As the lead guitarist and principal songwriter in Asking Alexandria, Ben Bruce has penned four albums and powered through multiple genres in the process. While the first album, 2009’s Stand Up And Scream, fizzed with EDM influences, the following two demonstrated a more retro sound, thanks to ex-frontman Danny Worsnop’s penchant for hair metal.
第四唱片《黑人》是他们与丹尼的继任者丹尼斯·斯托夫（Denis Stoff）的第一个唱片，他是一位以前不知名的乌克兰歌手，他的射程和内脏舞台的存在意味着他立即受到球迷的欢迎。本坐下来询问亚历山大（Alexandria）的目前巡回演出，因为他的第一个孩子即将出生，但他仍然有时间给我们一些歌曲创作建议。
1. Don’t copy your idols – but don’t worry if your stuff sounds a bit similar
“There’s a weird thing in the rock world where if someone hears similarities between songs, they call it out. It’s ridiculous! There are specific chord progressions that work really well and have done for decades, and no one gives a shit in the pop world. Everyone’s influenced by different artists and when you’re in a band there’s multiple people to please. It’s a juggling match with being influenced by someone and just taking something. The longer you write songs, you find your own little niches and tricks and come into your own. If you’re a good songwriter it becomes recognisable to the listener.”
2. Put yourself in other people’s shoes
“您不想一直在写关于自己的钟声，但要诚实和真实，不仅仅是谈论一堆您不知道的废话，这很重要。人们可以分辨出差异，人们将与诚实联系起来，而不是一堆胡说八道，这并不意味着任何意义。我们[问亚历山大]遇到了世界各地的粉丝，经过多年的故事，您会受到影响他们的事情的影响。失落的灵魂在我们的最后一张专辑《黑色》中受到了许多粉丝的影响。很高兴写关于别人的歌词，而不仅仅是一直自我放纵。
3. There’s no perfect place to start
“I’ve been writing music since I was five or six years old and I still haven’t learned the best way around to do things. I write lyrics every day so when I go to the studio I have all these lyrics, and then you write a song, and you find it’s really hard to fit lyrics you’ve written into a song. I used to start with the drums and write a riff over the same drum beat. That was when I thought really cool riffs were most important, and now our main focus is on writing good songs and not just riffs stitched together. For all these new songs I’ve started writing, I’ve started with chord progression and built it up from there section by section.”
4. Don’t be scared of other genres (or Justin Bieber)
“I listen to sort of every kind of music imaginable. That can make it difficult to write songs because I’ll be listening to Justin Bieber’s new album and think it sounds awesome and that I want to write a song based on this. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I think as a musician you should be able to write what you want when you want. I don’t think there are any rules. I think people are less understanding now; if a metal band was to release a blues song back in the day, no one would care, or if a blues band was to release a heavier rock song, no one would care either. Now there’s phrases thrown around like ‘you sold out’ or ‘you’re ditching your core fan base’, but no, I’m just writing a song.”
5. Don’t dwell on what your audience might think
“On The Black, there’s a piano ballad with just a piano and me singing. There are no breakdowns, no guitars, no drums. People really love that song, but when I presented that to some people in the industry they were like, ‘you can’t do that’. Why can’t I? If you’re a real musician and a real songwriter and I don’t think you should limit yourself and if that’s what you’re feeling, do it.”
6. Find some honest critics
“对我来说，最重要的是让一群人支持和鼓励但没有使您的头部充满狗屎。我有一群人 - 我的妈妈，我的妹妹，我的父亲和几个朋友 - 我年轻时向他们展示了一切。他们会说：“也许您可以尝试不同的尝试”，而不仅仅是说我很棒。那是我做过的最好的事情，它雕刻了我的歌曲创作，因为很高兴得到人们的反馈。我真的很喜欢向他们展示我的创造。这是我可以给任何开始歌曲创作的人最好的建议。即使到今天，我仍然将每件事都寄给我的妈妈，我的姐姐和我的父亲，然后在乐队听到它之前。”
7.不要浪费时间争论
“我们只是在乐队中有一条规则，即如果我们来回走了超过十分钟，试图做一个想法工作，那是不对的，我们将其废除。删除并继续前进。您不必争论好主意 - 他们一开始就很好。”
访问Asking Alexandriaonline for more.