Metally

Avril Lavigne is not just any other singer in the music word, but she is someone who has done very well in her career. The huge number of fan and the large number of her record albums sold is a testimony to this. Avril Ramona Lavigne Whibley is popularly known to fans as Avril Lavigne or simply Avril. She belonged to a family of devout Christians and very early, when she was just a kid of two her musical talents were spotted by her mother. Back in those days, Avril used to sing with her mother in the church choir and it was here that her mother spotted her wonderful singing talents. Avril took part in many singing competitions and she won one, where she got a chance to sing with fellow Canadian singer Shania Twain. This was one of the beigest breaks in her singing career. She sang the song What Made you Say That appearing on stage along with Shania and this was just the beginning.

Avril was discovered professionally by her first manager Cliff Fabri while she was singing at a Chapter s Bookstore in Ontario. Avril’s first album was Let Go, released in the United States in the year 2002. This album witnessed phenomenal success and went on to be at the top of the charts in several places like Canada, Australia and United Kingdom. This is a record and Avril went on to become the youngest female soloist at the age of 18 years to have a number one album in the United Kingdom at that time. This album went on achieve many more records subsequently, it reached the multi platinum status and after that was certified as having reached the status of triple platinum after two weeks.

The album sold more than 1 million copies worldwide and turned out to be the best selling album of a female artist who debuted in 2002. A single from the album complicated want on to reach the top of the charts in Australia. In America Avril’s single reached the top of the Hot 100 Billboard countdown besides being one of the best selling singles in Canada that year. Under My Skin was Avril’s next album which was released in the year 2004. The album debuted at the top in Germany, Japan, Canada, Australia, Thailand, United States, United Kingdom, Hong Kong and many other places. The album sold more then 300,000 copies in the first week itself in the United States. Most of the lyrics of the album were written by Lavigne in collaboration with Chantal Kreviazuk, a Canadian songwriter.

Avril has won many awards in her short singing career till date. Some of the major awards won by her are MTV Awards, Juno Awards, World Music Award and Grammy Awards. Avril has also worked in movies like Over the Hedge and The Flock. Right now Avril is married to Deryck Whibley, a Canadian singer. Avril Lavigne’s musical journey ahs been very successful though it is pretty early to say how she her future albums will do and if she can carry over her success or not. With the amount of talent that she has, it appears she is here to stay for a long time and entertain her fans.

“There are some people God has called to evangelism,and they’re doing a wonderful job, having results.That’s great. … God wanted us to do something else.So we got into the area of challenging people, and our ministry basically happens offstage one-on-one when we talk with people. It’s very subtle, but God’s doing a

work! It’s entertainment, it’s fun, its a concert–it s all those things–but at a subtle, deeper level, it touches people’s hearts” (TERRY TAYLOR OF THE DANIEL AMOS BAND, cited by Dan and Steve Peters, What about Christian Rock, p. 109).

“I love to hear the music playing slow or fast … Don’t stop, don’t stop the music, play it in your own way. . .. I hear dissenting voices quick to disagree. But I’m on a music mission; they don’t bother me. I’ll sing those songs that set me free. Cause kids want to rock” (ED DEGARMO AND DANA KEY, “Don’t Stop the Music ,” Streetlight, Benson

Publications, 1986, p. 24). “You now have songs about pain and death and divorce and sex and relationships and everything that every one of us goes through, whereas atone time contemporary Christian music only talked about the death and resurrection of Christ. We’re much more in

touch with ourselves and our neighbors, which is the whole idea behind Christ in the first place” (MELISSA HELM OF MYRRH RECORDS, Music Line magazine, June 1986, p. 4).

In Greebville Seminary Conference on Worship Taylors of South Carolina said “last thirty years or so have seen the most dramatic and speedy changes in Protestant worship in any time since the Reformation. Surely the principal mark and symbol of that change is the change in the music

of the church. The development of what has come to be called Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) has become an amazingly widespread phenomenon”. Due to the rise of Pentecostalism there is some dramatic change in development of CCM. Contemporary Christian Music is pop/rock version of

Christian Music with lyrics based on Christian Faith. Contemporary Christian Music became more popular in 1980’s with Music of Christian Music Artist Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant. Millions of copies of there album were sold worldwide. Download Christian Music Video, Video Tapes,

Christian TV Shows, Christian MTV Shows and Christian Music Videos By 1990’s there were many new Christian Music styles such as Hip hop, metal, punk and alternative styles of Christian Music.

