There really seems to be a trend going on in the hard rock and metal scene of having females as lead vocalists. This makes perfect sense considering the industry is completely saturated with males so put a pretty face on stage for all the fans to enjoy and if she can sing a little that's just a bonus. But luckily there are also a select few that just fucking bring it. It doesn't matter if they are a male or female because they are going to bring it night in and night out and after all is said and done, no one will be left questioning their talent.
Straight Line Stitch is one of the lucky few that has a female vocalist that breaks hearts with her smile and impresses with her voice. She definitely has the pretty face, but has a vocal range that hangs with the best of the best on the scene today.
All I have to say is, she has pushed the bar higher for vocalists, male or female.
Straight Line Stitch is one of the lucky few that has a female vocalist that breaks hearts with her smile and impresses with her voice. She definitely has the pretty face, but has a vocal range that hangs with the best of the best on the scene today.
All I have to say is, she has pushed the bar higher for vocalists, male or female.
Aaron Manogue: Tell us a little about where you’re from, where you grew up? What type of family did you grow up in?
Alexis Brown: Basically, my family comes from a military background so I was always here and there. My family was definitely from a musical background. My dad played saxophone, my mom sang in church and I always knew I wanted to sing. I didn’t know it would lead to metal but as I got older, I had an older brother and he just got into Pantera, Korn and all those heavy bands and stuff like that. I just sort of got influenced by him and when my mom later remarried my step-father listened to Metallica, and Bad Company and Styx and I kind of just fell in love with the genre. And I said, “Well you either do R&B music or I can step out of the box and do something different.” So I decided to pursue a career in metal and get a band together.
Alexis Brown: Basically, my family comes from a military background so I was always here and there. My family was definitely from a musical background. My dad played saxophone, my mom sang in church and I always knew I wanted to sing. I didn’t know it would lead to metal but as I got older, I had an older brother and he just got into Pantera, Korn and all those heavy bands and stuff like that. I just sort of got influenced by him and when my mom later remarried my step-father listened to Metallica, and Bad Company and Styx and I kind of just fell in love with the genre. And I said, “Well you either do R&B music or I can step out of the box and do something different.” So I decided to pursue a career in metal and get a band together.
Manogue: And how did that come about? Did you join a band or did you start one?
Brown: Actually my first band, well I don’t even know if you can call it that, it was just me and my brother! Once he left to join the military, I started to go to my local music store and that’s where found a band. I put up an ad looking for a band, and man I was relentless. I found a band and one of my old guitar players, he answered an ad and we had a band then it fell apart. But I just kept at it you know, I was just going from band to band, recording by myself, just doing whatever I could to get my name out there.
I finally found a real band before Straight Line Stitch for five years, and we played some shows with Straight Line Stitch and when my band started to kind of disband, I sort of jumped to Straight Line Stitch. So it’s just a big, long mess!
Manogue: Tell me about your inspirations growing up. You weren’t always a metal or rocker chick were you?
Brown: Honestly, Korn was like a huge influence to me. They came out and opened up a door for that kind of music and I was just like, “Man, I really want to do that! I want to sort of pave the way for other bands.” They’re the ones that really made me want to pursue it and make a career out of it. As far as influence as far as singing-wise, I will forever be a huge Stevie Nicks fan. I was always a huge Fleetwood Mac fan and then she did her own thing. I love her voice, I love her power, I love everything about her.
Manogue: What additional challenges do you think there are to make it as a female in a male dominated industry?Brown: Right now, I just think it’s hard all the way around. It’s hard to make it whether you’re a male or female right now. It’s just hard in general because first of all the economy is not what it was, you know. Money that used to be there is not, you basically have to live your life on the road now as part of a band and live out of a suitcase. The biggest challenge is just trying to live your life out on the road. You miss family and you miss birthdays and you miss deaths. It’s a lot of sacrifice and there’s no difference than a man out on the road.
Manogue: Yeah, I’ve had a lot of different musicians tell me that too. Rock n Roll is so glamorous but people don’t understand the sacrifice people make being away from their families and friends.
Brown: Exactly! And don’t get me wrong, I’m super duper proud to be a female in this genre, doing what we do, but I don’t think we should use it as a crutch. We need to stop using at a crutch. We just need to start getting on stage and throw down and bring our “A” game. We always get, “Oh, you’re a female and you’re doing this!” like it’s unbelievable or something.
Manogue: It’s refreshing to see too because the trend seems to lean toward female vocalists these days. It’s nice to see that it’s more than just a pretty face now, and that you get up there and kick the shit out of your fans.
Brown: Exactly. I don’t go out there and check myself, “Oh, I’m still a female! Let’s go play the show.” I just get up there and let’s make this show as epic as possible. We have to get to each and every show and give it our best. That’s it!
Manogue: How do you deal with the recent success of the album?Brown: I’m humbled by it. To me nothing has changed. We still go out of our way hang out and talk to people and I would hope it always stay that way. I don’t really see a change, I mean we’re seeing new faces of people we’ve never seen before, so that’s really cool. Other than that, I don’t think it’s changed us as people, we’re still thinking it’s cool we’re getting more fans, and it’s so rad!
To me that’s the most important part about a band. Obviously you’re making music for people, so you want to be able to connect with people, but not only do you have to do that with the music, but you have to do that on a human level. They buy your cd’s and merch to let us be out here on the road. Just give people a little bit of your time to sign, to chat, to take a picture, to us that means the world. We’ll always fight to hang out with our fans. And that’s what it’s about.
Manogue: What would you say to other young girls out there that aspire to be like you and be a lead vocalist in a successful metal band?
Brown: I would tell them no matter what they chose to do in their life, to always follow your heart, follow your dreams and let nothing stand in their way. Most importantly, don’t let yourself stand in the way. I would definitely say, just follow your heart, that’s what I did. Never stop believing, never stop believing in yourself, that’s the key.
Manogue: Anything else you’d like to say to your fans?
Brown: I just want to say thank you to our fans and anyone who wants to reach out to us, I get this question a lot, they ask if someone else is controlling our Facebook pages. We run them, we control them. Please contact us, we love to talk to people and network.
Don't miss Alexis and Straight Line Stitch on the Hell Hath No Fury Tour: Click Here for Dates
Don't miss Alexis and Straight Line Stitch on the Hell Hath No Fury Tour: Click Here for Dates
manogue4@hard-rock-reviews.com