Jody Whitesides

Author: Jody Whitesides

  • Thirteenth Song Finalized Is "Jupiter Bowl"

    Thirteenth Song Finalized Is "Jupiter Bowl"

    Cue the twilight zone theme… Cause if you’re superstitious, then today is the kind of announcement you might not want to hear. However, I am not superstitious. Thus I’m A. O.K. with writing that the thirteenth song finalized is “Jupiter Bowl”.

    The song is my first co-write with a musician by the name of Mark Luna. An absolutely fantastic singer and amazing writer. When we first met and chatted on the phone Mark wanted to hear some of my music before agreeing to pen a song with me. After hearing some of my original work his response was: “We could do some serious musical damage together.” That phrase sticks with me. What a compliment coming from such a talent like him.

    Jupiter Bowl is not about the planet. Nor is it about a bowling alley. No. It’s about the place located atop the Park City Ski Resort.

    The goal in writing the song was to capture the vibe of Jupiter in the summer. The off-season. What strikes me about this song is that Mark and I discussed every detail in the lyrics, the tempo, and the concept of the arrangement. Way more so than any other co-write I’ve ever done. It was magical. Much like my early memories of hiking up to Jupiter Bowl.

    For the most part I’m sticking pretty strong to the original demo version we did. It’s so powerful despite it’s lazy acoustic nature. Then again, isn’t that what nature is? Powerful with such beauty. Again it’s another song that I can’t wait to fully realize in the studio with a group of players. Anticipation is the word!

    One funny thing I can think of right now, is there there is going to be that “What the hell did he sing?” type of thing that will happen with this song. Much Like “Blinded By The Light” where people think it’s saying wrapped up like a douche, when it’s actually deuce. I know this because a couple of peeps have already said it. While I understand where they’re coming from – I do believe it’s going to be alright and I’m going to let it slide. Create the controversy!

    Rounding out the beginning of the teens is the thirteenth song finalized, “Jupiter Bowl”. Until tomorrow or the next day – Stay tuned.

  • Twelfth Song Finalized Is "Vaporize Your Heart"

    Twelfth Song Finalized Is "Vaporize Your Heart"

    Yesterday. Monday. Odd day. Good day. Full day. Was the day where I got some more time in on this impending release… The short announcement is that the twelfth song finalized is “Vaporize Your Heart”.

    One would love to envision that musicians/rockstars sit around all day long lollygaggin until they get to making some sort of brilliant music. Not this one. After a hearty workout, it was on the phone making calls for meetings with networks. The alternate ‘N’ word. Then I spent several hours taking my dog to the vet to get his shots updated. Glamorous shit right there!

    Once I was back from the vet I beelined for the studio to get to work on tweaking the arrangement of this song. Make some serious structural changes that give the song a bit more drive. Not only more drive but also more ebb and flow too. It had a nice swing to it before. Nice don’t cut it. Now it pumps my blood and gets me moving. Which is what it was supposed to do before and it did. Only it’s got ‘Tude now!

    It will be exciting to see what the players bring to it in the studio based off my fleshed out sketches of the music. I can’t wait. The anticipation on it has me feeling some tension with how close all the songs are to being totally ready and with how much they’re really nailing emotions, vibes and ‘tudes.

    Six more songs are lined up to get some more tweaks. But for those in the know right now (today) you know that the twelfth song that’s finalized is “Vaporize Your Heart”. Be aware that you’re ears are gonna love it!

  • Eleventh Song Finalized Is "Stand Up"

    Eleventh Song Finalized Is "Stand Up"

    I would have figured that this post should have been posted yesterday. However I ran into a little issue of having eaten something that didn’t agree with me a couple nights ago. Nothing like getting incapacitated after dining at a local eatery. Yuck. Thus I had to take Friday off and recover. I was back in shape on Saturday and was able to smash out another tune’s tweaks. Which leads me to write that the eleventh song finalized is “Stand Up”.

    Song that had a couple of lyrical issues in that it was attempting to cover too much ground. Now it’s much more focused on one aspect and has been honed in on a subject that I think a lot of us can all relate to. Doesn’t matter what side of the political fence you’re on, I still think it will resonate with at least 99% of the world. Especially the U.S.

    Now mind you, in being ill I couldn’t sit idly by – so I started a crazy project of tagging all of my music in my iTunes library as well as adding all the lyrics to every song. Well, to the point of whether the two apps I’ve procured to help with the procedure. Thus, I’ve added an additional thing to my load that could take at least a month when done in my spare time. Yikes. Why? Why did I do that? One, I wanted to really go through my library. Two, since starting it on a day I was under the weather, I’ve noticed that it’s akin to pouring through liner notes and covers to really get at the heart of all this music – but in a digital sense. I’m re-enjoying some music that I haven’t heard in quite a while. It’s a good diversion.

    Ok, back to the song…

    I’ve added a couple of additional elements to the first verse. I also added some additional noises to the chorus to help flesh it out with a little more kick.

    The one real experimental area of the song is going to be in the bridge where I’ve decided, that much like another song, this will gain some interesting twists enlisting a rapper to rattle off the words I’ve come up with. That makes two or three songs now where I’ve going to cross that hip/hop rap/rock type of hybrid line – hmmm… Weird.

    This one is going to have a bit of bite to it when it gets recorded live in the studio. I really think it’s got some great legs to whip up some anthemic shouts in a stadium. Which means that people will enjoy the eleventh song known as “Stand Up”. Easy to follow. Easy to shout.

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