Did you get the XLR8 gig?
For a few days, I did. He needed me to learn 5 original songs in 3 days. And I did it. All the lyrics, octave changes, stops and rests. I had a cleaner tone and slightly better range. And after a week, he took his old singer back because he scrounged up some p.a. equipment.
That was the problem with trying to get into music around Dallas back then. Most bands were either looking for someone who had p.a. stuff or recording equipment, or they wanted you to sound like David Coverdale or Robert Plant. I can sing anything those guys can sing but I don't sound like them. When I first started developing my tenor range 1988, it was a bit nasal and I think I sounded most like Klause Meine (Scorpions) then. As I developed better resonance and vocal chord control and air pressure against the vocal chords, my sound changed. The extreme upper range has to be hit at concert volume. It's a matter of physics and acoustics. To make a high pitch, the source, the vocal chords, like a guitar string must vibrate rapidly, which means they must be short and compact. Then, the sound must have a resonating space to amplify, which requires controlling the shape of space in the back of the throat. It sounds counterintuitive but to hit a high note is to make a small sound that is resonated well. As I got better at it and developed the head voice behind the sinus, the tone got less nasal, which also sounds counterintuitive. Anyway, I don't sound like anyone famous that I know, except for who my father-in-law thinks I sound like. He thinks I sound like Luka Bloom, especially the way Bloom performs "Ciara," a celtic folk song. Bloom is a tenor from Ireland who sings traditional celtic and comtemporary R & B.
The best sound of myself is on my tascam porta 3 4-track analog recording machine, which is about 20 years old. But I can't get it to convert to digital onto computer as it is. I've recorded with my digital camera but the little condenser mic flattens out in the response because I am over powering it. I guess I need to listen to it again with an ear toward who it might sound like that's famous.
In any case, I ran into that problem a few times.
The most professional band I tried out for was Razin Cain. But I wasn't a match for them, either, because I didn't have the timbre they were looking for.
I once tried for a band called Parachute and they liked the way I did "Some kind of wonderful" by Free. But they thought I could take their lyrics and just match it to their loud guitarist right on the spot.
Who knows? Maybe some day, I will get a sound that gels right.
I play and sing for others when I can. We are friends with a band called the Blues Tones. They were playing at the Library Bar and Grill in Sherman, Texas. While they were setting up, I borrowed a guitar and, without a mic, did "Brandy" by Looking Glass and "Land Down Under" by Men at Work.
At a New Year's party I did "Stairway to Heaven." Teamed up with a local sax legend, Jason, and we did the only version I know of doing "Freebird" (with me singing) by Lynrd Skynrd and Jason playing the solo parts on tenor saxaphone. It was unique. Plus, my hair was long and I was wearing a top hat and had the Ronnie Van Zandt look going on with my fu manchu moustache. Perfection. Then a friend, Randy, got up and sang "Turn the Page" by Bob Seger. You had to be there.
For my friend, Ashlee, (the one in the Army in Psy Ops), I sang "Highway to Hell" on his guitar. For another friend, Bruce, in another parking lot, I was singing "Dream On" by Aerosmith and I hit THAT note hard enough to make him flinch.
One of these days, I wouldn't mind getting paid for it. Until then, I guess I'll keep twisting wire and building switchgear and digging ditches or whatever else I do as an electrician. You ever see someone bend pipe and sing "Run to the Hills" by Iron Maiden? It's a sight to see.
