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I Don’t Blame

[verse]
I’ve often wondered what people do
Deep in a sleepless night
My mind is racing with
A million moments of my life

[chorus]
And I Don’t Blame Society
For who I am
And I Don’t Blame T.V. reality
For what I say

[verse]
Torn between the time I have
And the time I need to get by
Money maybe’s and the women
I’m crazy to let slip by

[chorus]
And I Don’t Blame Parenting
For my reactions
And I Don’t Blame Burocracy
For my stability

[solo]

[bridge]
You over analyze
that which you think is there

[chorus]
And I Don’t Blame Society
For who I am
And I Don’t Blame T.V. reality
For what I say

[chorus]
And I Don’t Blame Parenting
For my reactions
And I Don’t Blame Burocracy
For my stability

Song Length: 4:04

Writer: Jody Whitesides IPI/CAE 00196306650
Publisher: Too Much Music IPI/CAE 00456952518
Admin Publisher (Outside U.S.): Bluewater Music

Jody Whitesides: Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Synths
Jeff Scott Soto: Backing Vocals
Andy Miller: Drums, Backing Vocals

Recording Info:
Cover Art: Jody Whitesides
Cover Text: Kim Whitesides
Recording Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mixing Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mixing Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mastering Engineer: George Leger III
Vocal Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Producer: Jody Whitesides

El Padden Studio: All the guitars, bass and vocals were recorded here. The guitar room happened to be a small den room in the house Jeff and I were living in. The control room was a converted garage.

Blue Forrest Studio: The drums were recorded here.

Format: ADAT, the original black ones.

Console: Mackie 32 x 8 with the Mackie AutoMix system on a Mac.

Tracking Monitors: KRK. Guitar(s): Joe’s Guitar with Jesus paint job: This guitar has a Seymour Duncan Custom Custom pickup and a Cool Rails. It also has a Wilkinson Tremelo installed by Trev Wilkinson himself. Strung with Dean Markley Blue Steel medium gauge strings.

Fender Guitar: my first guitar, the only original thing is the body. Everything else has been replaced or modified. Think of the Van Halen Frankenstein guitar only this one has a Desert landscape for a paint job. Had a DiMarzio at the time the PAF pro. Standard bridge, one Humbucker. Strung with Dean Markley Blue Steels medium gauge.

Ibanez Universe 7 string guitar: This is number 96 off the assembly line. I got it for $400 with the case, about 6 months before Korn hit it big time. Then the value shot up to over $2000. Seymour Duncan custom custom 7 string model – custom wound. Plus my middle pickup was custom wound by a guy in Canada, sounds ok, but I don’t have his name. Neck pickup wasn’t used on this disc but is the stock pickup. Tremolo was useless with strings this heavy – so I blocked it off. This guitar was strung with Dean Markley Blue Steels medium gauge.

The Amp Setup:
MesaBoogie TriAxis
Hush IIcx
Ensoniq DP2 for creating the effects
Alesis MEQ230
BBE Sonic Maximizer
GrooveTubes Dual 75 Poweramp that has been modified to be true stereo
GrooveTubes 2 x 10″ cabs – two of ’em for stereo tracking
I had a cross section of GrooveTubes 12AX7’s & 12AT7’s & ECC83 pre-amp tubes for the TriAxis
I had KT88’s on one side of the Dual 75 and EL34’s on the other side

The guitar cabinets were turned back to back, for the stereo effect

Bass(s): Honer V: This is the bass that was used on this song. A 5 string bass that was relatively quite cheap but records very very well. At the time of this recording it was strung with GHS Boomers as I couldn’t afford the Blue Steels at the time.

The Amp Setup: The bass was recorded direct. Unfortunately you live and learn.

Drums: The Drum Setup:
Tama – The exact model is something I don’t know. But Andy played the shit out of them and it was his kit
Cymbals – Combination of Zilidian, and Sabian. Two of the crashes where borrowed from Jamie Borger from Talisman. Andy ended up beating the shit out of them too
Snare – this snare was borrowed from Jack White. Not the guy from the White Stripes, but the original drummer for Rick Springfield. Jack let us borrow a couple of great snares
Remo drum heads – I bought them for Andy. I wanted to have fresh heads and the drum guy from Guitar Center and Andy both recommended that these were the ones to use

Mics: Sennheisers for drum overheads & hihats
Sure SM57’s on snare and toms

Mic Pres: API

Vocal: All vocals were recorded on a GrooveTubes MD1a mic

Song Story:
The concept behind this song came from watching too much TV one summer while delivering pizzas. It was mostly around the time of the infamous O.J. Simpson trial. During that time, hell even before it and even more-so now, we had a huge problem with lawsuits based on people not willing to take responsibility for their own actions. Personally I find the whole concept of placing blame on others completely offensive.

I understand the fact that I change the course of my life. If I make a bad decision it’s not primarily because of my parents or my schooling. Did these things influence my life? Sure. However, I am the ultimate judge and person of action in all the things I do. I wrote this song to show my contempt for all people who can not stand up for their own actions.

As of 2025, I would have never guessed that the one person we should look up to and respect for their ability to own their actions is the President of the U.S. – and yet the President of the U.S. in 2025 is probably THE most offensive person in regards to taking responsibility for his actions. He never does and that’s a huge let down.

Factoids:
You tend to use what you can get your hands on. This was a huge learning experience for myself and for Andy as well. However since I spent the most time at the board doing this stuff I learned what I did and did not like about the gear. First off, I hate ADAT. Not because its digital, but because it was a pain in the ass at a later date. It turns out that ADATs have real shitty converters and you lose all the “Air” of the recording, everything above 15khz. I originally over-compensated by mixing the CD with way too much high-end EQ.

The album was subsequently dumped into Logic Audio some years ago. I have re-mixed the album from the original tracks. I was able to create a better drum mix and redo the high end. Melodyne became my one of my best friends in the re-mix process for Andy’s Vocals. The result is the new version that is now available only on streaming sites. The original pressing of the album may become a collectors item as I’m not planning on ever re-pressing it.

