Is Zakk "pulling chest" here;

[Rick Jones]

....in this early incarnation Zakk was a bluesy, southern rock kind of guy, nowadays he's extremely twangy and kind of like Axl Rose meets Ozzy tonally to my ear, but here on this early vid;

...would you say he was (A) pulling chest, and ( doing himself harm, on the choruses and high parts?

I can sing this song, but I either have to use a light head voice or a serious belt to get the choruses that leaves me hoarse afterwards(no good!).

Do you think this was leaving him hoarse?

For contrasts sake, here is his "new" voice, which I don't actually like as much, but do you think he adopted the twang to save his voice after singing like he did in the early days, or am I way off the track?

[analog]

Rick,

no way to know for sure if it was harmful or not. Only Zakk could answer that. I hear a BIG VOICE going up into a lighter registration in the song, so wouldn't expect it to be damaging...but I'm merely speculating. Sounds fine to me.

[Matt]

Sounds to me like he's blocking/shutting off resonances, not quite sure where.

[kalapoka]

hmm...IMO, there's not really a good way to tell if he is damaging his cords, only he would be able to tell you that. Sounds like a powerful mixed voice to me when he goes on those high parts. BUT since I also assume that he is vocally untrained, it COULD be that he is doing what he is doing naturally, and that could be either good or bad.

[ronws]

He did change from that old style and the new style has more twang. It could be both to change his style and protect his voice. For quite some time, any time you see Zakk in an interview, he's drinking something, which I guess goes with toughy guy biker thing he's put across. So, I don't know if he's actually taking care of himself, or what. He still has a lot of distortion in his voice.

[jonpall]

Man, I knew Zakk could sing but I didn't know he was that good! I'm talking about the first clip. It seems that drinking and not taken care of his voice has taken some toll on him because if he's pulling chest anywhere it would be on the SECOND clip! lol. It's hard to tell, though. But I think he's using fairly good technique on the first clip. He's screaming but he's holding back air, I think, which he isn't doing as well in the second video. Those clips also reminded me how great a guitar player he is.

[Steven Fraser]

All,

In the first performance, I think we hear the result of persistent chest-pull, which (to my ear) is an on-chord phonation distortion, itself an indication of voice damage. I think his technique is to sing with heavy registration up top, but to lessen the adduction, perhaps even unlocking the posterior closure of the cords.

The 2nd recording shows less of this, though there still is some up high. His lower singing is clearer, indicating that he is using a more regular phonation. IMO, when he does it, it is much healthier long-term for his voice. Others have mentioned this as being more 'twangy', I just hear it as being what a heavy chest voice sounds like when its not overblown.

Up top, he reverts to the vocal production he used so persistently in his earlier recording. In this recording, it becomes more of a special effect than his main deal. He will still tire more readily while using it, but by staying mostly in a clear chest voice, he can recover within the song.

Clearly, for these two songs, he does not use (may be does not want) a clear, coordinated head voice.

One other comment... To my ear, his vowel colors indicate that he is singing with substantial neck and tongue tension, which would be quite expected with a voice use history such as his. It hurt my throat to listen.

[jonpall]

He sings FAR fewer high notes in the second clip, but when he does them, he sings them worse than in the first clip. Maybe it's because of he's been using tension in his throat and the wrong vowels for many years but I think I hear a slight "cry" sound in the first clip which could indicate curbing and means that he's not really shouting. I could have heard it wrong, though. However, he pulls back from the mic a lot so maybe he's using too much volume for curbing.

[Rick Jones]

All,

In the first performance, I think we hear the result of persistent chest-pull, which (to my ear) is an on-chord phonation distortion, itself an indication of voice damage. I think his technique is to sing with heavy registration up top, but to lessen the adduction, perhaps even unlocking the posterior closure of the cords.

The 2nd recording shows less of this, though there still is some up high. His lower singing is clearer, indicating that he is using a more regular phonation. IMO, when he does it, it is much healthier long-term for his voice. Others have mentioned this as being more 'twangy', I just hear it as being what a heavy chest voice sounds like when its not overblown.

Up top, he reverts to the vocal production he used so persistently in his earlier recording. In this recording, it becomes more of a special effect than his main deal. He will still tire more readily while using it, but by staying mostly in a clear chest voice, he can recover within the song.

Clearly, for these two songs, he does not use (may be does not want) a clear, coordinated head voice.

One other comment... To my ear, his vowel colors indicate that he is singing with substantial neck and tongue tension, which would be quite expected with a voice use history such as his. It hurt my throat to listen.

This is what I feel when I try to approximate the "feel" of this song if I cover it,pretty much as you describe it......towards the end I am tired and could no way do this more than twice.

The funny thing is, I always loved this song, this vid in particular, until I started to try and learn about singing, then I started to think "ouch" everytime I heard it.

He does twang alot more when singing electric band songs, here is the album version of the second song....he sounds alot like a more baritone version of Ozzy in it;

The drinking thing, with Zakk, is genuine, he really is drinking himself stupid as far as I can gather, which is a real shame. His new material is frankly shocking, almost a parody of himself, and the biker thing is just lame these days.

But his early stuff, solo, was what made me want to play in the first place....funnily, now I am finding it hard to listen to as I feel he was damaging his voice the whole time!

[ronws]

Well, the biker thing seems important to him. He has tried to organize the Black Label Society fan club like a motorcycle club. Pardon me for sounding like a know-it-all here. But I have known my share of motorcycle clubs. A dear friend that rode with the Scorpions MC Dallas Chapter, which used to be a rough club and even had trouble a few years ago. Banshees MC, blue collar working guys who just like to ride and have a party but will take care of trouble in their own way (I have seen it with my own eyes and was once invited to one of their parties.) Rebels MC (a lot of electricians in that one. Friendly, calm, cool.) Brief aquaintance with the Skulls and the Brotherhood. One of my favorites, the Brotherhood of the Third Wheel (a trike club.) The pres of that one is one of the sweetest guys you'll ever meet and carries his grandson in the passenger seat.

So what is Zakk trying to get across? Is he like someone from the Hell's Angels or the Brotherhood? Or is he more like the Banshees or Third Wheel? In the Third Wheel, all that drinking would get him kicked out. Even the Scorpions, per their own president, don't drink and "party" like they used to do. Most of the long-standing members are grandparents and are more likely to "pop" Geritol than anything else and don't drink anymore.

[gno]

I think his homemade vocal technique is probably not healthy but I am impressed by how good of a singer he actually is. It does sound like in the second one he finally discovered twang.

[jonpall]

I have the feeling that Martin H. and Jens and basically CVT people would think that Zakk is not necessarily singing in an unhealthy manner in that first clip, even though traditional vocal coaches might think "ouch". People like Sammy Hagar and Steven tyler have been screaming for decades and are still going strong.

[ronws]

I have the feeling that Martin H. and Jens and basically CVT people would think that Zakk is not necessarily singing in an unhealthy manner in that first clip, even though traditional vocal coaches might think "ouch". People like Sammy Hagar and Steven tyler have been screaming for decades and are still going strong.

Excellent point. I love what Sammy is doing in Chickenfoot.

"Arriba, riba!.../"

[jonpall]

Tequila! :)

[ronws]

And of course, one must use Sammy's tequila, Cabo Wabo Tequila, which is actually a very smooth agave tequila. He even cooks with it.