You hear the buzzing of drunken voices cluttering the room and you start to get excited. You can literally smell the heavy metal in the air from the 200 sweating bodies that just moshed their asses off to the band before you. You see your band mates plugging in the last of their cables and you hear the last floor tom sound check fire off like a cannon. You walk on stage and grip the mic like it’s your last bottle of water in the desert. You look out into the crowd and see the urgency in the faces of the fans. You hear your drummer hit his sticks together like a familiar bedtime story. The song explodes past you into the crowd and you scream with a primal rage that would scare an old lady to death.

If you’ve ever screamed in a heavy metal band, you are all too familiar with how this feels and like me you’re most likely addicted to it. If you haven’t, and are thinking about doing it, you’re in for the ride of your life. I’ve been practicing extreme vocals for the better part of 10 years and it been a roller coaster of fun, rage, excitement and a high like nothing else. It’s a really humbling experience to have that many people hanging on your every word, even if they can’t understand one word you’re saying.

I first got started as a metal vocalist in my small hometown of Carbon, Alta. when I was about 20-years-old. I was in a local metal cover act called Strictly Liquid, and I started out as the bass player. We found another guy that lived down the street from me that could play bass lines like Iron Maiden’s Steve Harris, so I had to either start singing or look for another band. I wasn’t thrilled at first, but from the first time I sang “Harvester of Sorrow” I was hooked.

But developing the sound I have now was a bit of a journey, one I’m still on, and hopefully I can help you start yours.

The first thing you should know if you want to be a metal vocalist is this: if you have a decent scream and can do one or two voicings well, stick with that for a while. Always try to focus on what feels natural before you start to branch off, and remember that it shouldn’t hurt. If you feel any pain, you’re doing it wrong and probably doing damage. I found that out the hard way through trial and error and, although it was a fun ride, I’d be much further ahead now if I had read this 10 years ago. The beauty about metal vocals is there’s a plethora of approaches to the art, so whatever your natural sound is like, there’s a good chance you can incorporate it into the right music.

The key to honing your sound, whether guttural growls, shrieks, or simply adding a bit of distortion, is – wait for it – breathing technique. Breathing is crucial to extreme vocals, especially the deep, from-the-gut type of breathing often referred to as “belly breathing.” If you don’t have good breathing technique, sure you’ll be able to do a show here of there without too much problem. But if you’re serious about it and want to tour, you’ll be jolly well f**ked if you have poor technique. You will strain your vocal chords, your lungs, which will be too fatigued to carry on after a few shows. There are lots of ways to practice breathing, lots of stomach muscle control exercises and tricks that you can learn that will help you utilize your diaphragm to force out vocals, rather than your throat, which is much safer and will allow you to really take your vocals to the extreme.

Taking vocal lessons and learning how to sing properly in a clean style can be extremely beneficial for this. It will also give you a sense of your range and help eliminate pitch problems, and having someone help guide you, even if just in the beginning, might save you a lot of grief down the road.

I also highly recommend going out and buying “The Zen of Screaming” DVDs by professional vocal coach Melissa Cross. Everything you need to know to get you started with extreme vocals and help develop your own unique vocal technique is on her glorious DVDs, so buy them, watch them, and learn. You can also visit her website for more advice on topics like air management, pitch and maintenance.

Another trick that I found works from my own experience is to always do what you feel comfortable doing. Work inside your comfort zone and grow from there. If you do what is comfortable, it will translate better to your audience and will come across as more natural. Make sure that when you’re writing a vocal cadence that you write around your ability so as you grow as a vocalist, and you’ll have way more options in the writing process as well.

Any person that knows anything about being a vocalist will tell you that if you lose your voice the only remedy is refrain from using it. If your voice is going rest it up before your next gig, this will be hard, and your band might have to buy you a little chalkboard to hang around your neck or something and, of course, respect the development of your voice, which is your instrument and just an integral part of the band’s sound as any other.

And whatever you do, whether learning, rehearsing or getting ready to dominate the stage, make sure you warm up. This will reduce your risk of losing your voice in the first place, and help prevent long term damage – or even career ending injury – as you learn and perfect your new craft.

That’s all I have for now, so good luck to you in your primal screaming adventures and we’ll see you in the pit!

Wes DeLeeuw is best known as the frontman for the Calgary metal act Kilyakai. You can catch him and the rest of his band in action on stages across Alberta.