Copyright: 1997/06/20

ISRC: USONR0301001

ISWC: T0709688185

SESAC Song ID: 594727

Harry Fox ID: I9561P
Harry Fox Publisher ID: P8938Q

UPC: 654433000122

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Sex (everybody’s talkin’ ’bout)

[verse]
What can I do it’s everywhere I turn on t.v.
What do you when it occupies your mind
They tell you to do preachers crying for what should be
Listen do you do hypocracy makes me want to unwind

[verse]
We give ’em power to regulate the sex in our lives
They got a tower to crush the pornographic disease
I’ve got a shower to take care of what comes in our eyes
But watch us cower when we want to speak freely

[chorus]
Everybody’s listenin’ to SEX (on Howard Stern) (hear no evil)
Everybody’s talkin’ ’bout SEX (on Donahue) (speak no evil)

[verse]
Such a fine line there’s a diference between yours and mine
But it’s my dime when it’s paid it’ll fill my head
And if the right kind preachers blessing for what comes in nine
But due to wrong time makes me wish for dead

[chorus]
Everybody’s listenin’ to SEX (on Howard Stern) (hear no evil)
Everybody’s talkin’ ’bout SEX (on Donahue) (speak no evil)
Everybody’s blinded by SEX (on the billboard) (see no evil)

[bridge]
Take a look around and if you don’t like what you see
Then turn off the t.v.
Take a listen to the world around you don’t offend so easily
Lose the radio Lose the misery

[chorus]
Everybody’s listenin’ to SEX (on Howard Stern) (hear no evil)
Everybody’s talkin’ ’bout SEX (on Donahue) (speak no evil)

[chorus]
Everybody’s listenin’ to SEX (on Howard Stern) (hear no evil)
Everybody’s talkin’ ’bout SEX (on Donahue) (speak no evil)
Everybody’s blinded by SEX (on the billboard) (see no evil)

Song Length: 5:16

Writer: Jody Whitesides IPI/CAE 00196306650
Publisher: Too Much Music IPI/CAE 00456952518
Admin Publisher (Outside U.S.): Bluewater Music

Jody Whitesides: Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Synths
Jeff Scott Soto: Backing Vocals
Andy Miller: Drums, Backing Vocals

Recording Info:
Cover Art: Jody Whitesides
Cover Text: Kim Whitesides
Recording Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mixing Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mixing Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mastering Engineer: George Leger III
Vocal Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Producer: Jody Whitesides

El Padden Studio: All the guitars, bass and vocals were recorded here. The guitar room happened to be a small den room in the house Jeff and I were living in. The control room was a converted garage.

Blue Forrest Studio: The drums were recorded here.

Format: ADAT, the original black ones.

Console: Mackie 32 x 8 with the Mackie AutoMix system on a Mac.

Tracking Monitors: KRK. Guitar(s): Fender Guitar: my first guitar, the only original thing is the body. Everything else has been replaced or modified. Think of the Van Halen Frankenstein guitar only this one has a Desert landscape for a paint job. Had a DiMarzio at the time the PAF pro. Standard bridge, one Humbucker. Strung with Dean Markley Blue Steels medium gauge.

Don Grosh Electric Nylon: This is a Strat style nylon string electric. Strung with Pro Arte extra hard tension strings. I used this on a few little licks in the song. I also used it running through the TriAxis with distortion. The character of this guitar distorted is extremely unique and sounds like no other type of guitar.

Joe’s Guitar with Jesus paint job: This guitar has a Seymour Duncan Custom Custom pickup and a Cool Rails. It also has a Wilkinson Tremelo installed by Trev Wilkinson himself. Strung with Dean Markley Blue Steel medium gauge strings. This is the guitar used on the guitar solo.

The Amp Setup:
MesaBoogie TriAxis
Hush IIcx
Ensoniq DP2 for creating the effects
Alesis MEQ230
BBE Sonic Maximizer
GrooveTubes Dual 75 Poweramp that has been modified to be true stereo
GrooveTubes 2 x 10″ cabs – two of ’em for stereo tracking
I had a cross section of GrooveTubes 12AX7’s & 12AT7’s & ECC83 pre-amp tubes for the TriAxis
I had KT88’s on one side of the Dual 75 and EL34’s on the other side

The guitar cabinets were turned back to back, for the stereo effect

Bass(s): Honer V: This is the bass that was used on this song. A 5 string bass that was relatively quite cheap but records very very well. At the time of this recording it was strung with GHS Boomers as I couldn’t afford the Blue Steels at the time.

The Amp Setup: The bass was recorded direct. Unfortunately you live and learn.

Drums: The Drum Setup:
Tama – The exact model is something I don’t know. But Andy played the shit out of them and it was his kit
Cymbals – Combination of Zilidian, and Sabian. Two of the crashes where borrowed from Jamie Borger from Talisman. Andy ended up beating the shit out of them too
Snare – this snare was borrowed from Jack White. Not the guy from the White Stripes, but the original drummer for Rick Springfield. Jack let us borrow a couple of great snares
Remo drum heads – I bought them for Andy. I wanted to have fresh heads and the drum guy from Guitar Center and Andy both recommended that these were the ones to use

Mics: Sennheisers for drum overheads & hihats
Sure SM57’s on snare and toms

Mic Pres: API

Vocal: All vocals were recorded on a GrooveTubes MD1a mic

Song Story:
I’m very observant of how advertisers use certain methods to sell products. The most pervasive of methods is using sex and sex appeal. Do I mind? Fuck no. In fact I love sex. However I find it really odd how puritanical America was at the time I wrote this, and the fact that it’s even worse now.

I loved listening to Howard Stern’s show. I think he had some pure genius and I found him funny, not offensive at all. He used to get slammed a lot, but today with the FCC and our current Presidency cracking down and attempting to rule us with FEAR and the BIBLE is just plain stupid. I even had a fan attempt to tell me that I shouldn’t be allowed to hear Stern because it wasn’t good for their kids! I can’t fathom how people can’t use their brains and turn off a TV or a Radio, or at the very least change the station to some station that suits their taste.

This ties in well to I Don’t Blame. I wish people would just take responsibility for what they see and hear and not force others to limit what they can see and hear. With that said: LONG LIVE FREE SPEECH AND SEX!

The guitar solo was one of my first tributes to Joe Satriani. I used the so-called “allagator” technique. At least that’s what I think it’s called. Where you slide up a string while you use the whammy bar to lower the pitch down in an attempt to keep the pitch the same as you go up then you release the bar and whoop, up the pitch goes.

Factoids:
1. Overlapping vocals in the chorus have different lyrics.
2. My main guitar riff in the verse was possibly stolen by Filter in their song Take A Picture. They were recording in the same studio my album was being mastered in, by the same crew.

You tend to use what you can get your hands on. This was a huge learning experience for myself and for Andy as well. However since I spent the most time at the board doing this stuff I learned what I did and did not like about the gear. First off, I hate ADAT. Not because its digital, but because it was a pain in the ass at a later date. It turns out that ADATs have real shitty converters and you lose all the “Air” of the recording, everything above 15khz. I originally over-compensated by mixing the CD with way too much high-end EQ.

The album was subsequently dumped into Logic Audio some years ago. I have re-mixed the album from the original tracks. I was able to create a better drum mix and redo the high end. Melodyne became my one of my best friends in the re-mix process for Andy’s Vocals. The result is the new version that is now available only on streaming sites. The original pressing of the album may become a collectors item as I’m not planning on ever re-pressing it.

