

Industrial music is about making music while not necessarily using "real" instruments. Get some trash can lids, glass bottles, and a penguin, and run them all through a ring modulator. Presto! You're an industrial rock god.

[Hollow Man]

Learn to sing with a sharp German accent, or just sing in German.

[aaron f.]

Ahh Industrial Metal. So many people do it, so few do it right.

The last Ministry tour was great (fall 2004), nothing beats "So What" live, they have a live DVD from 1996 called "Sphinctour" definately worth checking out. None do it better than NIN, hopefully I can finally see them in the flesh this summer.

So you want to start an industrial metal band. There are two main ways to do it.

First way, play everything live, you will need a live drummer and a live keyboard/synth man, plus vox, bass, guitar. (minimum 4 people, easiest with 5-6). A variation on this is to sequence the synth parts (you can have more voices running simultaneously), but the downside is the live drummer MUST be spot on, (perfect timming, memorization of changes and play flawlessly to a click track)

Second way, sequence the drums and sequence the synth. This method is the easiest to do, as you can cut out 2 members, and have perfect timing on all synth and drum parts. If you go this route be sure to have an entertaining visual experience for the audience.

Gear. you can never go wrong with 2 good quality keyboards/synths. We use a yamaha cs6 and an access virus C. Each does something different and what they do they do well. For drums we use an mpc 2000xl but any good sequencer will do, replace with a good drummer.

As with most bands mix it up, the addition of live synth really opens things up. One word of advice, don't overload your songs with synth tracks. More isn't always better and its easy to end up with 4 minutes of noisy mud.

[haujobb]

And don't idolise Trent Reznor...

[metron]

does it have anything to do with heavy machinery? i know a few good millwrights...

[Eyescream]

Originally Posted by haujobb

And don't idolise Trent Reznor...

Rather, idolize Skinny Puppy and Rorschach Test. :-D

[haujobb]

I was thinking more along the lines of Ratzinger, Schneider and Hutter or Meier and Samardzik, from Wumpscut, Kraftwerk and Haujobb respectively.

[page]

And you also gotta idolize the guy who invented the steam engine, hes industrial as hell!

[Eyescream]

Originally Posted by haujobb

I was thinking more along the lines of Ratzinger, Schneider and Hutter or Meier and Samardzik, from Wumpscut, Kraftwerk and Haujobb respectively.

I rather like Kraftwerk, but I can't recall having heard the others you mentioned. I can't help but dig the **** out of the first Rorschach Test record, though.

[Matt Till]

Originally Posted by page

And you also gotta idolize the guy who invented the steam engine, hes industrial as hell!

JAMES WATT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I guess the music I make is industrial... but not metal. I gotta add chugga chugga guitar over top.


(Invest in ring modulator)

[haujobb]

Originally Posted by Eyescream

I rather like Kraftwerk, but I can't recall having heard the others you mentioned. I can't help but dig the **** out of the first Rorschach Test record, though.

Ultimate song = Das Model by Kraftwerk