Tatiana Shmayluk is Sick of Jinjer Being Described as Just a ‘Female-Fronted Band’

I don’t know if you’ve heard this before, but metal’s a pretty male dominated genre. Sure, there have been some major female performers taking the reins and showing people that the fairer sex can kick just as much ass as their male counterparts, but too often the media labels bands based on what the person holding the mic has between their legs — we’re guilty of this too. And for Jinjer vocalist Tatiana Shmayluk, enough is enough.

During a recent interview with Metal Hammer, Shmayluk vented her frustrations over Jinjer “still going through this bullshit today” and getting lumped in with other ‘female-fronted’ groups that she feels don’t meet their level of quality.

“We are still getting compared to artists that have nothing to do with us. And not always good or talented artists, and I feel very, very fucking offended by that. Because some people, they cannot sing, they don’t hit the notes! Then I get people saying, ‘Oh, she’s doing better than you, she does it better than you, she has this personality, she has…’ Oh my god! Leave me alone! That kind of stuff really pisses me off.”

While most people think of bands like Jinjer, Spiritbox, Evanescence, and so on as in the same vein simply because they all have a female vocalist, Shmayluk said that sort of treatment isn’t fair. Not only because those bands have very little to do with one another, but their musical styles and influences are all over the place.

“I get a lot of comparisons and comments comparing me with [former Arch Enemy vocalist] Angela Gossow. I never wanted to sound like her. Some people told me, ‘Why don’t you colour your hair? Why don’t you dye your hair blue like Alissa [White-Gluz, former Arch Enemy vocalist]?’ But why would I? I don’t get it.”

It’s gotta be frustrating to deal with that sorta shit, since I doubt there are guys out there getting asked why they don’t sound just like James Hetfield or shave their head like Rob Halford.