Copyright: 1997/06/20

ISRC: USONR0301002

ISWC: T0709688174

SESAC Song ID: 594728

Harry Fox ID: X8271E
Harry Fox Publisher ID: P8938Q

UPC: 654433000122

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Politics

[verse]
Simple thought is lost
In the power of the pen
Primal art is crushed
By the crime of currency

[verse]
Its a shame to compete
On the wings of a dream
When talent isn’t complete
It steals from where it seems to be

[chorus]
Acts of illusion mass confusion
Acts of enormity breeds false unity
This land has its Politics
Individuals don’t stick with it
That makes a strong case for shit
That hand has its Politics

[verse]
Where did the story line go
They don’t draw they just trace
Its like they’ve trashed the language
And with it creative pace

[chorus]
Acts of illusion mass confusion
Acts of enormity breeds false unity
This land has its Politics
Individuals don’t stick with it
That makes a strong case for shit
That hand has its Politics

[solo]

[chorus]
Acts of illusion mass confusion
Acts of enormity breeds false unity
This land has its Politics
Individuals don’t stick with it
That makes a strong case for shit
That hand has its Politics

[chorus]
Acts of illusion mass confusion
Acts of enormity breeds false unity
This land has its Politics
Individuals don’t stick with it
That makes a strong case for shit
That hand has its Politics

Song Length: 4:31

Writer: Jody Whitesides IPI/CAE 00196306650
Publisher: Too Much Music IPI/CAE 00456952518
Admin Publisher (Outside U.S.): Bluewater Music

Jody Whitesides: Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Synths
Jeff Scott Soto: Backing Vocals
Andy Miller: Drums, Backing Vocals

Recording Info:
Cover Art: Jody Whitesides
Cover Text: Kim Whitesides
Recording Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mixing Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mixing Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mastering Engineer: George Leger III
Vocal Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Producer: Jody Whitesides

El Padden Studio: All the guitars, bass and vocals were recorded here. The guitar room happened to be a small den room in the house Jeff and I were living in. The control room was a converted garage.

Blue Forrest Studio: The drums were recorded here.

Format: ADAT, the original black ones.

Console: Mackie 32 x 8 with the Mackie AutoMix system on a Mac.

Tracking Monitors: KRK. Guitar(s): Ibanez Universe 7 string guitar: This is number 96 off the assembly line. I got it for $400 with the case, about 6 months before Korn hit it big time. Then the value shot up to over $2000. Seymour Duncan custom custom 7 string model – custom wound. Plus my middle pickup was custom wound by a guy in Canada, sounds ok, but I don’t have his name. Neck pickup wasn’t used on this disc but is the stock pickup. Tremolo was useless with strings this heavy – so I blocked it off. This guitar was strung with Dean Markley Blue Steels medium gauge.

The Amp Setup:
MesaBoogie TriAxis
Hush IIcx
Ensoniq DP2 for creating the effects
Alesis MEQ230
BBE Sonic Maximizer
GrooveTubes Dual 75 Poweramp that has been modified to be true stereo
GrooveTubes 2 x 10″ cabs – two of ’em for stereo tracking
I had a cross section of GrooveTubes 12AX7’s & 12AT7’s & ECC83 pre-amp tubes for the TriAxis
I had KT88’s on one side of the Dual 75 and EL34’s on the other side

The guitar cabinets were turned back to back, for the stereo effect

Bass(s): Honer V: This is the bass that was used on this song. A 5 string bass that was relatively quite cheap but records very very well. At the time of this recording it was strung with GHS Boomers as I couldn’t afford the Blue Steels at the time.

The Amp Setup: The bass was recorded direct. Unfortunately you live and learn.

Drums: The Drum Setup:
Tama – The exact model is something I don’t know. But Andy played the shit out of them and it was his kit
Cymbals – Combination of Zilidian, and Sabian. Two of the crashes where borrowed from Jamie Borger from Talisman. Andy ended up beating the shit out of them too
Snare – this snare was borrowed from Jack White. Not the guy from the White Stripes, but the original drummer for Rick Springfield. Jack let us borrow a couple of great snares
Remo drum heads – I bought them for Andy. I wanted to have fresh heads and the drum guy from Guitar Center and Andy both recommended that these were the ones to use

Mics: Sennheisers for drum overheads & hihats
Sure SM57’s on snare and toms

Mic Pres: API

Vocal: All vocals were recorded on a GrooveTubes MD1a mic

Song Story:
This mushroomed out of my former distaste for musicians that couldn’t play their own instruments and to the people that would make them stars and suck the life out of them. Whew. I hope that doesn’t make me sound extremely negative. I’ve since mellowed out on that, to the point where I know it happens but I don’t care.

The intro was a play on the concept of politics where I decided to create a completely non-partisan character attempting to sell bullshit to the public. How did we create the crowd? Well it was me, Andy, and one of Andy’s friends – I think his name was Jeff (no, not Jeff Scott Soto). We stood around the mic and started talking about completely random stuff, making noises and such. I think we did about 12 tracks of that. Then when piled all together and slowly faded in it sounds like one giant audience.

Oh and in case you’re a musician and are wondering… Yes the main riff is in 5/4.

That’s pretty much the long and short of this song.

Factoids:
1. The opening segment is a very large number of overdubs for the crowd that grows as it goes.
2. Played on 7string guitar and the verse is a blues style riff in 5/4, disjointed, much like politicians.

You tend to use what you can get your hands on. This was a huge learning experience for myself and for Andy as well. However since I spent the most time at the board doing this stuff I learned what I did and did not like about the gear. First off, I hate ADAT. Not because its digital, but because it was a pain in the ass at a later date. It turns out that ADATs have real shitty converters and you lose all the “Air” of the recording, everything above 15khz. I originally over-compensated by mixing the CD with way too much high-end EQ.

The album was subsequently dumped into Logic Audio some years ago. I have re-mixed the album from the original tracks. I was able to create a better drum mix and redo the high end. Melodyne became my one of my best friends in the re-mix process for Andy’s Vocals. The result is the new version that is now available only on streaming sites. The original pressing of the album may become a collectors item as I’m not planning on ever re-pressing it.

