J Schizoid's Top 20 Vocal Influences By Jason Schizoid 

Need to Control was an album that had perfect grindcore vocals. His shrieks on GodPlayer, on 'Choice of a New Generation' are legendary. That high tone shriek was abandoned in favour of a half efforted grunt that marred the remainder of even current BRUTAL TRUTH music. On that album he stepped up and hit a home run. I had the opportunity of passing him a joint as I told him that his vocals on Need to Control played a big role in finding my own voice as vocalist. Cool moment in time.

His lyrics are mindblowing. I wouldn't have my pseudo vegan/political ideals if it weren't for his conversational, long-lettered-worded approach that came out like a Jeff Walker high on helium. The effects on his vocals on the EXIT 13 Ethos Musick album are unbelievable, it sounds like a transmission from Flying Saucers to the President giving news of earths death.

PANTERA limited this guy, and it was great to see him come into his own on SUPERJOINT RITUAL. People do not like his personality and I don't care and won't have it. His 'Southern boy' schtick aside, this guy is worthy of every Johnny Come Lately who wants to imitate him, his vocals are worth imitation. Dude can go from being in black metal bands to being in a band like DOWN where he is singing softly (not my preference, but he does it well). Dude is on the edge and I want to be on that edge too to enhance my craft. "Sickness" by SJR is my theme song as a vocalist in the last years.

Listen to S.O.D. "Live At Budokan". Listen to M.O.D. "USA For M.O.D.". Forget the racist s**t, this guy just straight out hollers. I spent a lot of time as an young'n when my parents where out of the house, yelling along to my stereo.

I don't like his high voiced, stupid ass funk music he makes. When I was 18 though, the first SUICIDAL album was all that there was and needed to be. His hollers were fucking excellent and worth trying to copy. His lyrics were sincere and spoke to me on the deepest levels. It feels like the dude is dead at this point because of what ST has become, but for the first ST album he gets an eternal pass into my top 10.

Maniac is an odd fellow, but has a great repertoire of voices up his sleeve, whether an out of tune singing? or the best Donald Duck-ish BM vox. Listen to all the different voices on Grand Declaration that he does.

Older SICK OF IT ALL like on BUILT TO LAST or SCRATCH THE SURFACE was perfect. I watched SOIA live and just wished I could for a second trade places with the guy. Listen to "Laughingstock", I wish I could take a time machine and replace him with myself in the studio and get to step up and take a shot at delivering vocals that good.

He pulls off standing on stage without a band and successfully gets any crowd into whatever he's pushing. Some vocalists say "Please mosh if you want to", Alec just shouts ARE YOU WITH ME ARE YOU FUCKING WITH ME, it'd be impossible to not want to move watching him. Less a vocal influence per say since I had got my vocal style before hearing ATR/Alec, than an over all musical influence, although his vocals always rock on whatever they're on. I know that there will be a day me and his vocals will be on the same track and anyone who's ever liked digital hardcore music will s**t their pants hearing us both giv'er.

Madonna is balls out, a true artist. She has no fear and no shame. She is unafraid to take risks musically, and unafraid to fail, and then get back up and try something else. She performs nightly, playing 2 hour shows while dancing Olympian level choreography. Most h/c vocalists couldn't stand one minute of her work regiment. F**k you if you disagree with this being included.

One aloof wacky m**********r. He doesn't have much range but that's what's great. His accent creeps into my vocal style, that surly hard consonant sound.

A few people have heard SCHIZOID and then heard me play MONSTER VOODOO MACHINE and said "Yeah I can hear the similarities". A(doom)'s vox on early MVM material mixed a good amount of hardcore mixed with 90's industrial vocs. I took a bunch of pages from his stage presence, he's never up there looking like he doesn't know what the f**k to do. I got my habit of figeting with the microphone cord from watching him. I hope he doesn't read this and get embarassed I put him on this. ;)

Not necessarily known for his great vocals (in concert his vocals are like a dead fish), but I think he deserves some fucking props. He does a lot of stuff on record that can't be reproduced live, great studio trickery having multiple voices like a cackle of demons. Definitely the first person/influence I had in mind when we did the DOW album.

DIRGE/DAY OF MOURNING singer. What a weird little fellow. Wearing welding gloves. Dude is barely 5 feet and has some of the lowest barks around. Not sure what he's doing these days, but back in the day watching DIRGE shows I incorporated a ton of low vocs into what I was doing watching him, and just being curious about WTF his buzz was.

When I was in a thrash metal band I had to sing. I had never had to sing. Singing seemed for lack of a better word, 'gay' to me. How can I stand up there and "LAAA DEEE DAAAAA" to people without feeling like a schmuck. I'll tell you John Bush. He is a man's man and when he does vocals there is nothing wack about his singing.

Back in the day when I first started to like metal this was my first link to the vocalist world. On Justice For All, his vocals had an angry anti-heroic heft to them that could not be fucked with. The outrageousness of Metallica's sellout is only relevant in retrospect in that it was such a shame to lose such a great vocalist to sing-songy anti-metal vocalities.