Opinion time kiddies!

hey waste

welcome to talkbass to a fellow atlantan - howdy!

i'd say you don't need to be in a mad rush to change the singer out, unless you guys are really ready to deal with the uncertainty of not having a singer.

very few bands survive lineup changes unscathed, and if you guys are just at the start of getting something going, this is the _wrong_ time for you guys to try and shift gears. give the guy some time, but be very vigilant about how he performs - if he doesn't take his chance to improve seriously, then he's only going to hold you guys back - time to start hunting for replacements.

on another topic, you might dig getting together with a bunch of other talkbassers on sept 29th, check this thread out...

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=25536

 

as long as you guys are willing to give him - get him to take lessons on how to sing, how to breathe, how to project and hear proper intonation.

nobody would form a band with a guy who just bought an instrument, without ever learning how to use it, yet supposed "singers" show up to band tryouts, and all they've done is sing in the shower before.

singing is a skill, just like everything else in a band. if music really is this guy's "life blood" like he says in your profile, then he will relish the opportunity to perform better, and should jump at the suggestion of getting a teacher.

 

man, only you guys can be the judge of that. don't listen to "complaints" from the peanut gallery - you can't mould your band around what other people say - _you're_ the guys who know what you want to sound like, and are the ones who are going to have to live with it too, for a long time.

if you guys dig his voice, then keep him in the band. if you play your music well, and with sincerity, you will find fans, regardless of how well something "fits" the music. most people use that kind of comment to really mean "fits their preconceived notion of how the music should be". my usual response to a comment like that from audience members/critics is "wow, since you have such a good idea of how it should be, why don't you go form your own band and make it happen."

also, don't expect lessons to change him overnight - if you guys are going to give him a chance, and he does go to lessons, you are going to have to give him a few months to let it happen. you should make his continued membership in the band contingent on him continuing lessons.

a suggestion, i don't know if this is the case for you guys, but you need to make sure that he can hear himself on stage. you know, i'll be the first to say that it really rocks to blast away at 11 on stage, but having the stage volume that loud doesn't do sh!t for the singer except make him have to scream to hear himself, which is another reason why he may have blown out. does your drummer pound the sh!t out of the drums when he's playing live? does the guitarist have to blast his stack? does the singer ever complain about not being able to hear himself? you guys need to make him able to do his job - you can't expect a singer to sing well if he can't hear himself properly. keeping the stage volume under control is another aspect of being pro that a lot of bands, especially metal bands, have a hard time with. i know that we had to really reign in the horses when we first started gigging. remember, the clubs have a pa for a reason, let IT do the blasting, and just get a good sound on stage that everyone is comfortable with.

i listened to your tunes you have, pretty cool, reminds me of tool a bit.

 

i might do that. good luck on wednesday.