Copyright: 1997/06/20

ISRC: USONR0301003

ISWC: T0709688196

SESAC Song ID: 594730

Harry Fox ID: P8197I
Harry Fox Publisher ID: P8938Q

UPC: 654433000122

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See, Hear, Say

[verse]
Come (come) be (be) blinded
The eagle eye
For he who sights no God

[verse]
Say (say) don’t (don’t) listen
The explicit ear
For he who hears in absense

[verse]
Come (come) say (say) silence
The touched tongue
For he who speaks of evil

[outro]
Please excuse my ignorance
As I couldn’t stand a chance
To lose my virginity
With a whore none can
See, Hear, or Say

Song Length: 2:41

Writer: Jody Whitesides IPI/CAE 00196306650
Publisher: Too Much Music IPI/CAE 00456952518
Admin Publisher (Outside U.S.): Bluewater Music

Jody Whitesides: Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Synths
Jeff Scott Soto: Backing Vocals
Andy Miller: Drums, Backing Vocals

Recording Info:
Cover Art: Jody Whitesides
Cover Text: Kim Whitesides
Recording Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mixing Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mixing Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mastering Engineer: George Leger III
Vocal Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Producer: Jody Whitesides

El Padden Studio: All the guitars, bass and vocals were recorded here. The guitar room happened to be a small den room in the house Jeff and I were living in. The control room was a converted garage.

Blue Forrest Studio: The drums were recorded here.

Format: ADAT, the original black ones.

Console: Mackie 32 x 8 with the Mackie AutoMix system on a Mac.

Tracking Monitors: KRK. Guitar(s): Joe’s Guitar with Jesus Paint job. This guitar has a Seymour Duncan Custom Custom pickup and a Cool Rails. It also has a Wilkinson Tremelo installed by Trev Wilkinson himself. Strung with Dean Markley Blue Steel medium gauge strings. This is the guitar used on the guitar solo.

Fender Guitar: my first guitar, the only original thing is the body. Everything else has been replaced or modified. Think of the Van Halen Frankenstein guitar only this one has a Desert landscape for a paint job. Had a DiMarzio at the time the PAF pro. Standard bridge, one Humbucker. Strung with Dean Markley Blue Steels medium gauge.

The Amp Setup:
MesaBoogie TriAxis
Hush IIcx
Ensoniq DP2 for creating the effects
Alesis MEQ230
BBE Sonic Maximizer
GrooveTubes Dual 75 Poweramp that has been modified to be true stereo
GrooveTubes 2 x 10″ cabs – two of ’em for stereo tracking
I had a cross section of GrooveTubes 12AX7’s & 12AT7’s & ECC83 pre-amp tubes for the TriAxis
I had KT88’s on one side of the Dual 75 and EL34’s on the other side

The guitar cabinets were turned back to back, for the stereo effect

Bass(s): Honer V: This is the bass that was used on this song. A 5 string bass that was relatively quite cheap but records very very well. At the time of this recording it was strung with GHS Boomers as I couldn’t afford the Blue Steels at the time.

The Amp Setup: The bass was recorded direct. Unfortunately you live and learn.

Drums: The quieter swell parts were played on an early version of the Roland V-Drums, long before the TD-10 series and mesh heads. These were all rubber.

Tama – The exact model is something I don’t know. But Andy played the shit out of them and it was his kit
Cymbals – Combination of Zilidian, and Sabian. Two of the crashes where borrowed from Jamie Borger from Talisman. Andy ended up beating the shit out of them too
Snare – this snare was borrowed from Jack White. Not the guy from the White Stripes, but the original drummer for Rick Springfield. Jack let us borrow a couple of great snares
Remo drum heads – I bought them for Andy. I wanted to have fresh heads and the drum guy from Guitar Center and Andy both recommended that these were the ones to use

Mics: Sennheisers for drum overheads & hihats
Sure SM57’s on snare and toms

Mic Pres: API

Vocal: All vocals were recorded on a GrooveTubes MD1a mic

Song Story:
First off this song was inspired by Harry Connick Jr. With that being said, see if you can figure out what song I got the structure from.

Now as far as the content… Well I really think people believe in the hear no evil, speak no evil, say no evil shit. It’s really silly. I’m not a religious person despite the numerous religious overtones on this whole album.

I was brought up to know right from wrong and to believe in good things. However I get the feeling too many people rely or need an outside influence in their life to make themselves feel better. I think that’s great if it really works for them, but could it also be the reason why our American society has so many problems? If there are so many types of religions and they all think they’re the “right” one, then how can any of them be right?

Right?

Anyway, this song was also an experiment in a strange vocal effect that I thought was pretty neat. Someday I plan on attempting it again to see if I can get closer to what I’m hearing in my head. This song came close on that effect, but still fell a little short. As well I believe it’s the only song where I played two guitar solos over each other. At the end of the song you hear one panned hard left and one panned hard right. I just went nuts in each take and I liked ’em both. I think it’s cool that they worked well over each other.

Factoids:
1. Dual guitar solos left and right over the outro.
2. The vocals are treated with an interesting reverse reverb to get that ghost like vibe.

You tend to use what you can get your hands on. This was a huge learning experience for myself and for Andy as well. However since I spent the most time at the board doing this stuff I learned what I did and did not like about the gear. First off, I hate ADAT. Not because its digital, but because it was a pain in the ass at a later date. It turns out that ADATs have real shitty converters and you lose all the “Air” of the recording, everything above 15khz. I originally over-compensated by mixing the CD with way too much high-end EQ.

The album was subsequently dumped into Logic Audio some years ago. I have re-mixed the album from the original tracks. I was able to create a better drum mix and redo the high end. Melodyne became my one of my best friends in the re-mix process for Andy’s Vocals. The result is the new version that is now available only on streaming sites. The original pressing of the album may become a collectors item as I’m not planning on ever re-pressing it.

Copyright: 1997/06/20

ISRC: USONR0301004

ISWC: T0709688209

SESAC Song ID: 594731

Harry Fox ID: X8271B
Harry Fox Publisher ID: P8938Q

UPC: 654433000122

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Smell the Rain

[verse]
Another drop smeared my cheek today
Tears filled with pain stream away
A passing glance led me to believe
She wasn’t interested in my face

[chorus]
I stroll streets in isolation
I smell the rain passing on the pain
I take the light of another day
I forget the smell of rain again

[verse]
Life seems to take so much time
While we search for the answers why
Closer energy slowly passes out of view
Change stays as a constant friend

[chorus]
I stroll streets in isolation
I smell the rain passing on the pain
I take the light of another day
I forget the smell of rain again

[verse]
Join my hands in harmony
To catch that which falls over me
Sip from the well I have made
I’m to be whole in a different shade

[chorus]
I stroll streets in isolation
I smell the rain passing on the pain
I take the light of another day
I forget the smell of rain again

[chorus]
I stroll streets in isolation
I smell the rain passing on the pain
I take the light of another day
I forget the smell of rain again

[bridge]
Lonely lines pray tonight
Long distant memories speak delight
Renewed ties hold short but strong
Never do our lives stage a great show

[outro]
Smell the Rain
Smell the Rain
Smell the Rain
Smell the Rain
Smell the Rain
Smell the Rain
Smell the Rain
Smell the Rain

Song Length: 4:22

Writer: Jody Whitesides IPI/CAE 00196306650
Publisher: Too Much Music IPI/CAE 00456952518
Admin Publisher (Outside U.S.): Bluewater Music

Jody Whitesides: Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Synths
Jeff Scott Soto: Backing Vocals
Andy Miller: Drums, Backing Vocals

Recording Info:
Cover Art: Jody Whitesides
Cover Text: Kim Whitesides
Recording Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mixing Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mixing Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mastering Engineer: George Leger III
Vocal Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Producer: Jody Whitesides

El Padden Studio: All the guitars, bass and vocals were recorded here. The guitar room happened to be a small den room in the house Jeff and I were living in. The control room was a converted garage.

