Your Supergroup

Build your supergroup of whatever genre you like.

Melodic black metal, BLACKER THAN THE BLACKEST BLACK TIMES INFINITY.

• Vocals: Jari Maenpaa (Wintersun)
• Lead guitar: Riku Hopeakoski (Catamenia)
• Rhythm guitar: Obsidian (Keep Of Kalessin)
• Keyboards: Jonathan Lefrancois-Leduc (Blackguard)
• Bass: ICS Vortex (Dimmu Borgir)
• Drums: Hellhammer (a zillion bands)

Don't be surprised, you knew one of the first posts would be metal.

Tom Waits (solo) - vocals
Sir Richard Bishop (Sun City Girls, solo) - guitar
Jah Wobble (Public Image Ltd., solo) - bass guitar
Christian Vander (Magma, solo) - drums
Benny Goodman (Benny H. Goodman) - clarinet
Hugh Banton (Van Der Graaf Generator) - organ

I'd just let them play whatever genre they came up with.

edited 26th Jul '11 9:08:55 AM by CinemaZebra

Get Stevie Wonder, Carole King, Paul Mc Cartney, and David Bowie into a room and let them play whatever f***ing instruments they want.

option a, which I like to call OHGODNOISEEVERYWHERE:

• Vocals: Greg Puciato (The Dillinger Escape Plan)
• Programming: Aaron Funk (Venetian Snares)
• Saxophone: Luca T. Mai (Zu)
• Bass: Arif Mirabdolbaghi (Protest the Hero)

option b, a little more laid back:

• Vocals: Jex Thoth (Sabbath Assembly)
• Guitar & backing vox: John Gourley (Portugal. The Man)
• Double bass: Thierry Amar (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, A Silver Mt. Zion)
• Drums: Chris Tsagakis (RX Bandits)

LOUD Instrumental Rock Band:

• Guitar 1 - Rory Friers (And So I Watch You From Afar)
• Guitar 2 - Ian Williams (Battles/Don Caballero)
• Bass - Brian Gibson (Lightning Bolt)
• Drums - Adam Betts (Three Trapped Tigers)
• Electronics - Benjamin John Power (Fuck Buttons/Blanck Mass)

Ambient Post-Rock:

• Guitar + Post-Production - Marc Byrd (Hammock)
• Strings + Other Orchestral Arrangements - Ólafur Arnalds
• Vocals - Julianna Barwick

Baroque Pop:

• Vocals + Guitar 1 - Robin Pecknold (Fleet Foxes)
• Backing Vocals + Guitar 2 - Daniel Rossen (Grizzly Bear/Department Of Eagles)
• Backing Vocals + Multi-Instrumentalising - Annie Clark (St. Vincent)
• Piano - Sufjan Stevens
• Violin + String Arrangements - Owen Pallett
• Drums - Thor Harris (Shearwater)
• Bass - Aristazabal Hawkes (Guillemots)

Also, collaboration between Tim Hecker (Electronics) and Mark McGuire (Guitar). Needs to happen.

edited 20th Jul '11 4:57:54 PM by Saeglopur

Sweet! I've been waiting for a topic like this, since I've always enjoyed speculating about potentially awesome musical collaborations. Now, the way I talk about them, one would think I already have an ideal band in Dream Theater, but in fact I think the ultimate progressive metal ensemble would be a sort of hybrid of Dream Theater, Strapping Young Lad and a couple of stray instrumental virtuosos:

