Tuesday, December 10, 2019

VOKILLS INTERVIEW : James Founds / Low Spirits





















1.Please introduce yourself and tell us who you sing for

    I am James Founds and I am the vocalist for Low Spirits from Little Rock, Arkansas.

2.What / Who made you want to sing?

    When I was 16 I got into Bring Me the Horizon’s “This Is What the Edge of Your Seat Was Made For”. I used to scream along to that album while driving around. One day I received a phone call from a good friend Marcus, that is no longer with us, asking if I wanted to try vocals for a metal project he was working on.  That band was Mary Bell’s Day of Doom. It was a short lived band but I learned a lot about being a vocalist and live performances. My buddy Marcus gave me a platform to let out my teenage angst during a time in my life when I was trying to find my place. I’ll be forever grateful for him for giving me the opportunity and experience.  

3.Who was the first singer you saw live that gave you chills?

    Growing up my stepdad was always listening to Blues music.  I can’t remember exactly who the guy was, but I was maybe 14 years old on Beale Street in Memphis. The guy had so much heart and soul in his voice it was captivating we sat there listening to him paint pictures with his lyrics.  That’s probably where I began searching for music that pulled certain feelings out of me. 

4.Many people say heavy music is just screaming, How would you combat that statement?

    I understand how some people perceive heavy music and can’t relate.  I usually tell those people to go to a live underground metal show. The energy in a packed out small venue with the music just driving into your chest and everyone losing their minds is unexplainable.  You have to witness it first hand to really understand it. 

5.If you growl or do harsh vocals how do you keep your voice after such violent performances?
   
  
  Starting out I didn’t know what I was doing.  I used to just chug chloraseptic spray and all my screams came from my throat.  Overtime I practiced and used different techniques to project my vocals more from my chest.  Since then I haven’t had any issues with my voice being raspy or throat being sore.  

6. Do you have a warm up routine? Tell u bout it ?

    I usually just do a quick breathing exercise to get my breath ready. Breathe in for 4 seconds, hold it for 4 seconds, and breathe out for 4 seconds.  I do that a few times then as the guitars ring out before we start I’ll scream out a few words off mic then jump right into the set.

7. Do you think power or performance is more important?
    I think you have to have both.  The performance will depend a lot on the vibe of the music or the emotion you are projecting to the audience.  My emotion is a direct reflection of the lyrics I write. Everything about our performance highlights how the words I’m screaming make me feel. Sometimes it’s hectic, sometimes it’s depressing.  

8. Who do you think gets unfair vocal praise, someone the world thinks is great but is not? / And who is great but does not get the credit?

Without naming any names. I personally don’t like deathcore or slam metal. It comes off as a bit gimmicky to me.  

All the true wretched black metal vocalists don’t get enough credit.  That’s some of the most sad/horrifying vocals I’ve ever heard. You can feel the pain and hate in their voices. The whole aesthetic of that genre is interesting with the blasting atmospheric riffs and shrieking vocals. That stuff will start to mess with my head in weird ways I am a generally happy person.  I have to take breaks from time to time.

9.Name your top 5 vocalist

Yvonne “Onielar” Wilczynska – Bethlehem
Tomas Lindberg – At the Gates
Neil McAdams – Black Breath
Andrew Drury – Baptisits
Christoffer Öster – Dödsrit
   

10.Micheal Buble or Jim Gallette? Just testing your skills here

Buble – That christmas album is a banger.

11.Who do you love to listen to that would surprise people?.
    Little Dragons haha

12.If you could remove the autotune from any singer who would it be?
   
    T-pain.  His tiny desk performance on NPR is worth checking 
out to see why I said that.  Dude has a voice of an angel. 
 From a metal standpoint, all autotune should be removed. 
 That’s my personal opinion. I don’t like overly processed or
 programed metal. Heavy music has always intrigued me
 because of the rawness and power of the music. 
 The humanness relatability begins to get lost with
 all the effects and programming. 

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