Blue Forrest Studio: The drums were recorded here.

Format: ADAT, the original black ones.

Console: Mackie 32 x 8 with the Mackie AutoMix system on a Mac.

Tracking Monitors: KRK. Guitar(s): Joe’s Guitar with Jesus paint job: This guitar has a Seymour Duncan Custom Custom pickup and a Cool Rails. It also has a Wilkinson Tremelo installed by Trev Wilkinson himself. Strung with Dean Markley Blue Steel medium gauge strings. This is the guitar used on the guitar solo.

Fender Guitar: my first guitar, the only original thing is the body. Everything else has been replaced or modified. Think of the Van Halen Frankenstein guitar only this one has a Desert landscape for a paint job. Had a DiMarzio at the time the PAF pro. Standard bridge, one Humbucker. Strung with Dean Markley Blue Steels medium gauge.

Ibanez Universe 7 string guitar: This is number 96 off the assembly line. I got it for $400 with the case, about 6 months before Korn hit it big time. Then the value shot up to over $2000. Seymour Duncan Custom Custom 7 string model – custom wound. Plus my middle pickup was custom wound by a guy in Canada, sounds ok, but I don’t have his name. Neck pickup wasn’t used on this disc but is the stock pickup. Tremolo was useless with strings this heavy – so I blocked it off. This guitar was strung with Dean Markley Blue Steels medium gauge.

The Amp Setup:
MesaBoogie TriAxis
Hush IIcx
Ensoniq DP2 for creating the effects
Alesis MEQ230
BBE Sonic Maximizer
GrooveTubes Dual 75 Poweramp that has been modified to be true stereo
GrooveTubes 2 x 10″ cabs – two of ’em for stereo tracking
I had a cross section of GrooveTubes 12AX7’s & 12AT7’s & ECC83 pre-amp tubes for the TriAxis
I had KT88’s on one side of the Dual 75 and EL34’s on the other side

The guitar cabinets were turned back to back, for the stereo effect

Bass(s): Honer V: This is the bass that was used on this song. A 5 string bass that was relatively quite cheap but records very very well. At the time of this recording it was strung with GHS Boomers as I couldn’t afford the Blue Steels at the time.

The Amp Setup: The bass was recorded direct. Unfortunately you live and learn.

Drums: Tama – The exact model is something I don’t know. But Andy played the shit out of them and it was his kit
Cymbals – Combination of Zilidian, and Sabian. Two of the crashes where borrowed from Jamie Borger from Talisman. Andy ended up beating the shit out of them too
Snare – this snare was borrowed from Jack White. Not the guy from the White Stripes, but the original drummer for Rick Springfield. Jack let us borrow a couple of great snares
Remo drum heads – I bought them for Andy. I wanted to have fresh heads and the drum guy from Guitar Center and Andy both recommended that these were the ones to use

Mics: Sennheisers for drum overheads & hihats
Sure SM57’s on snare and toms

Mic Pres: API

Vocal: All vocals were recorded on a GrooveTubes MD1a mic

Song Story:
For some reason Metallica comes to mind. I believe at some point in time I must have felt that this was a Metallica style song. I’m not sure why. Anyway, lyrically speaking this song is fairly depressing. I probably got the title from living in Park City. After it rains there the air is filled with an amazing fragrance. However most people associate Rain with depression. So I had good intentions when I thought up the title, but by the time I wrote the words I was probably breaking up with a girlfriend. One of the things I do like about the intro is the fading guitar lines and the ominous bass line in the intro. The verse chords were inspired by Kirk Hammet and Joe Satriani. What can I say? When you’re learning to find your feet you steal from those that have them, then make it your own. Same influences were going on in the solo, which has caught many people off guard and had them complimenting me on it. I like that.

Factoids:
1. First guitar solo of mine that I transcribed into notation and tab.

You tend to use what you can get your hands on. This was a huge learning experience for myself and for Andy as well. However since I spent the most time at the board doing this stuff I learned what I did and did not like about the gear. First off, I hate ADAT. Not because its digital, but because it was a pain in the ass at a later date. It turns out that ADATs have real shitty converters and you lose all the “Air” of the recording, everything above 15khz. I originally over-compensated by mixing the CD with way too much high-end EQ.

The album was subsequently dumped into Logic Audio some years ago. I have re-mixed the album from the original tracks. I was able to create a better drum mix and redo the high end. Melodyne became my one of my best friends in the re-mix process for Andy’s Vocals. The result is the new version that is now available only on streaming sites. The original pressing of the album may become a collectors item as I’m not planning on ever re-pressing it.

Copyright: 1997/06/20

ISRC: USONR0301005

ISWC: T0709688210

SESAC Song ID: 594732

Harry Fox ID: X8271F
Harry Fox Publisher ID: P8938Q

UPC: 654433000122

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Breezes

There are no lyrics for this song. Its an instrumental. If you really need words for it, think about Breezes and winds. Then write some of your own words. Once you’re done, e-mail them to me. I’ll post ’em here for the world to see.

Song Length: 4:47

Writer: Jody Whitesides IPI/CAE 00196306650
Publisher: Too Much Music IPI/CAE 00456952518
Admin Publisher (Outside U.S.): Bluewater Music

Jody Whitesides: Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Synths
Jeff Scott Soto: Backing Vocals
Andy Miller: Drums, Backing Vocals

Recording Info:
Cover Art: Jody Whitesides
Cover Text: Kim Whitesides
Recording Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mixing Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mixing Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mastering Engineer: George Leger III
Vocal Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Producer: Jody Whitesides

El Padden Studio: All the guitars, bass and vocals were recorded here. The guitar room happened to be a small den room in the house Jeff and I were living in. The control room was a converted garage.

Blue Forrest Studio: The drums were recorded here.

Format: ADAT, the original black ones.

Console: Mackie 32 x 8 with the Mackie AutoMix system on a Mac.

