Transcript
Speaker: Hey everybody, welcome to the Metal Mama podcast.
Speaker: My name is Candice, otherwise known as the Metal Mama, and I know some of you have been messaging me on Discord and Instagram asking what the heck is going on.
Speaker: I need to apologize to everybody.
Speaker: I'm very sorry.
Speaker: I think most of you know from the last episode that I put out that I've been going through a divorce, and hopefully none of you have ever gone through that.
Speaker: If you have, you understand how much of your time and effort it takes up.
Speaker: And that's why it's just like, I've had to put everything on hold just to get through this.
Speaker: Fortunately, the divorce was finalized and I am now able to get content out, get reviews out, get blog posts and get podcast episodes again.
Speaker: So we're super happy.
Speaker: And fortunately I have a guest that we've been waiting to get this podcast done and you can introduce yourself.
Speaker: Thank you very much.
Speaker: I'm Pete.
Speaker: I am the lead vocalist of Crown Solace and Urania Fantasia, solo artist, session musician, all of those things.
Speaker: And I'm so excited to be here today to finally get to talk to you.
Speaker: I think it's been, well, obviously we talk outside of this setting.
Speaker: However, you know, to get it down on the podcast is actually really, really nice.
Speaker: So thanks for having me.
Speaker: Yeah, we've been trying for a while.
Speaker: And I know you and I talk back and forth on like Instagram and stuff all the time.
Speaker: But yeah, I'm glad that we're finally here on the show.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: Me too.
Speaker: Me too.
Speaker: It's a long time coming.
Speaker: And we've tried a couple of times, haven't we?
Speaker: But things have got in the way and life happens.
Speaker: So better late than never, as I say.
Speaker: Yep, it's okay.
Speaker: It's okay.
Speaker: We finally, you know, schedules are hard, especially when you're dealing with like the time zones we're dealing with.
Speaker: Was it seven hours?
Speaker: You're seven hours ahead or behind me?
Speaker: Behind me, I think, aren't you?
Speaker: Yeah, I'm seven hours behind you.
Speaker: And you're seven hours ahead of me.
Speaker: And that's until daylight saving time switch.
Speaker: And it's different all over again.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker: Daylight saving time.
Speaker: What a nightmare.
Speaker: I mean, hooray for World War II.
Speaker: You need to get a little bit more light.
Speaker: Yeah, I know.
Speaker: That's why I'm like, I mean, yay for World War II, I guess, because that's exactly what happened.
Speaker: Yeah, I suppose.
Speaker: Yeah, I suppose.
Speaker: One decent thing to come from, I guess.
Speaker: So we're going to go for a minute just because you guys just released a new EP.
Speaker: So I'm going to give you a chance to talk about that because you kind of, you know, you have to.
Speaker: Yeah, we have just released an EP.
Speaker: I'm really, really proud of it.
Speaker: And I know that the guys are as well.
Speaker: It's been really well received.
Speaker: It's had a few different reviews come through.
Speaker: It's had some really nice comments and feedback left.
Speaker: on the video and we're just so happy that we've managed to get it out.
Speaker: It's something that we've been sitting on for kind of 12 months.
Speaker: And yeah, to have that end result is just really, really great.
Speaker: And it's going to give us a little bit more clout, I think, to kind of get out there and get some live shows going on and, you know, do something else.
Speaker: But I know you've been toying with Rabu yourself, haven't you?
Speaker: Yeah, I have.
Speaker: The review itself is going to be coming out tomorrow or the next day, so tomorrow or Friday.
Speaker: I've got all my notes here and everything.
Speaker: Now I just need to kind of, you know, put my notes together into a cohesive review.
Speaker: But yes, I am reviewing it.
Speaker: Yeah, great.
Speaker: Okay, well, go easy on me, yeah?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I'm going to go easy on you.
Speaker: I promise.
Speaker: Actually, like, I mean, spoiler, I did like it.
Speaker: I just think that, you know, I'm not one of those people that like,
Speaker: Unless somebody tells me, I really, really want you to review this, please review it.
Speaker: I'm never really going to be like, well, I hated it and it sucked and I have nothing good to say.
Speaker: Like, why would I bother reviewing it?
Speaker: I hear you on that.
Speaker: A few people have done that to us.
Speaker: And I just, well, I say a few people, one person did it to the first song we ever released.
Speaker: They did a random review.
Speaker: And it was just horrific.
Speaker: Like they just slated everything that we did.
Speaker: And I didn't really feel there was a need for it because why would you review it if you don't like it?
Speaker: It didn't make any sense whatsoever.
Speaker: But there we are.
Speaker: And that's that's kind of how I view things is it's like I didn't, you know, I mean, sure, there's there's some albums where it's like I don't like every song in the album.
Speaker: I think Camelot's newest album, I reviewed it and I didn't like every single song.
Speaker: But I
Speaker: Overall, I enjoyed the album because if I'm listening to something and I'm like, this really sucks, I'm not going to keep listening to it.
Speaker: I'm just not.
Speaker: Yeah, you're right.
Speaker: It kind of makes sense for you to like it at least, doesn't it?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And then on top of that, I know that people, I mean, I've been around musicians and on the back end of the music industry.
Speaker: I mean, I've never been on stage or front facing, but I've
Speaker: I've done things on the business side of the music industry for so many years.
Speaker: And so I know how hard people work and I know how proud they are of their work.
Speaker: And sure, I know that you understand not everybody's going to like what you do, but I'm not going to.
Speaker: Yeah, I just don't want to be the person who's like, no, I didn't like it.
Speaker: Yeah, I know what you mean.
Speaker: And I think, you know, if I, I get a lot of messages nowadays on Instagram and they're from like people that kind of like our stuff or maybe like what I'm doing on there.
Speaker: And they'll say to me, oh, what do you think of this singer?
Speaker: What do you think of this singer?
