Ben McMillan (1,072 views)

[Steve]

Voice Type: 1000 Smiling Baritones
Recorded Vocal Range: D2-G5

Higher Notes:

G5 ("Machine Action", "Snow Blind")
F♯5 ("Inside Yours")
E5 ("Broken", "Buried", "Hallowed Ground", "Machine Action", "Nasty")
E♭­5 ("River Throat", "Snow Blind")
D5 ("Across the Wind", "Broken", "Follow", "Gentle Collapse", "Inside Yours", "Jezechrist", "Living Pool", "Melt", "Move in Silence", "No Control", "Not a Lot to Save", "Racked", "Ritual Room", "So Long", "Start at the Top", "This Lonely Place", "Watch")
C♯5 ("1000 Smiling Knuckles", "Above Me", "Break", "Crazy Love", "Eyes of Stone", "Gotta Believe", "Hey Bulldog", "Hungry and Hanging", "Living Pool", "Machine Gun Etiquette", "Material Freak", "Move in Silence", "River Throat", "Slow Scorch", "Stuck in a Plan", "Watch")
C5 ("Across the Wind", "Body Farm", "Bullets" live at Bob's Garage 1992, "Burn a Hole", "Crazy Love", "Go to Sleep", "Nasty", "Slow Runner", "Slow Scorch", "So Long", "Western Wall")
B4 ("Across the Wind", "Bar Fly", "Broken", "Buried", "Crucifunkin'", "Drunk On Kerosine", "Eyes of Stone", "Follow", "Gelatin Babies", "Gentle Collapse", "Go to Sleep", "Headswill", "Hungry and Hanging", "Inside the Eye", "Jabberwocky", "Jezechrist", "Material Freak", "Melt", "Move in Silence", "New God", "No Control", "No Right" alternate version, "Not a Lot to Save", "Not in Love", "Paint", "Psychoriflepowerhypnotized", "Ritual Room", "Shot", "Slow Runner", "Snow Blind", "Start at the Top", "Tribe", "Wait For More", "Western Wall")
B♭­4 ("Body Farm", "Broken", "Burn a Hole", "Eyes of Stone", "Flesh Fever", "Gentle Collapse", "No Right" alternate version, "Situation", "Skins in My Closet", "Trip", "War Flower")
A4 ("1000 Smiling Knuckles", "Above Me", "Another World", "Burn a Hole", "Crazy Love", "Dear Deceased", "Fight", "Flesh Fever", "Gelatin Babies", "Gentle Collapse", "Hey Bulldog", "Illusion", "Inside Yours", "Living Pool", "Machine Gun Etiquette", "Make Room", "Melt", "Move in Silence", "Nasty", "Needle Tree", "No Control", "No Right", "Noise Field", "Psychoriflepowerhypnotized", "Racked", "Ritual Room", "She Shook Me Cold" live, "Shot", "Skinstruction", "Slow Runner", "Slow Scorch", "Undertow", "What It Will Be")
G♯4 ("Eyes of Stone", "Gelatin Babies", "Hallowed Ground", "In the Black House", "In the Morning", "It's Alright", "Jabberwocky", "Jezechrist", "Jump the Wall", "Machine II", "Material Freak", "Open Fist", "Slowdive", "So Long", "Trip", "Wait For More")

Lower Notes:

D3 ("Break", "Epitaph For Yesterday", "Inside the Eye", "Machine Action", "Make Room", "Out of the Attic", "Slow Scorch", "Stuck in a Plan")
C♯3 ("Bullets" live at Bob's Garage 1992, "Follow", "Material Freak", "New God", "Shot")
C3 ("Crazy Love", "Nasty", "Reverse Angel")
B2 ("Crazy Love" live at Bob's Garage 1992, "Crucifunkin'", "Epitaph For Yesterday", "Jump the Wall", "Machine Action", "Material Freak", "She Shook Me Cold" live, "Slow Runner", "Spy", "What It Will Be")
B♭­2 ("Bleed", "Bullets" live at Bob's Garage 1992, "Crucifunkin'", "Flang", "Flesh Fever", "Follow", "Jabberwocky", "Miss You", "Skins in My Closet", "The Birds", "Under the Moon", "Warflower", "Written in Black")
A2 ("1000 Smiling Knuckles", "Burn a Hole", "Crucifunkin'", "Headswill", "Illusion", "Nasty", "No Right", "Spy", "The Birds", "The Blind Leading the Blind", "What It Will Be", "Words On Bone")
G♯2 ("Burn a Hole", "Flang", "G.O.D.", "Material Freak", "Spy", "Stuck in a Plan", "Wait For More", "War Flower")
G2 ("Body Farm", "Words On Bone")
F♯2 ("1000 Smiling Knuckles", "Jabberwocky", "Living Pool", "Psychoriflepowerhypnotized", "Racked", "The Birds")
F2 ("Epitaph For Yesterday", "Wait For More")
E2 ("Headswill", "Inside Yours")
D2 ("The Blind Leading the Blind")
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*Underlines mark notes in backing vocals or otherwise muffled/obscured in the mix.
*Green marks highly distorted screams.
*Italics mark spoken notes.

The late singer/guitarist for pioneering grunge band Skin Yard and Gruntruck. McMillan's original style was very much in the vein of other early grunge scene acts of the time; that being a fairly unrefined punk rock vocalist, often utilizing a much harsher shoutier and screamy delivery than later in his career albeit with a much stronger and prominent boomy lower range than many of his contemporaries. Near the end of Skin Yard's run, Ben began toning down the more abrasive sides of his voice, and upon the formation of Gruntruck, began incorporating a much cleaner tone fairly close to his fellow Seattleite Chris Cornell; likewise his higher range improved dramatically as well, becoming capable of some fairly muscular fourth/fifth octave belting. In the early 2000's, McMillan began suffering from health issues which caused Gruntruck to go on indefinite hiatus, and he sadly passed from diabetes complications in 2006 before the band could finish their third record (which was finally released posthumously in 2017). One of the original figures of the Seattle grunge scene, Ben McMillan and his projects have gained a cult following of their own and while often outshined (pardon the pun) by his contemporaries, will be remembered as one of it's unsung heroes.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Additional Info}
There is a lead vocal B♭2/A2 in "Flang", but I have no clue who actually hits them, McMillan is the only one credited for vocals on the album, yet the lead vocals in the song sound nothing like him.

Thread originally by Sandblasted. See this thread for more information.