Tracking Monitors: KRK. Guitar(s): Ibanez Universe 7 string guitar: This is number 96 off the assembly line. I got it for $400 with the case, about 6 months before Korn hit it big time. Then the value shot up to over $2000. Seymour Duncan Custom Custom 7 string model – custom wound. Plus my middle pickup was custom wound by a guy in Canada, sounds ok, but I don’t have his name. Neck pickup wasn’t used on this disc but is the stock pickup. Tremolo was useless with strings this heavy – so I blocked it off. This guitar was strung with Dean Markley Blue Steels medium gauge.

The Amp Setup:
MesaBoogie TriAxis
Hush IIcx
Ensoniq DP2 for creating the effects
Alesis MEQ230
BBE Sonic Maximizer
GrooveTubes Dual 75 Poweramp that has been modified to be true stereo
GrooveTubes 2 x 10″ cabs – two of ’em for stereo tracking
I had a cross section of GrooveTubes 12AX7’s & 12AT7’s & ECC83 pre-amp tubes for the TriAxis
I had KT88’s on one side of the Dual 75 and EL34’s on the other side

The guitar cabinets were turned back to back, for the stereo effect

Bass(s): Honer V: This is the bass that was used on this song. A 5 string bass that was relatively quite cheap but records very very well. At the time of this recording it was strung with GHS Boomers as I couldn’t afford the Blue Steels at the time.

The Amp Setup: The bass was recorded direct. Unfortunately you live and learn.

Drums: Tama – The exact model is something I don’t know. But Andy played the shit out of them and it was his kit
Cymbals – Combination of Zilidian, and Sabian. Two of the crashes where borrowed from Jamie Borger from Talisman. Andy ended up beating the shit out of them too
Snare – this snare was borrowed from Jack White. Not the guy from the White Stripes, but the original drummer for Rick Springfield. Jack let us borrow a couple of great snares
Remo drum heads – I bought them for Andy. I wanted to have fresh heads and the drum guy from Guitar Center and Andy both recommended that these were the ones to use

Mics: Sennheisers for drum overheads & hihats
Sure SM57’s on snare and toms

Mic Pres: API

Vocal: All vocals were recorded on a GrooveTubes MD1a mic

Song Story:
I was once in a music class where the teacher gave us the 12 things that every great band has, or even every great album was supposed to have. Man, the 12 step days. The teacher’s name? Craig Goldy. The class itself was probably valuable in that he compiled all this info on the greatest records and bands.

The drawback to all this was the teacher couldn’t get a point across without using the word “fuck” in a sentence. Now I’m not prude, Fuck is a very useful word in many instances. However my friend Ron (whom I haven’t seen or heard from since music school) and I lost count around the 500th fuck in less than one hour. So while we got that great lesson in what you should likely have to be ‘great’, we also got a healthy dose of the word fuck in the english fucking language.

As you likely haven’t guessed, one of those 12 things you need for a great band/album is an instrumental song. This was my first attempt at a full blown rock instrumental. I had written classical style pieces but never something like this. I won’t even deny the fact that it is heavily influenced by Joe Satriani. I love his playing. The recording is played entirely on the Ibanez Universe 7 String that I had at the time, and still have to this day.

Factoids:
1. Dig the drum groove Andy threw down.
2. First song I ever used an E-Bow on.

You tend to use what you can get your hands on. This was a huge learning experience for myself and for Andy as well. However since I spent the most time at the board doing this stuff I learned what I did and did not like about the gear. First off, I hate ADAT. Not because its digital, but because it was a pain in the ass at a later date. It turns out that ADATs have real shitty converters and you lose all the “Air” of the recording, everything above 15khz. I originally over-compensated by mixing the CD with way too much high-end EQ.

The album was subsequently dumped into Logic Audio some years ago. I have re-mixed the album from the original tracks. I was able to create a better drum mix and redo the high end. Melodyne became my one of my best friends in the re-mix process for Andy’s Vocals. The result is the new version that is now available only on streaming sites. The original pressing of the album may become a collectors item as I’m not planning on ever re-pressing it.

Copyright: 1997/06/20

ISRC: USONR0301006

ISWC: T0709688221

SESAC Song ID: 594733

Harry Fox ID: B96875
Harry Fox Publisher ID: P8938Q

UPC: 654433000122

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…With You

[verse]
Stand tall in the face of adversity
For you won’t fall when you are free
Step lightly away from animosity
And your friends won’t believe what they see

[verse]
I can face the heat of criticism
For my actions show I don’t lie
I can feel the tongue of sarcasm
But it fails to hold until I die

[chorus]
Walk with you
Talk with you
Your strength will be my guide
Walk with you
Talk with you
I’ve got nothing to hide
Walk with you
Talk with you
When I’m with you

[verse]
We can climb atop the highest mountain
And our future crystal clear it will be
For whatever may be for certain
We can spread our wings and fly today

[chorus]
Walk with you
Talk with you
Your strength will be my guide
Walk with you
Talk with you
I’ve got nothing to hide
Walk with you
Talk with you
When I’m with you

[solo]

[chorus]
Walk with you
Talk with you
Your strength will be my guide
Walk with you
Talk with you
I’ve got nothing to hide
Walk with you
Talk with you
When I’m with you

[chorus]
Walk with you
Talk with you
Your strength will be my guide
Walk with you
Talk with you
I’ve got nothing to hide
Walk with you
Talk with you
When I’m with you

Song Length: 4:22

Writer: Jody Whitesides IPI/CAE 00196306650
Publisher: Too Much Music IPI/CAE 00456952518
Admin Publisher (Outside U.S.): Bluewater Music

Jody Whitesides: Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Synths
Jeff Scott Soto: Backing Vocals
Andy Miller: Drums, Backing Vocals

Recording Info:
Cover Art: Jody Whitesides
Cover Text: Kim Whitesides
Recording Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mixing Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mixing Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mastering Engineer: George Leger III
Vocal Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Producer: Jody Whitesides

El Padden Studio: All the guitars, bass and vocals were recorded here. The guitar room happened to be a small den room in the house Jeff and I were living in. The control room was a converted garage.

Blue Forrest Studio: The drums were recorded here.

Format: ADAT, the original black ones.

Console: Mackie 32 x 8 with the Mackie AutoMix system on a Mac.

Tracking Monitors: KRK. Guitar(s): Joe’s Guitar with Jesus paint job: This guitar has a Seymour Duncan Custom Custom pickup and a Cool Rails. It also has a Wilkinson Tremelo installed by Trev Wilkinson himself. Strung with Dean Markley Blue Steel medium gauge strings. This is the guitar used on the guitar solo.

Fender Guitar: my first guitar, the only original thing is the body. Everything else has been replaced or modified. Think of the Van Halen Frankenstein guitar only this one has a Desert landscape for a paint job. Had a DiMarzio at the time the PAF pro. Standard bridge, one Humbucker. Strung with Dean Markley Blue Steels medium gauge.