Speaker: And I just refuse to answer because I think you can just get caught up in a,
Speaker: The war of opinion sometimes.
Speaker: And actually, you know, what's my opinion?
Speaker: Do you know what I mean?
Speaker: You know, what is my opinion on how well so and so sung at Vaken this year or, you know, this festival that happened over there, you know, how well did they do?
Speaker: It doesn't matter.
Speaker: And I think that unless I'm reviewing it from a, you know, a critique perspective.
Speaker: I'm not going to weigh in.
Speaker: I'm just going to keep my nose out and keep away from all that.
Speaker: But, you know, it's different for yourself because you are actually a reviewer.
Speaker: So sometimes you do have to become the person that critiques.
Speaker: And I get that and appreciate it completely.
Speaker: But for me, he's not doing that apart from, you know, so that the guys that are messaging me can get a little bit of a scoop on how I felt someone did vocally.
Speaker: I just think it's not worth me even entertaining.
Speaker: I'm not sure why somebody would do that.
Speaker: I mean, I can understand if you actually did review music, but you don't.
Speaker: You are a musician.
Speaker: You are a vocalist.
Speaker: It's like...
Speaker: I mean, I guess if it was somebody else who was a vocalist and like, so what do you think of this?
Speaker: Maybe that's different.
Speaker: But just some random person who's like, hey, what do you think of this guy's album?
Speaker: I'd be like, why?
Speaker: I've noticed recently people become very obsessed with the technicality of singers.
Speaker: And this is like non-singers almost.
Speaker: Actually, I think even broader than that, non-musical people, just people that enjoy music.
Speaker: I've become obsessed with the technicality of singers and like who has the highest note, who has the biggest range, who's able to do this louder, who's in belt, who's in head voice, who's in chest voice.
Speaker: And you get to the point where actually they want you to feed their knowledge through understanding how another person does.
Speaker: But with that comes opinion.
Speaker: And sometimes that opinion can get you into trouble, especially when you're in the industry.
Speaker: You know, if I say actually, do you know, someone didn't do that very well,
Speaker: and that message gets out, you know, I could be in a bit of trouble as well.
Speaker: And it doesn't go down very nicely.
Speaker: So I think this whole, this whole rabbit hole of people, this whole feeling of people going down this rabbit hole in terms of vocal technique is just got way out of hand, you know, learn it from a book if you need to, but we'd have to analyze every single singer to the point beyond belief.
Speaker: It's just, it's just not cool.
Speaker: I don't quite understand that.
Speaker: I mean, you and I have talked about vocal technique and stuff many, many times, but I don't think I've ever been like, so what do you... Well, actually, no.
Speaker: You're involved in the industry, though.
Speaker: Yeah, that's true.
Speaker: It's totally different.
Speaker: You're a musician yourself in your own right, albeit not singing, but well, you have done some singing, actually, so you have an interest, an invested interest, but the people that you get nowadays just... Yeah, they just want to hear some negativity for no reason whatsoever.
Speaker: I don't want to hear all that.
Speaker: I don't want to, I don't even like, I don't know.
Speaker: To me, it's like, I love my music.
Speaker: And if I'm listening to it, I don't, I want to enjoy it.
Speaker: And I want to hear somebody's voice and be like, wow, that is an amazing voice or wonderful range or, you know, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, right.
Speaker: I actually messaged a singer the other day.
Speaker: It's a really good point you make that.
Speaker: I messaged a singer the other day who just released an album.
Speaker: And for the first time, I actually listened, for the first time in a long time, I listened to this singer's voice without listening to the technique that was behind it because it was just so good.
Speaker: And I actually messaged this person.
Speaker: I was like, look, you know, one singer to another, I actually really liked what you've just done.
Speaker: And it was the first time in a long time that I've listened to
Speaker: voice and enjoyed it rather than listen to it from like a technical standpoint because obviously you do as another singer and especially as a teacher as well I really do and that was really welcome so I'm with you on that like you know why would you want to ruin that experience I did it it's not good so keep it sacred keep it you know for you and enjoy every single moment that you listen to music that's how I am there there is one singer though that I really do listen to their technique just because
Speaker: his range is kind of insane.
Speaker: And Giannis, the lead singer of Beast in Black.
Speaker: Yeah, Giannis has got a great voice.
Speaker: Yeah, really good.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And, you know, the way that he slides from one octave to the other, and it's just, and especially after last year, I saw them here in Denver, they played with Nightwish and they played live.
Speaker: And for a moment, I had to push up to the stage to make sure he wasn't lip syncing.
Speaker: Yeah, no, he's a great singer.
Speaker: He's really, really good.
Speaker: He slides effortlessly through his passaggio and just bridges that gap between chest voice and head voice so, so well.
Speaker: So yeah, I'm a little bit jealous of Giannis, I'm not going to lie.
Speaker: I think anybody who sings is probably jealous of him.
Speaker: Yeah, I would say so.
Speaker: I would say so.
Speaker: I was actually in shock when I heard them live because I'm like, this sounds like the album track.
Speaker: And I actually pushed up to the stage to watch his mouth moving to be like, is this dude lip syncing this?
Speaker: Like, what's going on?
Speaker: And he wasn't.
Speaker: No, no, he doesn't.
Speaker: He's just got such good technique.
Speaker: Yeah, very, very, very good singer.
Speaker: And I can say that, like, you know, I know we're just talking about not having opinions, but that is not an opinion.
Speaker: That's a fact.
Speaker: No, there's no there's no opinion on the fact that that guy, you know, who else was the same way live that shocked me?
Speaker: And I was super duper close was Giacomo Volley, who's Rhapsody of Fire's lead singer right now.
Speaker: And he also I was like, holy cow, he's good live.
Speaker: I'm not familiar with them.
Speaker: I should be, but I'm not.
Speaker: Yeah, I need to go into that because I've not delved deep enough to know whether or not he's a really good singer.
Speaker: So yeah, that's one for the list.