Christian Music Artists like Lost Dogs, Joy Electric and Star flyer 59 were against the new styles of Contemporary Christian Music and they continued to create and compile Original Christian Music. Due to tunes and melodies of Christian Music melodies, it is considered as Traditional art. Russian Christian Music is one of those few music which doesn’t use any instruments

in it, It is sang by choir without background music and Catholic masses in catholic church still perform Bach organ music which were created long time ago.

Article written by Pandithurai K.

Can you imagine life without music? It?s very difficult to imagine no doubt, but one thing is certain, life would have been dull and boring had it not been for music. In fact you can never come across a person who says that they have never hummed a tune in their life or that they do not love music. Well everyone cannot become great singer, but we all exercise our vocals in the privacy of our bathrooms. If anyone says that they do not sing in the shower, chances are likely that are they are lying. Heavy metal music is a genre of music that evolved in the late 60s and early 70s. Heavy metal music is also referred to as metal music, and this music reached the zenith of its popularity in the 80s and many subgenres of music evolved from heavy metal music. The sounds associated with heavy metal music consisted of heavy guitar and drum centered sound with highly amplified distortion of fast guitar.

Devoted fans of heavy metal music are referred to as headbangers and metalheads world wide. Heavy metal music is characterized by loud distorted guitar sounds, dense drum and bass sound, emphatic rhythm combined with vigorous vocals. A typical heavy metal music band consists of a bassist, a rhythm guitarist, a drummer, a lead guitarist and a lead singer or vocalist. The vocalist may or may not play an instrument. Today heavy metal music has a variety of styles namely power metal; progressive metal and symphonic metal and most of the present day bands often make sure of the electronic keyboard. The heavy volume used in heavy metal music is a vital element of attraction towards the music for fans, especially for live performances. Most popular theme for songs of heavy metal music is violence, fantasy, sex and the occult.

Physical gestures are a vital part of heavy metal music and this is very much evident during live performances. Moshing, headbanging, hand gestures like devil horns, stage diving, air guitar and crowd surfing are very popular among singers and fans of heavy metal music. If you are thinking that heavy metal music is just a form of entertainment, then think again. Researchers have recently found out that heavy metal music can be a great source of comfort to teenage children. The study has found out that teenagers who regularly listen to heavy metal music cope better with pressures as compared to their peers. So now if you find out that your teenage child is hooked to heavy metal music you can just simply rest easy.

Heavy metal music has several subgenres. Underground metal is one of the broad categories of heavy metal music and there are five categories under this namely: death metal, trash metal, black metal, doom metal, gothic metal, power metal and trash metal. The sound that was developed by trash musicians was mush faster and aggressive then the original heavy metal music. Some of the popular heavy metal musicians and bands are Guns N Roses, Iron Maiden, Poison, Bon Jovi, Ozzy Osbourne and Deff Leppard.

As an up and coming local band it can be very frustrating trying to get your first live gig, luckily there is help and advice out there.

After countless hours spent in your friend’s garage or in a rehearsal studio perfecting your songs and tweaking your style you are, at some point, going to want to unleash your sound on to the general public.

A good place to start organising your first gig is deciding how far you are willing to travel, sit down with your band mates and on a map decide on the areas that you could possibly travel to. Then contact every pub, club or venue in that area asking if you can play there.

The must have item for any band wanting to organise gigs is a demo. Don’t worry if your demo is a little rough around the edges, it doesn’t matter, the main point is that it conveys the sound of your band. There’s no point wasting hundreds of pounds on recording studio time producing a highly polished demo suitable for sending to prospective record labels when a simple 3 track recording will suffice. Try to make sure that the demo represents your sound well, if you have a varied sound reflect this in the song choices for the demo. The promoter or venue manager will use your demo to see if your band is suitable to play at the venue (heavy metal bands do not go down well on acoustic nights!) Along with your demo you should always include contact information, include email address, telephone numbers and your website if you have one. You can also write a small paragraph describing and promoting yourselves but remember to keep things concise, the more professional looking and sounding the better. Remember that promoters and venues get sent demos through everyday so be prepared to wait a while for a response. It’s always a good idea to chase the promoter or venue after a few days, just to make sure they listen to your demo, but do not hound them as this could put them off.

