What else ? #1 : METAL

I had to make my very first article on metal music, and some of you probably know why : before I decided to sing classical repertoire, I was a metal singer in a metal band for many years….but not only ! I also organised metal concerts, wrote articles in metal magazines, and posed for metal outfits….

Yes, this is me ! And I must say : I enjoyed every bit of that period ! Being able to write my own songs, to share the stage with great musiciens every week-end, to record albums, to compose, to receive this energy from the audience singing along, responding to every claim, to be able to scream my heart out without being worried about “what will people think?”, to sing without being judged on my technic or anything else….

Some of you might have a very negative image on metalheads, and metal music. I can see why people think this way. It’s the way most of the medias present this community.

Some clichés :

• Metalheads are aggressive and depressive : WRONG ! if it’s true that metalhead wear black cloths most of the time, it doesn’t mean they are depressed nor aggressive. In fact, they are (for most of them) the sweetest people, open-minded, and always happy to share their passion with anyone who is willing to, wether this person is young, old, from this or that social class, etc…

As a fact, compared to electro or rap festivals, metal festivals are the ones which need less the help of police or firemen : it’s more about drinking beer than taking drugs, and the violence is inside the music, not between the people.

2) Metalheads are nazis : There are some neo-nazis in the metal community. But it’s a minority, I’d say 3%. And it’s not the only type of music where you can find them by the way.

3) Metal is noise, chaos and screaming :

As for the music itself, there is not only “one type of metal” : there are sooooooooo many, from melodic metal to rap metal, pirate metal or black metal….

Here a quite good list :  https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_des_genres_de_metal

So yes, you can find some very “noisy” metal, it can sound chaotic, and you will hear someone “screaming” (the exact word is “growling”), for instance in death metal or black metal…but you can also hear a very beautiful lyrical voice (Nightwish), or sing along with the singer of Metallica (big news : it is metal music!). You can even enjoy some cello with Apocalyptica !

I must add one thing : metal is a big family. During my metal times, I met many people from all  sorts, age, countries…they had one thing in common : the passion for this music. Some of them could drive 12h just to be able to support their favorite band for a 2h show. Sometimes they did it for me and my band. Sometimes they saw I was tired and proposed to share the trip so that they could drive and I could rest…they would always offer me something to drink after the show (and before), would be my bodyguards if a drunk guy was getting too flirty, would propose their help to unload the van…

And most of them are still there for me today, even if I left the metal stage to go to the opera one, they come to hear me sing (you can imagine the effect it does on the “classical public” to see those beardy-tabooed-pierced big men sitting amongst them!) , they give me their love and support, and if this is not the best proof of what metalheads are, then I don’t know what is 🙂

Here with my metal friends : 2008 – 2012 – 2017

NB : for those who ask me “how did you manage to save your voice all those years singing metal”? I always say it’s like everything, a matter of technic, and here you can learn more about it :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkGa_BItnag