Speaker: Yeah, he's very good live.
Speaker: I mean, Rhapsody of Fire, they've kind of switched lead singers a couple times.
Speaker: But yeah, he's also very good live.
Speaker: But yeah, that's like the last couple times.
Speaker: And then...
Speaker: Sometimes when I see people live, I'm just like, this is great, but I'm not really paying attention to their voice or their technique.
Speaker: But with speaking of voices, we are going to talk about yours because yours is so unique.
Speaker: Yeah, so I'm a sopranist, which is probably a term that you're more familiar with if you're involved in the classical industry.
Speaker: And it's kind of a fuck, I suppose, of the countertenor range in a really weird, loose way.
Speaker: So, you know, countertenor is someone that sings in their falsetto.
Speaker: And a sopranus does exactly the same thing, but there are tonal differences between the two.
Speaker: So a counter tenor has kind of a tinny quality to their voice, almost a little bit like nasally in a good way and a little bit squeezed.
Speaker: Whereas a sopranus sounds like a soprano or a mezzo soprano has more of a female quality, which is where I sit.
Speaker: So, you know, you could be mistaken as I have quite a lot of times, especially with the EP release, because there's not a music video out with my face on it.
Speaker: People have asked, oh, who's the female singer on the album?
Speaker: Well, it's actually me.
Speaker: But yeah, that's where my vocal kind of range lies up there.
Speaker: But it's a bit of a rare one because I can take it down quite low as well.
Speaker: So like, you know, for example, on one of the songs, Dangerous Eyes, everyone's like, oh, you know, you dipped into your chest voice there.
Speaker: No, I didn't.
Speaker: I just took my falsetto down very low and provided you with lots of tips and tricks to make it sound like it was much weightier than it actually is.
Speaker: But hey, that's what being a good singer is, I suppose.
Speaker: So I'll take that one.
Speaker: That's good.
Speaker: Now, the only reason why I don't think you did on that track is because I have actually heard your chest voice and I did not hear it on that track.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: Why did you hear that?
Speaker: When we were talking about singing, because you were talking about my range and you were giving an...
Speaker: Yes, I demonstrated.
Speaker: And it's much more full, isn't it?
Speaker: And it's like, you know, it's kind of baritone.
Speaker: And yeah, I mean, it's all right.
Speaker: It's not a bad voice, my chest voice.
Speaker: It's just, you know, this is no ego.
Speaker: I'm not a fan of ego.
Speaker: But if you put me in a line of sopranists, I would be at the top of my game.
Speaker: If you put me in a line of terrorism baritones, I wouldn't be nowhere near the top.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So, you know, I don't use it because ultimately it's not my niche.
Speaker: It's not my best.
Speaker: It's not the best part of me.
Speaker: Whereas I know that, you know, I am a decent singer up in the top end.
Speaker: So it kind of makes sense for me to draw in on that.
Speaker: But one day, one day I'll use it, I'm sure.
Speaker: So what you need to do is like really screw people up and use it as like a backing vocal in one of your tracks.
Speaker: So nobody really realizes it's you doing both.
Speaker: So I actually, you finally should say that I actually did do that on about three or four tracks on the EP.
Speaker: So there's some choir parts that I've layered up and I used, I used, I did it over four octaves.
Speaker: There's actually in the, in Dangerous Eyes underneath on the harmony, there's my chest voice as well.
Speaker: So if you listen very closely, you can hear it, but it's not something that I would feel comfortable doing lead vocals with just yet, but who knows that might change.
Speaker: See, I didn't even notice it because I was just listening to the main vocals of the track and I was like, I didn't hear your chest voice in that, but that's only because I have heard your chest voice, so I knew what it sounded like.
Speaker: Yeah, definitely.
Speaker: One day I'll be there, I'm sure.
Speaker: And your chest voice is about as low as mine is.
Speaker: I know it is.
Speaker: I was really shocked.
Speaker: I was like, God, you've got a really low voice because, you know, control toes are fairly rare.
Speaker: And, um, and it was, it was nice to actually talk to someone that knew that and was like, yeah, I know control toes are rare, but I am actually a control toe.
Speaker: And I was like, yeah, you know, you are, I think I did even got the piano out tonight.
Speaker: Yeah, we went to, but the only thing is, is that we realized that I don't, cause I,
Speaker: Like I said, about 20 years ago, I would have told you where my break is.
Speaker: I don't actually know where my break is anymore.
Speaker: Because, you know, the older you get, your voice does change.
Speaker: So I don't know these days if I'm still a true contralto.
Speaker: I think I think I still am.
Speaker: Yeah, well, to be honest with you.
Speaker: The voice as it gets older usually darkens, so you do lose a little bit of range.
Speaker: Yeah, I definitely have.
Speaker: You lose it from the top mostly.
Speaker: The top is where the kind of voice goes first.
Speaker: But how do you lose it?
Speaker: I wouldn't say you would naturally gain it on the bottom, but it does make the bottom notes a bit more weighty as you get older.
Speaker: And then you get to a certain point where it all sounds crap anyway.
Speaker: So, you know, you kind of just got to bow out.
Speaker: But yeah, so I would imagine that you wouldn't slip out of being a contralto.
Speaker: If anything, you'd probably add weight to being a contralto.
Speaker: So yeah, you probably still are.
Speaker: I would say 90% still are.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But yeah, we were checking the scales and everything because where you were going, checking to see if I could hit my break, there was a couple of points where I was like, nope, you've already passed my break.
Speaker: Way past it.
Speaker: You just need to get back down there again.
Speaker: Yeah, just like go lower, go a little bit.
Speaker: My break is, it is not very high.
Speaker: And that is a, I guess we could say a problem I have faced in the past, but I've never seen it as a problem.
Speaker: Yeah, it's a weird one, isn't it?