The Amp Setup:
MesaBoogie TriAxis
Hush IIcx
Ensoniq DP2 for creating the effects
Alesis MEQ230
BBE Sonic Maximizer
GrooveTubes Dual 75 Poweramp that has been modified to be true stereo
GrooveTubes 2 x 10″ cabs – two of ’em for stereo tracking
I had a cross section of GrooveTubes 12AX7’s & 12AT7’s & ECC83 pre-amp tubes for the TriAxis
I had KT88’s on one side of the Dual 75 and EL34’s on the other side

The guitar cabinets were turned back to back, for the stereo effect

Bass(s): Honer V: This is the bass that was used on this song. A 5 string bass that was relatively quite cheap but records very very well. At the time of this recording it was strung with GHS Boomers as I couldn’t afford the Blue Steels at the time.

The Amp Setup: The bass was recorded direct. Unfortunately you live and learn.

Drums: Tama – The exact model is something I don’t know. But Andy played the shit out of them and it was his kit
Cymbals – Combination of Zilidian, and Sabian. Two of the crashes where borrowed from Jamie Borger from Talisman. Andy ended up beating the shit out of them too
Snare – this snare was borrowed from Jack White. Not the guy from the White Stripes, but the original drummer for Rick Springfield. Jack let us borrow a couple of great snares
Remo drum heads – I bought them for Andy. I wanted to have fresh heads and the drum guy from Guitar Center and Andy both recommended that these were the ones to use

Mics: Sennheisers for drum overheads & hihats
Sure SM57’s on snare and toms

Mic Pres: API

Vocal: All vocals were recorded on a GrooveTubes MD1a mic

Song Story:
As I’ve stated in another song story, I’m not a religious guy. However for some reason this song seems to exude the possibility of hanging with God.

Now, mind you it could be construed that way. But I remember that I really wrote this as a way to stand tall for yourself when you’re looking to share your life with the “love-of-your-life” type of person. I guess for some people that is God.

I remember in the writing process of the song I let Jeff Soto listen to it without the finished chorus. I got an interesting response: “There is no way that chorus will work.” To which I had to reply “Wait until it’s finished.”

There’s a lot of structure things in this song that are weird. First you have a verse in a 12 feel with swirly distorted guitar. The Ensoniq DP2 allowed me to create a leslie type sound on one side with a heavily chorused side on the other.

Second you have a chorus that instead of punching in even heavier distortion goes to a clean guitar thing with delays. The timing also is a huge issue over the chorus. The drums curtail to the guitar riff while keeping the “12” time. The guitar riff cycles into something that takes a full two measures to come full circle on. Then there’s the bass. It becomes this free flowing melody line between the guitar and the drums. Then there’s the vocals which are calling and responding over a “4” type feel, then syncopating. I grant you that it’s a lot to chew off and listen to. Once Soto got to singing on the song and heard it mixed he admitted that the chorus was actually very cool, but that he couldn’t figure out how in the hell I got it to flow altogether like that.

Then there’s the solo. I fully worked this one out as the chords actually change keys every two measures. I also wanted a really melodic type solo with some nifty little licks in there. One of the licks I remember stealing from Weezer (I had a student who wanted to learn a particular Weezer solo and I ended up diggin that lick) and morphing into something that fit me. That’s how it came to be in there.

So in terms of commercial songs, this song is completely backwards. The chorus comes down and gets all fluid, and there’s a crazy pulsing of the beat within a 12 feel that you just won’t hear in anything on the radio. But it’s a fun song to listen to.

As a side note, I had to start performing this song live. To actually be able to sing and play the guitar part took me two fucking months of real practice. I can still play it but it’s damn hard.

Factoids:
1. When Jeff first heard this being pieced together during recording he stated: “This will never work” once finished, mixed and done he rescinded his remark by saying: “That’s is an extremely cool mix of different timings”.
2. The bass is a very heavy melodic factor to the song.

You tend to use what you can get your hands on. This was a huge learning experience for myself and for Andy as well. However since I spent the most time at the board doing this stuff I learned what I did and did not like about the gear. First off, I hate ADAT. Not because its digital, but because it was a pain in the ass at a later date. It turns out that ADATs have real shitty converters and you lose all the “Air” of the recording, everything above 15khz. I originally over-compensated by mixing the CD with way too much high-end EQ.

The album was subsequently dumped into Logic Audio some years ago. I have re-mixed the album from the original tracks. I was able to create a better drum mix and redo the high end. Melodyne became my one of my best friends in the re-mix process for Andy’s Vocals. The result is the new version that is now available only on streaming sites. The original pressing of the album may become a collectors item as I’m not planning on ever re-pressing it.

Copyright: 1997/06/20

ISRC: USONR0301007
ISRC:

ISWC: T0709688232

SESAC Song ID: 594735

Harry Fox ID: W69036
Harry Fox Publisher ID: P8938Q

UPC: 654433000122

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Ties Are Truly Bound

[verse]
Christ I’d say it’s time to pray for rain
To quench the drought my life became
I’m well beyond the burning and the pain
I’ve got to be somewhere ahead of here

[verse]
Christ I’d say it’s time to go insane
To free the energy of my sun
Would you be willing to share just the same
And could you do anything for this one

[pre chorus]
Miracles can happen
and the earth will turn again
Miracles can happen
push the wall around again

[chorus]
Gravity keeps you rooted to the ground
we’re not connected but our
Ties Are Truly Bound
But my world lets me float all around
we’re so addicted though our
Ties Are Truly Bound

[verse]
When I’d done having prayed for fucking rain
I’ll watch the water run under my sun
I’ve the means and the trouble is gone again
Someday my dog will see his day

[pre chorus]
Miracles can happen
and the earth will turn again
Miracles can happen
push the wall around again

[chorus]
Gravity keeps you rooted to the ground
we’re not connected but our
Ties Are Truly Bound
But my world lets me float all around
we’re so addicted though our
Ties Are Truly Bound

[solo]

[chorus]
Gravity keeps you rooted to the ground
we’re not connected but our
Ties Are Truly Bound
But my world lets me float all around
we’re so addicted though our
Ties Are Truly Bound

Song Length: 4:01

Writer: Jody Whitesides IPI/CAE 00196306650
Publisher: Too Much Music IPI/CAE 00456952518
Admin Publisher (Outside U.S.): Bluewater Music

Jody Whitesides: Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Synths
Jeff Scott Soto: Backing Vocals
Andy Miller: Drums, Backing Vocals

Recording Info:
Cover Art: Jody Whitesides
Cover Text: Kim Whitesides
Recording Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mixing Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mixing Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mastering Engineer: George Leger III
Vocal Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Producer: Jody Whitesides

El Padden Studio: All the guitars, bass and vocals were recorded here. The guitar room happened to be a small den room in the house Jeff and I were living in. The control room was a converted garage.

