2003-01-20 - 11:42 a.m.
I have made a profound discovery in my musical ability. I'm not sure if it's a discovery so much as it is an evolution.
There is a singing technique I have always admired but have never been able pull-off. I call this technique the 'METAL-MAN-SQUEAL'. It was most promently used by Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden, most notably during the intro of the title track 'Number of the Beast'. The lyric sung here is simply 'Yeah', but it is done with such a blood-curdling intensity that those four letters take on a much deeper meaning.
[NOTE FOR IRON MAIDEN: The song "Number of the Beast" is not only the best representation of the METAL-MAN-SQUEAL ever recorded, but it's also, in my book, the all-time best use of 'Yeah' in a rock song, which is an honor of the highest order.]
Hidden Driveways has been leaning in a metal-ish direction for some time now, and it's really come to a head with a new song entitled Hit and Run Lover (a song featuring lyrics written partially by non-band members Heather Cameron and Jonathan Campbell). The song has been coming along nicely, but as I was going over it yesterday afternoon I felt it needed a kick. A profound kick. A kick of the "highest order." It was obvious that a good, solid, METAL-MAN-SQUEAL was the missing link in the chain known as Hit and Run Lover. So I began to belt. The squealing taking place in the apartment was enough to drown-out the blast of a trumpet. IT WAS LOUD. An amplitude until now I was unaware I was able to produce. I'm almost frightened that no one in the building called 911. But suddenly, I had it. The man METAL-MAN-SQUEALING was now none other than I.
Now, understand, no one else has heard my new skill to verify if what I am doing actually sounds like M-M-S. If my new technique is effective and put to use, unleashing it in a live performance will forever vanquish any shread of 'indie cred' we may or may not have been cultivating. But a true METAL-MAN cares not about 'indie cred'. And squeal I will.