Speaker: Because, yeah, again, like, you know, going back to technique, a lot of people now, you know, in recent studies and in recent teachings are treating the voice as one whole and trying to, from a lesson point of view, eradicate the terminology of chest voice and head voice.
Speaker: And just looking at M1 and M2, modal 1 and modal 2, which is a little bit more scientific, but probably more linear.
Speaker: So it connects the whole two together.
Speaker: So it's important to know where your break is as a teacher or for the teacher to know the student's break.
Speaker: But as a singer, I think it's more important to look at the voice as one whole stretch.
Speaker: You know, this is coming from someone who just sings in their M2.
Speaker: So, you know, a little bit hypocritical, but hey, there we are.
Speaker: But, you know, not understanding that break and working through it to create one whole voice is actually, you know, where we kind of want to be.
Speaker: So, yeah, it's really interesting that you say that you think it's hindered you.
Speaker: Whereas I believe that's because we're from a generation where it was really drummed into us.
Speaker: Actually, you know, you must know what chest voice is.
Speaker: You must know what head voice is.
Speaker: You must know where passaggio and break are.
Speaker: Whereas nowadays it's becoming much more fluid and much more akin to having like one voice rather than two separate voices.
Speaker: So, yeah, I think it's a generational thing as well.
Speaker: It is very much a generational thing.
Speaker: And especially for me, because when I was younger and I had some I had a couple of pretty bad vocal teachers when I was younger who would push me.
Speaker: into, you know, a higher range than I should have been because the way they saw it and we're talking, you know, this was like in the 1990s and they were like, oh, well, you're a female.
Speaker: You have to be this high.
Speaker: And it's like, I can't.
Speaker: So around that time, and still today, very much so today, because of the remnants of that time, they often used to pigeonhole mezzo-sopranos as altos.
Speaker: They were actually mezzos that were underdeveloped.
Speaker: And the same sopranos, you know, they'd pigeonhole sopranos as mezzo-sopranos because they just didn't develop the upper range.
Speaker: So there was this focus around pushing the singer around that era.
Speaker: that meant that actually they would sit correctly into their vocal fuck.
Speaker: But actually, sometimes you've just got to understand someone's voice.
Speaker: Like there's no point in pushing you to a high C if you're an alto, like, you know, you're never going to get that high C. It's going to damage your voice.
Speaker: It's going to damage your confidence.
Speaker: So you need to understand someone's voice and voice limitations before pushing them to a part that actually they're never going to be able to hit or reach.
Speaker: Yeah, really interesting.
Speaker: Really, really interesting.
Speaker: But
Speaker: All of this sort of teaching was before, you know, endoscopies and before we could go into the, I don't think endoscopy, laryngoscopy maybe is probably the better word.
Speaker: I'm awful with medical terms, but you know, where we would go into the larynx and see what's going on and, you know, see where the vocal folds are and,
Speaker: All of these teachers come from the old Bel Canto ways and things like that, the ancient teachers that, you know, are actually outdated.
Speaker: And I think that as we've moved forward in terminology and time, we've definitely gained a more broader understanding of how the voice works.
Speaker: But some of those teachers are still sucking the dark ages.
Speaker: They really, really are.
Speaker: That's fascinating.
Speaker: There's so much about like, you know, sort of the science behind vocals that obviously I do not know.
Speaker: However, just to let people listening know the reason why we're getting into a little more technical thing is because you are actually a vocal teacher.
Speaker: I am.
Speaker: I am.
Speaker: I do.
Speaker: So I am a vocal teacher.
Speaker: I am in the grand scheme of things.
Speaker: I'm a fairly new vocal teacher.
Speaker: However, my vocal classes are around the body.
Speaker: So it's a holistic approach to vocal teaching.
Speaker: And that sounds quite wishy-washy.
Speaker: Sometimes I'm not a fan of wishy-washy.
Speaker: I like things that are direct, but what I do is I understand how the body works.
Speaker: and the mind work, you know, from years of training as a therapist and understanding how, you know, mental blockages cause us to have physical blockages and all those sorts of things.
Speaker: And I attribute that great grasp of knowledge with my good grasp of knowledge of teaching to tailor a really, really specific lesson around kind of confidence building and mind over matter.
Speaker: And that sort of approach while still having a technical influence.
Speaker: So, yeah, I am a vocal teacher, but, you know, there are others that are far more technical than me.
Speaker: So, you know, I could easily have got some of my terminology wrong there.
Speaker: You know, you'd be forgiven for like calling me out on it.
Speaker: But no, I have a good understanding.
Speaker: You know, I have like a 70% understanding of it.
Speaker: and 100% understanding of kind of the therapy side of things.
Speaker: So that combined gives me a real good foundation to be able to do these lessons in the way that I really want to.
Speaker: If someone wanted to come for pure technicality, I would send them and signpost them to a teacher that I know could do better.
Speaker: And I've got some really good connections for that.
Speaker: But if someone wanted to come for understanding how their mind is influencing their voice and how to
Speaker: get over some of the blockages that they face within singing and also learn technique as well, then I would be the guy for that.
Speaker: That is fascinating.
Speaker: I think, I mean, for me personally, though, hearing somebody that can do, you know, like not just work with the technical aspect of your voice, but kind of the body as a whole, I think that's super cool.
Speaker: So yeah, maybe one of these days I'll finally give you what you want and let you get a hold of my voice.
Speaker: Yes, I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker: And of course, for you, there would be no charge because I just want to know what's going on there.
Speaker: There's a lot of really, really low range going on there is what there is.
Speaker: I would be interested to hear that.
Speaker: So one day we'll have to set that up.
Speaker: But this was hard enough to get us together for this.
Speaker: So I'll give you six months, right?
Speaker: I mean, I don't know.
Speaker: Well, now that, like we said, my schedule has finally come down and, you know, no more having to rush to court dates and split work days and stuff.
Speaker: I'm much easier to deal with now.