• Jordan Rudess (keyboards/piano/craploads of bizarre instruments and obscure MIDI controllers) and James Labrie (vocals) (Dream Theater)
  • These are the two members of DT I consider irreplaceable (unconventional choices, as they're not founding members and have always drawn more criticism than the founders of the band). Labrie is a singer, and voices are unique things that can't be duplicated or imitated - it also so happens that this voice is my personal favourite. All questions of vocal timbre (a subjective quality) aside, it also can't be denied that the man has an immense range both in terms of style and pitch (about 3 and a half octaves, C#2 - A5 and that's just full voice, no falsetto or fry), which is always useful for a prog band. As for Jordan, again, while arguments can be had about his musicality, his obscene technical ability and versatility is undeniable, and I personally consider him the absolute peak of musical ability, since he's written a whole slew of pieces that I find far more emotive and magical than anything I've ever heard elsewhere. Non-founders they may be, but these two are responsible for all of my most cherished musical moments, and Jordan in particular would be the compositional keystone for this hypothetical band.
• Gene Hoglan (drums) and Devin Townsend (guitars, other stuff) (Strapping Young Lad)
  • Gene Hoglan is another example of a technically flawless player, and besides his vast oeuvre in the extreme metal scene his work on albums like Terria proves that not only can he handle more atmospheric and/or progressive material with aplomb, but he also has an exceptional chemistry with Devin Townsend. Devin's inclusion is a result of his ability to contribute on all fronts - he's a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, producer and songwriter who excels at everything he does. These two would certainly bring the punch and metallic edge to the band, but they also have the versatility required to fit into a true prog band.
• Joe Satriani (guitars) and Victor Wooten (bass) (solo artists)
  • The oddball choices here, these two are IMO hands down the best on the planet at their instruments. They both turn their instrumental abilities into a kind of language, their technical skill and theoretical knowledge rendering them omnicapable in their chosen fields. Besides obviously contributing phenomenal lead playing, Joe's background in straightforward rock music and Victor's background in jazz would add vital colour to a collection of more typically prog and metal musicians.

No idea what it'd be called. It'd need to be something really epic. The only fitting moniker I can conjure right now is 'Pantheon'.

I'll work on a cadre of younger musicians for my next supergroup.

Oh, and Bound By The Moon, your one is awesome (FUCK YEAH JARI MAENPAA) and so is your first one, Sunshine (FUCK YEAH ARIF PLAYING WITH VENETIAN SNARES)

@Saeg - Adam Betts, what a drummer!

And that second one of yours sounds absolutely tasty... even if I think it has a few too many cooks... but if it worked, my god would it be glorious

@AAT - heh, not just Arif playing with Vsnares. Can you imagine Luca Mai's sax over those two? And then imagine Greg Puciato shrieking over all of that? It would sound like hell itself, if hell had unusually jazzy basslines. And That's Awesome.

Hmm, yeah, maybe... in fact, I'm going to take out both McGuire and Hecker, so that they can just release an awesome collaboration album between the two of them, leaving the other three to make the most blissed-out ambient post-rock album ever.

I'm most pleased with that first line-up. That would kick some absolutely ridiculous amounts of ass. Adam Betts is a machine. It was tough choosing between him, John Stanier of Battles and Brian Chippendale of Lightning Bolt but having already gone with other members of those two, Betts won. He probably would have won anyway.

edited 20th Jul '11 5:00:30 PM by Saeglopur

How about an Avant-Garde Jazzy and/or Mathy Interesting Group?

Drums: Damon Che (Don Caballero)
Bass, production: Tom Jenkinson (Squarepusher)
Vocals, clarinet, guitar, probably 9000 other instruments: Toby Driver (Kayo Dot, maudlin of the Well)
Guitar: Nick Reinhardt (Tera Melos)
Flute, tenor saxophone: Adrián Terrazas-González (The Mars Volta)

it would depend, I think, on how well Tom Jenkinson and Toby Driver worked together, but it could be very interesting

Props to Sunshine for Jex Thoth and Venetian Snares. But seriously, Vsnares with Greg Puciato? I don't know... How many people's eardrums could withstand something like that?

Okay, here's a djent one that I won't go into as much detail on because I'm not as fanatical about the musicians involved:

• Vocals - Casey Sabol (ex-Periphery)
  • There were other options, like his successor Spencer Sotelo and Thatguywhosenameiforget from Circles who would be equally good, but in the end I went for this guy's lovably husky voice.
• Guitars - Jake Bowen (Periphery)
  • Massively underrated guy, he writes amazing riffs and leads as well as awesome ambient electronica. Fantastic musician.
• Guitars - Tosin Abasi (Animals As Leaders)
  • The best guitarist of the late 2000s. Ridiculous shredder, and also writes really original, diverse, interesting music.
• Bass - Amos Wlliams (Tesseract)
  • Slap-bass-playing Hugh Grant. Why would I NOT have him in this band?
• Drums - Travis Orbin (ex-Periphery, Sky Eats Airplane)
  • Mechanical, precise and prodigiously talented - perfect for this style of music.

needs moar Ben Sharp

hehe, have you ever listened to Zu? Because subjecting people to Mai's saxophone along with those two... oh my.

