Connie Chaos sounds like she's on the verge of losing her voice.
Of course, that's just the nature of the job when you're the lead singer of a thrash/metal rock fusion band.
On the phone from Winnipeg in an interview with the NOW, Chaos sounds happy and energetic, despite the wear and tear on her vocal chords from nightly shows.
"We love the road. It's always an adventure," she said.
Chaos provides lead vocals for Burnaby-based My Own Chaos, currently on tour across Canada to promote their first, self-titled album.
The band formed in 2008, not long after Chaos got divorced.
A lot of the material for the group's original lyrics and music come from the raw emotions associated with that difficult time in her life.
"You know, when you write, you write for therapy," she said. "I mean, Alanis Morissette did it for Jagged Little Pill, You Oughta Know. She wrote about what she felt at the time, and I think listeners want sincerity. I had to really reach down and write something that was hard for me. But I mean, I managed to get it out and we're performing it, and it sort of gave me a little bit of personal therapy to get through that situation. It's not always bad, you know. Things always do get better. A breakdown can actually be a breakthrough."
Last year, Chaos and the three other members recorded their first album, which includes nine original songs, plus a cover of the California band No Doubt's single, Hella Good.
Metal and thrash, characterized by fast tempos and aggressive lyrics, came about in the late 1970s as a sub-genre of heavy metal music.
Being the female lead vocalist of the traditionally male-dominated scene, Chaos said she has found that female lead vocalists have become more common in this genre the last 10 years, especially with the influence of Swedish death metal band Arch Enemy, fronted by Angela Gossow.
"She was able to do all those low, guttural screams, and whatnot, and that sort of kicked the door open for other female-fronted heavier bands in our genre to be able to get out there and get exposure," said Chaos. "And it brought a lot more females to the table fan-wise."
As well as fronting My Own Chaos, she also performs with Zeppelina, an all-female tribute band covering Led Zeppelin, as well as a Black Sabbath cover band called Sister Sabbath.
Chaos noted it's this type of hard-edged music that most resonates with her, but she also enjoys crossing over into other "subdivisions" of the scene with her band.
"We're kind of a mixed bag," she said. "We offer something for everyone. We just want people to get out there and enjoy our music, which they seem to be doing."
The My Own Chaos summer tour kicked off June 26 in Vancouver, and will go as far as Quebec City before turning back to finish up in Innisfail, Alberta on July 28.
Chaos said merchandise sales have been strong and the number of followers on social media websites has risen steeply since the start of the tour.
The next local show will be July 31 at the Biltmore Cabaret in Vancouver, followed by an opening for Powerman 5000 on Sept. 8 at the Rickshaw Theatre in Vancouver, as well.
