When Travis Neal returns to Ramona for a Halloween metal show at Ramona Mainstage as lead singer for Divine Heresy, there figures to be a lot of excited fans in the crowd. After all, the San Diego native moved to Ramona with his family at age 7 and lived there until he moved to Fort Worth, Texas, a couple of months ago.
Still, to hear Neal tell it, there might be one or two Ramona residents not all that excited to see him back in town.
While attending Ramona High in the mid-'90s, he formed his first band. And as with all bands, there were practices to hold as the members learned their instruments and built up a song list.
"(Practice) was mainly either at my house or the drummer's house," Neal said by phone Nov. 3. "We began practicing at the drummer's, but after a while, his parents were like, 'OK, can we alternate the practice house?' I'm sure we sounded like a racket, anyway.
"But we had a neighbor who'd call the police 20 minutes into practice. We ended up having to practice in the garage with the door and windows closed, in the summer with no air-conditioning."
Having played his first shows in Ramona, Neal said he's excited to see live music with nationally touring bands such as Divine Heresy in his hometown. Promoter Joe Troutman, who booked shows at the Jumping Turtle in San Marcos for many years, is now booking at Ramona Mainstage, the live venue in the old two-screen movie house.
"I'm glad that he's doing shows there now, and the bands are coming there now. Hopefully it will bring some revenue to the town ---- and give a lot of young kids a chance to see some really good bands at a really good venue."
As for his own breakthrough as lead singer of Divine Heresy, replacing original singer Tommy Cummings, Neal said he got the gig when he was on MySpace updating his own page in the summer of 2008 ---- and saw that Divine Heresy (founded and led by former Fear Factory guitarist Dino Cazares) was looking for a new singer and accepting audition tapes.
"I auditioned with two songs, and I wasn't too happy with it, so I re-did those two songs, and they liked that second audition ---- so I was called up to L.A. to audition in person."
Neal said he was asked by the band to fill in as lead singer on its next tour with the promise that if all went well, he'd get the job permanently.
Two weeks into a tour of Mexico and South America, he was officially announced as the band's singer.
Still, despite being a member of a successful metal band, Neal said he keeps a day job in Fort Worth, where he works as a custom audio installer at an auto customizing shop.
Those who've heard Neal's singing for Divine Heresy might wonder if those breaks from touring are a necessary part of keeping his vocal cords healthy, given the gutteral growling and high screaming so prevalent in contemporary metal. But Neal said that the switching from one style to another, generally midsong, actually helps keep his voice fresh.
"That stuff comes pretty naturally to me," he said. "I try to keep a versatile approach when it comes to my vocals."
As for what the guttural style of singing is called, Neal laughed and said he doesn't know of a formal title for it.
"When I classify it, it always comes up either 'heavy vocals' or 'clean vocals.' The clean would be the singing, the guttural would be the heavy vocals. The deep, monster style is growling, then you have the high screaming.
"It takes more out of my voice to be in a band that's all singing than having a set that's heavy vocals and clean vocals."
Halloween show with Moonspell, Divine Heresy, Book of Black Earth and four more bands
When: 7 p.m. Oct. 31
Where: Ramona Mainstage, 626 Main St., Ramona
Tickets: $22
Info: 760-789-7008 or ramonamainstage.com