Also, I'm wondering if that last supergroup might be over-egging the pudding a bit. Also I'm not sure Nick Reinhardt would fit, as much as I love the guy

Look at me, I'm about to make a melodeath supergroup that (probably) wouldn't sound like a rehash of At The Gates!

• Vocals: Peter Tagtgren (Hypocrisy/Pain)
• Guitars: Per Nilsson (Scar Symmetry) and Tom Gardiner (Hateform/Solution 45)
• Keyboards/electronic bits: Joona Kukkola (Mors Principium Est)
• Bass: Henkka T. Blacksmith (Children Of Bodom)
• Drums: Tomas Haake (Meshuggah)

edited 20th Jul '11 6:25:44 PM by BoundByTheMoon

Saxophone Quartet:

Alto Sax: John Zorn (Naked City, Moonchild Trio, his own stuff)
Tenor Sax: Dewey Redman (Ornette Coleman) or John Coltrane
Baritone Sax: Luca T. Mai (Zu)
Soprano Sax/Bass Clarinet: Eric Dolphy (Ornette Coleman, Max Roach)

I really wish I could see this exist now that I've thought of it.

Also, that line about sounding like Hell if it had unusually jazzy bass lines is awesome, SW.

edited 20th Jul '11 7:28:08 PM by Thenamelesssamurai

• Vocals: Lou Reed
• Guitar: Angus Young
• Bass: Eddie Van Halen
• Piano: Duane Allman
• Drums: Keith Moon

Band Name: The End of Autotune

edited 20th Jul '11 11:40:41 PM by Buscemi

Vocals: Karen Lee Orzolek (Karen O) / Alison Mosshart / Alex Kandel

Lead Guitar: Ritzy Bryan / Jenn Wasner

Rhythm Guitar: Grace Potter / Jenny Lewis

Bass: Nikki Monninger

Keyboards: Diane Birch

Drums: Kim Schifino

Genre: Super stripped down, VERY catchy, almost poppy garage rock with blues influence. The ladies would all perform barefoot in flowing white togas like goddesses.

And yes, 4 guitarists. My dream band, not yours.

edited 26th Sep '11 5:24:24 PM by StoryofEverest

Daltrey

Entwistle

Townshend

Hendrix

Moon

So really, just The Who, plus Jimi Hendrix.

For a more rhytmic approach

Peart

Santana

Clapton

A bassist, so Entwistle, Paul Jones, or Flea even.

Singing is split.

edited 21st Jul '11 10:19:19 AM by Erock

Vocals: Freddy Mercury

Lead Guitar: Jimi Hendrix

Bass: Cliff Burton

Drums: John Bonham

Second Guitar: Randy Rhoads

Yes, I just used all dead people.

edited 21st Jul '11 10:56:10 AM by thelittleman66

• Mike Patton - Vocals
• Chino Moreno - Backing Vocals/Rhythm Guitar
• Billy Sheehan - Bass
• Adam Jones - Guitar
• Neil Peart - Drums

I think it'd be interesting, they all do weird stuff with their instruments and I think it would probably be pretty neat to hear what they came up with.

KRS-One, Ice Cube, Peter Gunz, B-Real, and....Shaquille O'Neal, once did a song called "Men of Steel". I could care less whether or not Shaq is present, but the other four need to make that a fulltime thing.

Vocals: Maynard Keenan
Guitar 1: Tom Morello
Guitar 2: Billy Corgan
Bass: Geddy Lee
Drums: Dave Grohl

Isn't Grohl the guitarist and singer?

Unless he was drummer for Nirvana.

edited 22nd Jul '11 6:28:43 PM by Erock

He's also the drummer for whoever the hell he feels like hanging out with this week.

edited 22nd Jul '11 6:20:33 PM by KitsuneInferno

Lead Vocals: Tim 'Ripper' Owens (Judas Priest & Iced Earth)

Rhythm Guitar & Backing Vocals: Blackie Lawless (W.A.S.P.)

Drums & Backing Vocals: Sampsa 'Kita' Astala (Lordi & SO)

Bass Guitar: Steve Harris (Iron Maiden)

Lead Guitar: Russ 'Stachel' Parrish (Steel Panther)

Genre: Old-school heavy metal with an epic, almost power metal edge.

edited 22nd Jul '11 7:08:05 PM by PhillipWilde