Well here's the deal.
I'm in the process of starting a band to play nothing but our own stuff which comprises the following;
Guitar - Me
Bass
Drums
Keys
Female singer
Rapper
The aim is to have a musical style mix of Jamiroquai, Public Enemy, System of a Down and Rage Against the Machine. The basic idea is musical layers i.e. not just having the bass follow the drums or guitar blindly but have point/counter-point lines, etc.
I've started scoring some rhythm tracks with the aim being to jam with the bass, drums and keys, recording the jams and then coming up with coherent ideas to present to the vocalists so they can add to them, add their ideas or help re-write.
The question is; I'm interested in opinions on the aims of some of my guitar parts. With that mix and those sorts of influences, do people think a REALLY heavy, power-chord-based guitar style is required (a la System of a Down) or more a funky, riff-based RatM would sound better with that mix? I'm in a bit of a dilemma because I don't want the music to be too heavy so as to drown the female singer (although Skunk Anansie does alright with her style of music) but I want it to be pretty intense.
Thoughts?
EDIT: I'm not expecting anyone to be fully musical theory literate in answering this. Any and all opinions are welcome.