Speaker: No, I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker: So I do have a question that goes on this because I think you and I could talk about this for hours and, you know, yeah, we don't have that on this show, but you obviously like with Crown Solace, which is one of the projects that you work with.
Speaker: I mean, this is a metal project.
Speaker: However, you have a very classical sounding voice and yeah, there's obviously a couple of metal projects that we can think of that do that, you know, Nightwish kind of comes to mind, but yeah,
Speaker: What caused you to go, okay, even though I can be here, like I can be in the classical, in the theater, and you would probably do amazing there.
Speaker: What caused you to go, no, I'm going over here.
Speaker: Yeah, that's such a good question.
Speaker: So there's a couple of things to that.
Speaker: So I did study classically.
Speaker: A lot of what you hear on the EP and in my music, and I'm talking a lot, I'm talking like 90% of my stuff is actually contemporary stylings with a classical technique.
Speaker: So, for example, if you listen to Inside My Mind on the chorus, the first half of the chorus applies a more classical technique.
Speaker: The second half of the chorus then goes straight into contemporary sounding, which is less vibrato.
Speaker: It's more of a belt sound.
Speaker: Still up in my high register.
Speaker: But it's not as classical as people initially think.
Speaker: But because they're not used to hearing a full classical voice, it still sounds very classical.
Speaker: Does that make sense?
Speaker: No, it does.
Speaker: It makes perfect sense.
Speaker: Yeah, I understand that completely.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, I just, I always wonder because, I mean, it's not that you don't hear it in metal.
Speaker: You do hear people with really great voices and classically trained voices that can move into metal.
Speaker: But I always wonder, like, what made somebody say, like, no, I'm going to go over here.
Speaker: Like, this is what I want to work on.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So, so, so that for one, for me, um, the, the reason why I kind of said that was because actually I get so bored being pigeonholed and one of the things that the classical industry do, and this is just one of the many things that I don't like about the industry.
Speaker: And I'm not going to say that it's all bad, but there are a few things I don't like is that they tend to pigeonhole people.
Speaker: into categories and you know you can't possibly be in a metal band if you're in an opera house you can't possibly sing things that aren't correct they have to be written for you in your funk and there's so many different do's and don'ts and the environment is very stuffy now whilst they are absolutely disciplined whilst they are fantastic at their craft and they are you know the top of their game when it comes to vocalists
Speaker: There was also a lot of restrictions as well that I actually, as an individual, weren't prepared to kind of undergo.
Speaker: And I think, you know, I'm not an opera singer.
Speaker: I always make that really clear.
Speaker: You know, I am not an opera singer.
Speaker: I'm not good enough to be an opera singer because I didn't finish my studies to the point where I would have been good enough.
Speaker: And I certainly haven't got that discipline.
Speaker: However, if I wanted to, I think, you know, go back 10, 15 years, I probably could have done that.
Speaker: But I quickly realized that it wasn't for me.
Speaker: And around that same time, I turned the TV on.
Speaker: Nightwish was playing on the TV.
Speaker: It was Nemo.
Speaker: And I just thought, yeah, this is where I need to sit.
Speaker: And I kind of went down the metal road.
Speaker: Musical theatre as well.
Speaker: So my voice type, there was no roles for me in musical theatre.
Speaker: Why would you employ me when you can employ Patti LuPone, Kerry Ellis, Dina Menzel?
Speaker: Excuse me, because that's the big ones that I would sing.
Speaker: And there's no point in having me when you can have them.
Speaker: So there wasn't really a market for me in the musical theatre world either.
Speaker: And metal seems to be the most accepting place for me to do what I need to do and also make an impact because I don't think it's been done before.
Speaker: So that's kind of where I decided to lay my roots, if you like.
Speaker: I mean, yeah, sure, I've heard metal bands with soprano singers, but first off, they're female, you know, and secondly, they don't have the same sound that your project has either, because you guys kind of like, at least to me, I felt like there was a lot of genre crossing going on.
Speaker: Yes, totally agree.
Speaker: Yeah, totally agree.
Speaker: Maybe too much, maybe too much.
Speaker: And I think that that's okay to say that.
Speaker: I think we were experimenting with sound.
Speaker: It's our first EP.
Speaker: Like, you know, we wanted to know what worked, what didn't work.
Speaker: There was definitely more tracks that lent to the metalcore vibe.
Speaker: There was more tracks that lent to the symphonic vibe.
Speaker: And, you know, I think whilst and when you've not released anything, you've got a whole host of ideas.
Speaker: It can be quite easy to make things unrefined.
Speaker: So I'm happy to say that I feel that EP is probably unrefined.
Speaker: What else, you know, the other things that are in there are grandiose vocals, you know, from myself.
Speaker: I kind of pushed myself really hard with that.
Speaker: The arrangements are different.
Speaker: The mood of the songs are different.
Speaker: So actually, unrefined isn't always bad.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: We don't want things too refined, you know?
Speaker: I mean, I don't know.
Speaker: To me, like, if you really think, like, are we experimenting too much?
Speaker: Then all you have to do is, like, go listen to, you know, Camelot's albums through the years and be like, no, we're not.
Speaker: No, we're not.
Speaker: We're okay.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, I totally agree.
Speaker: That's just, that's like, that's kind of like, you know, if you go further than that, then you might be like, okay, we got to dial it back a little bit.
Speaker: But unless you surpass what Camelot has done over the years, you could be like, no, we're okay.
Speaker: It's cool.
Speaker: Yeah, I know what you mean.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: They do so much like that.
Speaker: I mean, I don't know.
Speaker: I personally didn't feel like it was too much genre crossing.
Speaker: I, I like, I really appreciated, um,
Speaker: Just the whole thing of like, you know, hearing something that was like, what does this, like, what subgenre does this fit in?
Speaker: And I don't know!
Speaker: I can't find out!
Speaker: But I like that, because again, that's like, this is something different.
