VOKILLS SINGER INTERVIEW: Holly Freed / Hydrogyn

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

 My name is Holly Freed and I am proud to say that I'm the singer for Hydrogyn.

2.What / Who made you want to sing?

 I grew up in a small country church listening to my family sing a cappella.  My mother had a beautiful alto voice with a special talent for harmonies.  My dad had the most thundering bass voice I'd ever heard.  My brother was always able to jump from a rich bass to a smooth tenor.  My sister-in-law topped it off with a gorgeous soprano.  To say that I was blessed to be born into a family of singers is an understatement, and they are most definitely who influenced me to find my voice.

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

 Bruce Dickinson / Iron Maiden

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

 Screaming is merely a vocal style.  You can walk into a karaoke bar and scream through a Dolly Partontrack, and I promise you would still have a country song (and maybe some confused listeners).  Screaming, or any other vocal style, doesn't dictate what style the music is.  When I think of heavy music I think of thick and chuggy electric guitars, rumbling bass guitar, and dominating drums that occasionally cause arrhythmia.  The music may be super heavy, but it's up to the singer to determine the vocal style.

5.If you growl or do harsh vocals how do you keep your voice after such violent performances?

 The more aggressive the vocal, the more breath it requires.  Otherwise you end up using your throat to create the harshness, which will make it harder to recover from.  A good growl/scream comes from my stomach.  That said, I also believe that harsh vocals are a special talent.  I have great respect for those that can carry that vocal style throughout an entire song, much less an entire set!  So for me, I minimize the harsh vocals and save them for when I really want to create a greater impact.

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

 My warm up routine can be a little comical.  I begin at the comfortably low end of my range, not the lowest, and basically swing my voice up to my comfortably high end.  I do that a few times and then step down until I'm starting at my lowest note, and then step back up until I reach my highest.  I do this while enunciating the vowel sounds, A-E-I-O-U.  Then I roll my lips while still swinging my voice between low and high.  I also take some deep breaths and hold it for a few seconds to increase lung capacity.  Warm licorice root tea with honey works wonders, as does a little Tennessee Whiskey.

7. Do you think power or performance is more important?

 I think they are equally important at different times.  In a studio setting, a stanza, topic, mood, or even just a single word can determine whether or not I need to be powerful for emphasis or if I need to make sure I simply nail the note.  In a live show I will always chose performance over power.  My reason for that is because the adrenaline of performing will create the power without any thought.  I have to focus on the performance to keep myself reigned in.

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?

 This feels like an ambush lol.  I have never been a fan of The Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin,

and I've always felt they were both extremely overrated.  And having been in this position before, I can say that backup singers absolutely do not get the credit they deserve.  Richie Sambora had a KILLER voice but was always in Bon Jovi's shadow.  Charlie Hodge held out Elvis' notes for him so he could execute those sexy karate kicks, but who knew.  Just a couple of examples.


9.Name your top 5 vocalist

 In no particular order because I love them all - Elvis Presley, Tarja Tarunen, Bruce Dickinson, Freddie Mercury, Ronnie James Dio

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

 

Michael Buble if I need to remember what silky smooth melted butter sounds like.  Jim Gillette if I need motivation to hit a note that will make your toenails curl under. 

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

 I've already given a couple of these away :)  Elvis Presley, Tarja Tarunen and Lady Gaga  

12.If you could remove the autotune from any singer who would it be?

Lady Gaga - she really has an amazing God given voice but autotune is her unnecessary security blanket