Interview: Vocalist Tim Aymar (Pharaoh, Control Denied)

Dom Coccaro: Thanks for taking the time to talk to me. I'm a huge fan. Now on to the interrogation!

Tim Aymar: Thanks for the invitation, bro.

DC: Power metal has seen a resurgence in the past few years. To what do you accredit this to?

TA: Boredom, I guess. Seriously though, what I've noticed is the lack of great hooks and great playing and melody, and you know, power. There's a lot of anger in much of the "new metal" but not a lot of power. I'm talking mainly about the radio though, not reality. It's weird, man. I see the world through the eyes of a metal singer, so in my world it's never gone away, so I don't notice a resurgence. I just keep on keepin' on. But there have been some killer bands come out over the past few years, and I mean really awesome bands. I don't know how familiar you are with Millennium or any of the projects that Jorn Lande has been on, but dude, seriously, if you haven't heard him...well maybe I shouldn't turn you on to him, because you'll forget all about me. I won't even mention Harry Conklin or any of the other really good singers out there making this kind of metal cool again. Just kidding. I really think that our kind of metal has made a big comeback because of the vocals. It's cool to sing again. People miss hearing vocals that are sung... by singers, if you get my drift. Also the riffing in the guitars and bass is cooler, as opposed to one finger, dropped down, slide tuning, cheater chord, no chord progression riffs. Although I'm not picking on anyone in particular, there's been enough of that around to become really boring. Brian Posehn explains it very well in his video - Metal By Numbers.

DC: Pharaoh isn't strictly a power metal band, but obviously, the influence is there. What are some of your favorite power metal albums?

TA: That depends on how tight you want the spread to be. I think Pink Cream 69 - "Games People Play" was a f*cking awesome album, Arakain - "Farao" was a killer too, and everything Dio has ever done is cool, but I don't listen to power metal albums. I only listen to metal albums that happen to be power metal because someone else felt the itch in their sphincter to have to call it something more specific than metal. Metal goes so manydirections and what some would call "pure" power metal is different from band to band anyway. I'd rather drop all the semantics. I'm a metal fan, a metal singer. Who's the dickhead who started all that gay sh*t anyway? I mean, I've seen people going at it over whether Yngwie and Symphony-X were the same kind of metal or not. Who cares?

DC: The Longest Night is an amazing album. It was released almost a year ago. What are your thoughts on it now? Is there anything that you would change about it?

TA: Thanks, I'm glad you like it. Honestly, I was a little surprised at first that the vocals were so far back in the mix, but after a couple listens it didn't bother me. It's a huge mix, and that I do really like about it. Only thing I'd change is maybe layer some of harmonies more. I like more of a thicker, lusher sound for the harmony vox.

DC: How much of the new album is written?

TA: I'm not sure, but they gave me 3 tracks to work on. I've been burning the candle at both ends lately, getting the Pharaoh Street Team off to a good start, programming the site and all that good stuff, and while working on that, I've had to reformat and install a new operating system and reinstall all the software for my studio and take the time also to learn some of the changes in the newer versions of the programs I've upgraded. I'm just about ready to go offline, at least from the street team and myspace, for a few weeks, and just focus on writing.

DC: What direction will the third album take? Heavier? More melodic? More harpsichords?

TA: We're pretty much just gonna follow the trend by taking more of an avante gay approach this time. We'll have 3 wannabee black chicks who can't just simply sing their parts, a 700 piece hand bell orchestra, and a variety of severely tortured, but cleanly shaven farm animal noises. That's what the kids want to hear. And no guitars this time; Matt's gonna play everything on the electric zither, in the bathroom, with a black vibrating strap-on dildo for a slide. And sure, that's been done already, but he'll be strapping it onto his forehead, so there's a twist. No vocal melodies at all, the same note all the way through the record, and no words either, because nobody listens to the words anyway. I'll just make kind of a random, high pitched Yaaaaaaah sound through a bullhorn instead, so it will have more of an authentic garage band sound. Yes, it will be much much heavier because the booklet will be about 96 pages of a true story about the lesbian sex adventures of a neurotic chimpanzee with her sister in the bathroom with some crystal meth and a black vibrating...well you get the picture, it ties right in with Matt's soloing, and you have to read it with the included 3D glasses, upside down in the mirror. Seriously though....it's kind of a secret. I will say though, personally, I won't bewriting love songs (Hey man, sorry, but you opened the door with the harpsichord thing and I had to let it out).

DC: I know you've been asked a million questions about Chuck Schuldiner, but I'm going to ask one anyway. What did you learn from him while recording Control Denied's "The Fragile Art of Existence"?

TA: That when you pay that much money to do a recording, you don't make your own f*cking coffee. Again, only kidding. O.K., in all seriousness, what I learned was how to exploit more of the strange things my voice will do. Now that I think of it, maybe that's what I'll do more of on the next Pharaoh CD. I always tend to sound a little different on every record I do, so I probably won't have to try very hard. If you've heard 313, Triple-X, Psycho Scream, Control Denied and Pharaoh you'd hear 6 different approaches. I think with Chuck's guidance though, I learned to throw it all in the bag and shake it up.

DC: When is Pharaoh going to mount a headlining tour of the U.S.?

TA: Now THAT'S a good question! I wish I had a definite answer for you. I really hope that we see enough of a fan base in the states after this next release to have it make sense.

DC: When you do tour, have you given thought to performing any Control Denied covers?

TA: That's totally up to the band, I guess. I wouldn't be against it if that's what they wanted. But I didn't think of it until you mentioned it.

DC: A website for Pharaoh's street team was just launched. What are the team's main objectives?

TA: Ah, my favorite subject. The street team is a worldwide community of fans that help to promote the band. They get together at the website and interact and they seek out new fans, and call in radio station requests, vote in readers polls, all the same things fans do on their own, but as an organized force. In return, they get free stuff. The main objective right now is recruiting new team members and getting started. Once we have a large enough team, we'll start with the actual teamwork. So anyone who's interested, come on by and see if it's something you'd have fun doing at www.pharaohstreetteam.com.

DC: My head has nearly exploded from trying to hit some of your high notes.

TA: Maybe you're trying too hard. It comes out easier if you relax. Really.

DC: Do you do any vocal exercises to keep your pipes flexible?

TA: I've taught bel canto voice technique for about 15 years, so it's just part of the routine. I always warm up with exercises for about 30 minutes before I sing, and then any time there's any tension interfering with my voice I'll take a minute and work it out with exercises, and then I warm down when I'm done and thin the cords down. If you don't do that, especially after screaming like I do, you'll notice it hurts a little to talk later on.

DC: Any advice for budding metal vocalists?

TA: Don't get your hopes up. Again, just kidding!!! If you want to sing for as long as it could take to build a career and keep it long enough to succeed at it, learn not to hurt your voice, especially if you enjoy screaming. You can sing or scream or grunt and groan all you want if you learn how to use the voice correctly. But, if not, you can do permanent damage. And train your ears, dammit, or I'm not buying your records.