Speaker: Like, and not that I dislike, you know, well, I dislike it when albums sound completely the same, but...
Speaker: You know, in general, like if I'm like, wait a minute, like where, where is this at?
Speaker: Like what sub genres are we in right now?
Speaker: I like that a lot.
Speaker: So I appreciate it.
Speaker: I'm glad.
Speaker: I'm glad.
Speaker: I'm glad.
Speaker: I'm glad someone did.
Speaker: I'm sure there's others as well.
Speaker: I'm just being silly.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Which means that everybody now knows, oh, great.
Speaker: So her review is going to be good.
Speaker: And it's like, well, yes, yes, it is.
Speaker: This is over.
Speaker: The spoiler has happened, even though the review is probably going to be out before this episode's edited, but that's okay.
Speaker: That's fine.
Speaker: It's all good.
Speaker: It's all good.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I don't want to get too, too much into, because once again, we can go into the technical side of singing so much, which is ridiculously silly.
Speaker: So I'm going to go back into the metal thing.
Speaker: Yeah, definitely.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, you've got a few projects that you work on.
Speaker: You and I both are part of a community of some amazingly talented people.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker: I know that you work with them.
Speaker: So besides metal, because obviously we talk a lot about metal, but besides metal, what are you like, man, I love this.
Speaker: Like, I love listening to this kind of music.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: So the... Oh, God, there's so many different things, isn't there?
Speaker: There's so many different things I do, and each of them are quite varied.
Speaker: So obviously we're part of...
Speaker: universe, which is a Urania Fantasia for me as an artist.
Speaker: Um, but there's also a solo project that I'm working on.
Speaker: Uh, I don't know if you've heard it, but I had a track released in 2019 called locked away.
Speaker: No, I haven't heard that one.
Speaker: Oh, okay.
Speaker: So it was a solo project and it's, uh, or solo, solo track is my first track ever.
Speaker: And it was kind of like chamber pop, so orchestral pop that was written by Adrian.
Speaker: So Adrian, obviously, who you know, Adrian Benegas, he wrote that track for me.
Speaker: And life got so busy for me after that track.
Speaker: I got a lot of different guest projects.
Speaker: I got a lot of different things.
Speaker: But I always knew in the back of my mind that I wanted to go back and finish an EP.
Speaker: And I wanted that track to be...
Speaker: kind of like the staple piece of that ep and i always knew that adrian you know was going to be the guy for me in that so we've actually very recently started up with this process again and i've just finished the demo for the next song on that ep it's gonna be five songs in total um including locked away so another four songs that are unheard i'm going to release maybe release them as singles and release them as a
Speaker: whole package at the end.
Speaker: I might release maybe three of them as singles.
Speaker: I don't know yet.
Speaker: But yeah, that's not metal.
Speaker: And you know what?
Speaker: And this is going to sound really strange.
Speaker: I actually feel like I needed to reset back to that after Animus.
Speaker: I needed something that was light, but also had intensity and deep lyrics and, you know, focus around the things that I started two years ago, because this has just been such a massive journey for me of all these different projects that I've kind of forgotten what
Speaker: why I wanted to write songs.
Speaker: Does that make sense?
Speaker: Yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker: I completely understand that.
Speaker: You're kind of almost going to your roots in a sense.
Speaker: Yeah, definitely.
Speaker: Like you said, you're really keen on other genres and other different things.
Speaker: There's some atmospheric chill-out projects I'm involved in and other things like that.
Speaker: But this, for me, is kind of...
Speaker: I guess it symbolizes the other side of me, you know, the other side of me as a vocalist and the other side of me as a person.
Speaker: And I'm super, super excited to get it out.
Speaker: It's the saddest song that I've ever written.
Speaker: And I love sad songs.
Speaker: I'm not a happy song person.
Speaker: I think that that's pretty evident.
Speaker: I love sad songs.
Speaker: So yeah, it's the saddest song I've ever written and I am so excited for it.
Speaker: But yeah, it's going to be a while till anybody hears it.
Speaker: So I don't think it's coming out next week.
Speaker: Okay, so it's not next week, but it'll be, I'm looking forward to it only because I know you have an amazing voice and Adrian is so super talented.
Speaker: So I think it's going to be great.
Speaker: Yeah, he's really good.
Speaker: And you know what he, what we've said, three of the songs have been written so far.
Speaker: Another two are being ready to be composed.
Speaker: I've just got to give Adrian the green light.
Speaker: So this really is the scoop because Adrian kind of doesn't have the scoop yet, but I know he's going to be on board with it.
Speaker: So it's kind of talk about,
Speaker: But yeah, he's an incredible, incredible composer.
Speaker: I mean, his last metal album was just insane.
Speaker: Oh my God, it's so good.
Speaker: I've got like, I think over half the songs are on like constant replay on my Spotify right now.
Speaker: Yeah, honestly, he's amazing.
Speaker: And I've known of him since I discovered Chagul, which is one of his symphonic metal projects.
Speaker: And we've been friends ever since, maybe for like four years now.
Speaker: And that guy has...
Speaker: Literally fostered my career, like from the start.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: You know what I've stepped away.
Speaker: We stepped away from working together for three or four years or two or three years, I should say.
Speaker: But now we're back on it.
Speaker: And it's just like we picked up from yesterday, you know, he's just such a great person.
Speaker: I really, really value him.
Speaker: So yeah, I'm excited for this project to come out.
Speaker: And I do want everyone to hear it.
Speaker: It's a different side of me that I'm just ready to kind of share.
Speaker: I think that's super cool.
Speaker: And I think like those of us who are metalheads, because obviously I'm very firmly a metalhead, mostly a power metalhead.
Speaker: But yeah, at the same time, like anybody I've met, especially power metalheads, we have a deep appreciation for other genres of music, too.
Speaker: I agree.
Speaker: Yeah, I agree.