As well as contacting venues directly you can also contact promoters in your area. Promoters are always happy to receive demos from bands and they may have contacts with many different venues in the area. Also if you know anyone else in a band that gig in your area you could ask them if you could support them one night.

Another way of getting the opportunity to play live is to cut out the promoter and organise a gig night for yourself. Contact other bands in your area and ask if they would be willing to play (most of them will be more than happy), then contact possible venues. Any venue will be suitable if it holds enough people and has an area to set up the band. The venue doesn’t even need to have its own sound equipment or engineer as there are companies that specialise in hiring out PA equipment and sound engineers. A quick search on the web provides a list of companies that can deliver across the country, set up full size PA systems and engineer an event. Companies such as audiorent.co.uk specialise in hiring out PA systems to bands and even offer advice on the best type of PA set up for the event your holding.

Once you have got a venue don’t worry about filling it, the main thing is to make sure you put on a good show. Many bands bring a lot of friends along to see them play, which is good, but sometimes they can get caught up in talking and joking with their friends rather than playing at their best. This can alienate possible new fans in the crowd, annoy promoters and lead to you not getting booked again at that venue.

Once you’ve got your first gig booked in the main thing to be aware of is the sound equipment at the venue. Make sure you know what they have and haven’t got, if you have any special needs with regards to sound make sure you inform the sound engineer as early as possible. Its no good informing the engineer that you need 5 DI boxes and microphones for a 4 piece brass section 30 minutes before you are about to go on. Most venues will have the equipment you need but always check before hand.

With regards to payment it is always worth asking but do not demand payment or be to pushy, this is your first gig and you don’t want it to be your last. Remember to always be nice to staff and promoters, it may be fine to have a rock and roll attitude on stage but if you start to annoy or alienate promoters and venues you will start to find it harder to organise gigs in your area.

The final point is to have fun, the more you play live the more your name will get known and the easier it will be to organise gigs in the future.

They’re generous, they’re consistent, they’re giving…and most of all…they love your music. They’re your fans and they come to every one of your live shows, fork out money for cover charges, CDs and t-shirts, bring your band gifts, throw you house parties, and spread the word of your music on the internet and beyond. Your fans are the single most important ingredient to the success of your band. Without them, you’d be rocking out in your Aunt’s basement to an audience of none…well, maybe her cat.

But there can be a dark side to the hoards of happy humans drunk on your future #1 hits. Sometimes the folks barreling in to see you play, or flooding your websites with their online presence are causing more harm than good to the reputation of your band. Rude behavior, message board flaming, compulsive sticker-ing and flyer-ing, may all seem like helping to your flock of followers but to club owners, industry and those newly interested in your music, they may seem like trouble-makers, belligerents and vandals.

It may be simply a case of over-exuberant fan zeal. Your fans think they’re preaching the gospel of your band to anyone with eyes and ears: by dropping your postcards all over town like a bird with irritable bowel syndrome, by filling up strangers email in-boxes with bulky MP3s and HTML photo-heavy notices about how much you rock, and by yelling your band’s name at the top of their lungs during another band’s set like a parrot with Turret’s Syndrome. These unsolicited over-promotions…albeit well-intentioned…are hard for the average person to separate from your band’s own promotional efforts and may not be appreciated in the way they were intended. On the other hand, it may be that your fans are so revved up by the love of your music that they’ve become arrogant, aggressive and just plain out of control in any arena (or cyber place) your band inhabits. At any rate, you may find that you need to dial these folks back a bit to create a environment that is fan-friendly without comprising your band’s opportunities.

The following are a few tips that will help you to guide your supporters in their quest to be adamant fans without allowing them to turn into an obnoxious, rowdy, gang of rabid baboons.

1.) Communicate With Your Fans—A lot of problems can be eliminated by simply setting up a line of communication between your band members and your fans. For instance, if you know that a particular club forbids setting around flyers, postcards or other promo materials, post it on your website with the upcoming show info-blast. Set guidelines for your band and for each individual show and let your fans know that they need to follow these simple rules or they’re no longer permitted to attend live gigs and to post on your cyber message boards. A little information can go a long way and your fans will be happy that you let them know what they can and can’t do at any particular show.

