metal band with a female frontperson. Most fans of metal will buy and support their favourite band's music, and are more likely to generate a "career" performer than here in North America. The industry in the US and Canada is more likely to hype and over-inflate the importance of less-consequential and mediocre performers because here it's all about glitz and glamour and who is on the cover of teen magazines as opposed to supporting real talent. If ever a metal band would DARE to appear on an SNL broadcast pretending to sing instead of performing live!!! Metal bands for the most part endeavour to perform honestly for their fans. That takes talent if you want you cut through the crap and get noticed. If you try and fake it you don't last long because the fans are more savvy than the average pop fan. Consequently, the reality is that stylistically there are less female singers with the kind of "balls" required to sound good next to a crunching metal riff! But they're out there and usually very good at what they do!
How would you characterise Dale's drumming?
He is the only drummer I have ever worked with that has a virtually perfect clock running in his head. I have 99% perfect pitch and can usually tell what notes are being played just by hearing them…his sense of tempo is equivalent to this. Almost every other drummer I have worked with in the past, regardless of their talent and prowess will cue themselves to a metronome
occasionally throughout the night to check that they are in time, and not start a song too fast or too slow. He just plays and locks in right off the mark and once he sets the tempo he is on like a click track! He has some old school influences to be sure, Grand Funk, Rush, etc, and he doesn't play double kick…but he is 100% consistent and on the money in every performance. He kind of reminds me of Kenny Aaronoff…Who can play with John Mellencamp and then turn out a kick ass rock performance with Tony Iommi! We have known each other since elementary school and have played together for many years since then, and we're very much in synch musically.
Do you think drummers and bassists are often over-looked regarding the sound of band, being overshadowed by the vocalists and "guitar heroes"? (If yes...) Why does this happen?
I think that's totally dependent on the "artist" and/or direction and focus of the band. In "popular" music the focus has always been on the vocal/lyric, and it continues to be so in rap/hip-hop, mainstream pop/rock/country, etc. No one really pays attention to the bass player in Garth Brooks' music, no one cares about the guitar when listening to Eminem…unless it is a sampled snippet from a famous piece of "guitar hero" music but marketing/presenting a group to the masses is a tough chore. The easiest way to ensure "mass appeal" is to anchor the presentation at the strongest or most easily