Speaker: And it's funny you should say that because I think me and you were talking at some point about, you know, how, how to pitch each other, like as a, as a kind of, you know, as an artist, like when it comes to gigs and stuff and actually a power metal crowd is always a winner because they're so readily receiving of other, other, other people and other sounds like, you know, you don't really get any bad blood there.
Speaker: And it's really nice to have that from fans.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, and especially those of us in the United States because power metal is so underrepresented in the United States.
Speaker: Yeah, same for the UK.
Speaker: Well, yeah, same for the UK.
Speaker: The UK hasn't really got much of a metal scene anymore.
Speaker: There's a couple of symphonic metal bands that are really great over here.
Speaker: Tales of Time are up and coming.
Speaker: Artemis and Apollo, just to name a few that are coming up.
Speaker: But for the most part...
Speaker: It's got a bigger power metal scene than it has Symphonic, but it's still fairly small.
Speaker: Like there's not that much going on.
Speaker: It's a lot of metal core and like screamo music.
Speaker: And that's kind of like the UK talent is coming out in that way, which is great.
Speaker: And it's wonderful.
Speaker: But I do feel like a little bit more power metal representation and Symphonic metal representation would be great.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's the same problem we have here.
Speaker: I think when Marius Danielson was on the show, we were talking about power metal bands in the United States.
Speaker: And between the two of us, I think we finally were able to name three.
Speaker: And we both realized that Camelot doesn't actually count.
Speaker: So, you know, Camelot would have been number four, I guess.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But here it's the same thing.
Speaker: I think like, well, my roommate is in a band, but they're not power metal.
Speaker: They're like thrash and power.
Speaker: And so you get a lot of like thrash and speed metal happening here.
Speaker: Not really power metal though.
Speaker: But Canada, on the other hand, you know, your neighboring country, lots of power metal coming out of Canada.
Speaker: Alicia Arches.
Speaker: Oh god, they're so good.
Speaker: I love them.
Speaker: Oh, me too.
Speaker: Britney's such a great singer.
Speaker: She's incredible.
Speaker: Alicia Arches is amazing.
Speaker: Anytime I hear a female-fronted power metal band, my response is like, just give it to me.
Speaker: Give me the whole thing, every album they've ever done.
Speaker: Give me.
Speaker: Nora from Battlebeasts.
Speaker: I'm actually seeing them very, very soon.
Speaker: She's probably... Okay, here we go.
Speaker: This is a bold statement.
Speaker: She's probably the best female vocalist in metal at the moment.
Speaker: You said that.
Speaker: That's a bold statement for me.
Speaker: You said that.
Speaker: I actually think she is.
Speaker: I don't think...
Speaker: there's i mean i've seen her live and very much like yanis like she is pitch perfect she doesn't put a note wrong oh wow yeah oh my god she is incredible um and you know while she might not be my favorite from a technicality point of view she is insane she's a very very very good singer that's awesome i um i will find this out in a couple of weeks because uh they're playing here with camelot uh toward the end of august yeah
Speaker: Oh, amazing.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: Let me know what you think.
Speaker: I'm seeing her in January in Bristol.
Speaker: So I've seen her once already.
Speaker: Or them, I should say.
Speaker: It's not just her I'm seeing.
Speaker: I've seen them once already.
Speaker: But yeah, no, she's a great singer.
Speaker: So I think you'll be thrilled.
Speaker: Yeah, I'm looking.
Speaker: I'm really looking forward to that show because I've never had the chance to see Camelot live and I've been listening to them forever.
Speaker: So I'm super excited about that.
Speaker: But when I found out they were coming with Battle Beast 2, I was like, oh, this is going to be amazing.
Speaker: So...
Speaker: Oh, yeah, I think you'll enjoy that.
Speaker: Yeah, I'm gonna find out.
Speaker: But yeah, I mean, I'm gonna let you make your statement.
Speaker: And I'm gonna be like, all right, Pete said it.
Speaker: Pete said it.
Speaker: Pete said it.
Speaker: He's true.
Speaker: Yeah, there's some great singers out there.
Speaker: But I think she's just so clean.
Speaker: Like, she just is so, so, so clean.
Speaker: So, yeah.
Speaker: She does have a beautiful voice.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, she does.
Speaker: But then again, like...
Speaker: Yes, she is.
Speaker: And but then again, like kind of talking very quickly, because I know we have to wrap up very, very shortly.
Speaker: But, you know, like Unleash the Archers, like her voice, her control.
Speaker: And it's just most anytime I hear like a female fronted power metal band, it's the same thing.
Speaker: It's they've got this amazing control, this beautiful soaring voice.
Speaker: And so I'm always like, just give the whole thing to me.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: What other ones can you think of?
Speaker: Seven Kingdoms.
Speaker: Their lead singer.
Speaker: She's great.
Speaker: Dreamtail, who has a former Battle Beast.
Speaker: She's lovely.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: She's so good.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: She's so lovely.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: There's let's see.
Speaker: Frozen Crown does have a female singer and she does a beautiful job as well.
Speaker: Yeah, Temperance.
Speaker: Temperance is like their female singer is awesome.
Speaker: But again, they all have that same wonderful quality of like, you know, kind of a little bit lower on the register, but just these beautiful soaring vocals.
Speaker: It's actually got Kristen Starkey now, who is a contralto as well.
Speaker: And she, while talking of incredible, she is through the roof.
Speaker: She's very, very good.
Speaker: I saw that on their Instagram and I was surprised because I discovered Kristen Starkey through a very nerdy thing because Scar, who he's actually in Equilibrium, but I know him because he does covers of video game stuff from like Final Fantasy XIV or whatever.
Speaker: Oh, wow.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And he did a cover of one of the songs in Endwalker and Kristen Starkey was part of it.
Speaker: And that's, that's actually how I discovered her.
Speaker: And I was like, I don't know who this vocalist is, but I need to hear more of her stuff.
Speaker: So yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, right.