2.) Learn From Experience—Sad but true, often the best way to learn what’s not appropriate at shows is for inappropriate things to happen. When fans begin their overblown behaviors, benign-intentioned or not, you will learn by the reaction of the clubs, the industry and your other fans what’s okay and what’s not going to fly. A good example is this…placing bumper stickers on club walls may be encouraged at some places but forbidden at others. The first time you get a call from a red-faced bar owner screeching through clenched teeth that his men’s room walls have to be repainted, you’ll know that it’s time to email your fan base and let them know to leave their reserve of band stickers at home when the band plays that club again. In another example, it may not occur to your band that certain fans are behaving rudely to club personnel or to your other fans, at your shows, until someone makes you aware of it. At that time, you may need to email your naughty fans and let them know that certain bad attitudes are unacceptable at shows, and on your message boards, and that fans who can’t be pleasant will not be invited back.

3.) Friends And Family Are No Exception—As awful as it sounds, often times a band’s family and friends are the most out of control and obnoxious at shows…and on the web. Maybe it’s because they’re more emotionally invested in the band and its members, or maybe because the musicians forget to remind their loved one about fan etiquette. You and your bandmates may think it’s a given, but some of the biggest jerks, idiots, and rebel rousers at gigs are your loved ones. It doesn’t matter it’s the bass player’s ten year-old brother to the drummer’s 60 year-old dad, you don’t want to be banned from your favorite showcase venue because granny kicked the bouncer in the shin. Don’t be afraid to sit your friends/family down and spell out the live show/internet rules for your band. Sometimes you can’t control the fans you don’t know, which makes it all the more important than ever to control the fans you do.

4.) Lay Down The Law—Once you become aware of the “problem” fans, it’s time to explain to them what they can and cannot do at your gigs and on your website. Before banning anyone from visiting the band’s shows and sites, try sending out a polite, but firm, email with some specific guidelines and a serious warning that the next step will be cutting these bad elements out of the band’s loop. It’s important to try not to make the email too harsh, as it may insight further acting up. So, just deliver the message in a casual way, explaining that their actions are hurting and not helping the band…a fact that they honestly may not realize. Honestly, you may need to give it some backbone so that your jerky fans really understand that their jig is up. If you’re having trouble with someone you know well…a particular friend or family member…a phone call or face-to-face meeting might better do the trick. No matter how the message is executed, it’s important to let your fans know that certain behaviors will not be tolerated by the band under any circumstance. Most fans would rather shape up that be cut out of all of the fun, and the band’s reputation will be safe from troublesome followers for the time being.

It’s true that fans are a band’s biggest asset. But left uncontrolled they can also be the biggest liability as your band takes on the responsibility and reputation for the antics that its fans pull at live shows and on websites. Like crazed leprechauns, full of mischief, each fan’s silly stunts and nasty attitude problems will eat away at your band’s good name with tiny bites…like a school of piranha in a stream eating a full sized goat down to the bone in seconds…until your band is left, a former shell of itself, wandering your town trying to figure out why you can’t get booked and no one visits your website. It’s not a good sign when you see a tumbleweed blow through your music career. Nip it in the bud now. Control your fans behavior. Trust me; you’ll be glad you did.

My first injection of Extreme Metal Music was back in 1985, i was 13 and a Metallica – “Ride The Lighning” cassette crossed my paths (Yes back then that was considered Extreme). I remember being at home alone with my crappy old “Ghetto Blaster” (that ‘ate tapes’) and fascinated at the cool “Electric Chair” cover art, it was at that moment within the first 30 seconds of “Fight Fire with fire” that my life would no doubt be set down a new path and Extreme Death Metal Music would be my fate. I remember being blown-away and scared shitless at the same time. The shear aggression and speed of the music was unlike anything i had ever heard (remember this was 1984 and i was 13 and Def Leppard was about the heaviest i had ever heard) and it was that very song that forever changed my life (thanx James) and led me to investigate this style of music even more. Bands like Slayer, Venom, Possessed and Death became the metal music that “Got me thru the day”

Well, the year is now 2008 and even though Metallica’s “Ride The Lighning” is still one of my top 20 favorite albums of all time, Extreme Metal Music is like drugs, one is too many and a thousand is not enough.
The need for faster, heavier, more brutal and intense music dosages becomes the addiction. In today’s world of Extreme Metal Music – Metallica would probably be considered choir boys.