Speaker: I think I heard us in Ghosts of School, which has been done quite a lot of times.
Speaker: And I can honestly say it blew me away so much that I had to share it on my story.
Speaker: And I was like, this is incredible.
Speaker: So, yeah, she's a great singer.
Speaker: There's so much talent out there, right?
Speaker: There really is.
Speaker: I'm all about blowing smoke up other singers' backsides.
Speaker: I just love doing that.
Speaker: That's kind of me.
Speaker: And I will always champion other singers.
Speaker: I will always champion other people because I think if we can't do that, then what else can we do, you know?
Speaker: I am of the opinion that all ships rise.
Speaker: And that's just kind of how I feel.
Speaker: That's why, like I said earlier, I don't like to get on and just be like, well, I hated this and it sucked and the band sucks too.
Speaker: I'm just like, there's so much of that out there.
Speaker: Why do we have to do that when we're talking about the music that we love and appreciate?
Speaker: Yeah, I agree.
Speaker: That's just kind of how I feel about it.
Speaker: And especially, and I am going to play the card, but it is true.
Speaker: When you're dealing with metal, there's so many bands, so many well-known bands.
Speaker: And even when you're looking at the pioneers of this type of metal, most of them, when you talk about them, they're males and they're male singers.
Speaker: And so, yeah, when you hear a woman in it, it's like amazing.
Speaker: So, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, it is.
Speaker: Yeah, it's good to hear.
Speaker: It's good to hear.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, so that's why I feel that way, and that's why I'm always like, yes, it's a female-fronted band.
Speaker: Give it the whole thing.
Speaker: Just give it to me.
Speaker: Yeah, I want to try it.
Speaker: I want to listen to it.
Speaker: I want to go see them live.
Speaker: It's great.
Speaker: I love everything.
Speaker: It's perfect.
Speaker: And they're also absolutely gorgeous too.
Speaker: Like that's another thing I've noticed.
Speaker: Anytime I see any of them, I'm like, wow, they've got a beautiful voice and they're a beautiful person.
Speaker: I love this.
Speaker: Yeah, no, no, no.
Speaker: It does.
Speaker: And it makes a difference, right?
Speaker: It really does.
Speaker: people and just how they dress and their outfits and you know I think that we all need some sort of charisma on stage and you know it's certainly certainly good to watch a woman doing that I'm a bit of a feminist you know and it's okay for a man to be a feminist for everybody out there thinks I'm talking bullshit it's absolutely fine for that and I just love seeing a wrong woman do their thing like I think yes like absolutely own it like you know it's you've had years of oppression let's just eradicate that now because now it's time to own it so yeah I'm all for it
Speaker: I'm like, I know we're going to wrap up in like just a minute, but I think you kind of hit on something because to me personally, as as a woman saying this, I feel like metal lends to allowing us to be strong women.
Speaker: Like that's kind of like.
Speaker: I totally agree.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's a green light to it.
Speaker: And that's not to say that it's not okay to be vulnerable.
Speaker: Like, it absolutely is okay to be vulnerable.
Speaker: And that is part of what makes everyone, you know, that... I'm talking about, you know, Jungian theories, animus, male, female, equilibrium, balance.
Speaker: That is exactly what it's supposed to be.
Speaker: We're supposed to be able to be vulnerable, but we're also allowed to be strong.
Speaker: And I think that the...
Speaker: The control around having women not being strong and being aggressive as a term instead of strong is just not for me.
Speaker: So yeah, I agree with you.
Speaker: I think this does lend really well to being able to let...
Speaker: I was especially expressed that inner masculinity, which is absolutely fine.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And that's like, I get called aggressive all the time, all the time.
Speaker: It annoys me.
Speaker: It's a massive passion of mine.
Speaker: You're assertive.
Speaker: You set boundaries.
Speaker: You are not aggressive, you know, and I know that because I know you and I can speak confidently.
Speaker: And I think that other people need to take a look in the mirror.
Speaker: They can't stand a strong, independent woman because there's something fundamentally wrong with their upbringing and their traumas.
Speaker: So yeah, we'll, we'll, we'll leave it at that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And that's, you know, just to kind of say, but you're right, because when it comes to metal, like anytime I meet another female who's into metal or anytime I talk to a lady who's like singing for a metal band, they get called the same thing.
Speaker: They always get called like aggressive or, you know, and people like every one of us, they're like, oh, yeah, I get called a bitch all the time.
Speaker: And but that's not what we are.
Speaker: We're just strong.
Speaker: Yeah, you're just allowed to set your boundaries and you're allowed to say, actually, that doesn't work for me or actually, you know, I don't want to do that.
Speaker: There's absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Speaker: And it's time people just started stepping into their power and had uncomfortable conversations because those big fat white men that have oppressed people for a long time are not around anymore to rule the world.
Speaker: So it's not...
Speaker: that's like a whole other episode now i need to find yeah right yeah yeah i need to like podcast no i'm not doing political but now i need to like jump into a specific discord and get one of the ladies on the show to talk about exactly this
Speaker: Yeah, I agree.
Speaker: I totally agree.
Speaker: I think that would be fantastic.
Speaker: Yeah, I think that would be awesome.
Speaker: And I know you have to get going.
Speaker: I'm so glad we finally got to do this.
Speaker: Hopefully I'll have you back another time.
Speaker: It's so nice to talk.
Speaker: It's so good to talk.
Speaker: It's been such a nice time.
Speaker: I've had real fun.
Speaker: So thank you very much for having me.
Speaker: And I look forward to the review.
Speaker: Yay, soon.
Speaker: And for those of you who are listening, you are going to have links to Crown Solace and Pete's Projects and of course the review and where you can listen to the new EP.
Speaker: Hopefully you will enjoy it as much as I did.
Speaker: And thank you again for coming.
Speaker: Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker: All right, guys, I'm Candice, otherwise known as the Metal Mama, and I will see you guys next time.