Blue Forrest Studio: The drums were recorded here.

Format: ADAT, the original black ones.

Console: Mackie 32 x 8 with the Mackie AutoMix system on a Mac.

Tracking Monitors: KRK. Guitar(s): Ibanez Universe 7 string guitar: This is number 96 off the assembly line. I got it for $400 with the case, about 6 months before Korn hit it big time. Then the value shot up to over $2000. Seymour Duncan Custom Custom 7 string model – custom wound. Plus my middle pickup was custom wound by a guy in Canada, sounds ok, but I don’t have his name. Neck pickup wasn’t used on this disc but is the stock pickup. Tremolo was useless with strings this heavy – so I blocked it off. This guitar was strung with Dean Markley Blue Steels medium gauge.

The Amp Setup:
MesaBoogie TriAxis
Hush IIcx
Ensoniq DP2 for creating the effects
Alesis MEQ230
BBE Sonic Maximizer
GrooveTubes Dual 75 Poweramp that has been modified to be true stereo
GrooveTubes 2 x 10″ cabs – two of ’em for stereo tracking
I had a cross section of GrooveTubes 12AX7’s & 12AT7’s & ECC83 pre-amp tubes for the TriAxis
I had KT88’s on one side of the Dual 75 and EL34’s on the other side

The guitar cabinets were turned back to back, for the stereo effect

Bass(s): Honer V: This is the bass that was used on this song. A 5 string bass that was relatively quite cheap but records very very well. At the time of this recording it was strung with GHS Boomers as I couldn’t afford the Blue Steels at the time.

The Amp Setup: The bass was recorded direct. Unfortunately you live and learn.

Drums: Tama – The exact model is something I don’t know. But Andy played the shit out of them and it was his kit
Cymbals – Combination of Zilidian, and Sabian. Two of the crashes where borrowed from Jamie Borger from Talisman. Andy ended up beating the shit out of them too
Snare – this snare was borrowed from Jack White. Not the guy from the White Stripes, but the original drummer for Rick Springfield. Jack let us borrow a couple of great snares
Remo drum heads – I bought them for Andy. I wanted to have fresh heads and the drum guy from Guitar Center and Andy both recommended that these were the ones to use

Mics: Sennheisers for drum overheads & hihats
Sure SM57’s on snare and toms

Mic Pres: API

Vocal: All vocals were recorded on a GrooveTubes MD1a mic

Song Story:
Well, this particular song really shows my appreciation for Queensrÿche. Now, hopefully this isn’t too much for a surprise for anyone. I used to play in a Queensrÿche tribute band. I did it to get some live playing chops and to meet musicians. It’s the direct reason of how I met Andy.

Anyway, I can’t remember the exact Queensrÿche song that inspired this song, but you’ll notice some very similar elements in it as far as the intros are concerned. Past that the songs become two completely different beasts. I really like the uptempo-ness of this song.

It was recorded using only the Ibanez Universe 7 string. That’s where that low end is coming from. Plus that really cool chorus riff. I think the riff was inspired by Satriani’s song Circles.

Musically speaking the intro has odd divisions on how the chords change, despite the standard 4/4 timing. It made it initially hard for me to play live cause I’d keep making the switch into the verse either too soon or too late. It pissed Andy off. Hey, we all have things that just elude us sometimes. But once I got it all together the song was really cool to play live.

Another thing to note is the word “Gravity”. I attempted to give them a feel of being pulled down by gravity, thus the lowering in pitch and such. It’s much easier to hear in the re-mixed version, compared to the version on CD. On the original CD mix the sampler I used to create the pitch change was so horrible that it added tremendous artifacts that I had to fade the parts into the background. In the re-mix I used Logic to shift the pitch which did a much better job and thus allowed me to put in the mix where I could hear it as intended.

Factoids:
1. Gravity vocal was originally treated to slowing the sample down to get the falling feature.
2. I’m fond of the double time feel of the drums against the half time feel of the guitars in the verse.

You tend to use what you can get your hands on. This was a huge learning experience for myself and for Andy as well. However since I spent the most time at the board doing this stuff I learned what I did and did not like about the gear. First off, I hate ADAT. Not because its digital, but because it was a pain in the ass at a later date. It turns out that ADATs have real shitty converters and you lose all the “Air” of the recording, everything above 15khz. I originally over-compensated by mixing the CD with way too much high-end EQ.

The album was subsequently dumped into Logic Audio some years ago. I have re-mixed the album from the original tracks. I was able to create a better drum mix and redo the high end. Melodyne became my one of my best friends in the re-mix process for Andy’s Vocals. The result is the new version that is now available only on streaming sites. The original pressing of the album may become a collectors item as I’m not planning on ever re-pressing it.

Copyright: 1997/06/20

ISRC: USONR0301008

ISWC: T0709688243

SESAC Song ID: 594736

Harry Fox ID: X82707
Harry Fox Publisher ID: P8938Q

UPC: 654433000122

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How Do You Show

[verse]
I climbed my wall today
Got tired of what’s inside to say
Stared upon our lonely land
Then turned to face a brave new day

[verse]
Faced with so many so many different choices
Who knows which path which path to choose
And when you go down is there a return
That’s the beauty the beauty you will lose

[chorus]
What do you believe
What do you conceive
What do you want from me
What do you really see
How do you know
How do you love
How do you show

[verse]
So set out strong to make a claim
Don’t roll the dice its better to take aim
Make a break from the real crap
Or end up lost and called insane

[bridge]
I can’t believe what its like to admit mediocrity
Its rather like I’m saying there’s no you
There’s no me

[chorus]
What do you believe
What do you conceive
What do you want from me
What do you really see
How do you know
How do you love
How do you show

[solo]

[bridge]
I can’t believe what its like to admit mediocrity
Its rather like I’m saying there’s no you
There’s no me

[chorus]
What do you believe
What do you conceive
What do you want from me
What do you really see
How do you know
How do you love
How do you show

[chorus]
What do you believe
What do you conceive
What do you want from me
What do you really see
How do you know
How do you love
How do you show

Song Length: 5:51

Writer: Jody Whitesides IPI/CAE 00196306650
Publisher: Too Much Music IPI/CAE 00456952518
Admin Publisher (Outside U.S.): Bluewater Music

Jody Whitesides: Vocals, Guitars
Jeff Scott Soto: Backing Vocals
Andy Miller: Drums, Backing Vocals, Bass

Recording Info:
Cover Art: Jody Whitesides
Cover Text: Kim Whitesides
Recording Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mixing Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mixing Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mastering Engineer: George Leger III
Vocal Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Producer: Jody Whitesides

El Padden Studio: All the guitars, bass and vocals were recorded here. The guitar room happened to be a small den room in the house Jeff and I were living in. The control room was a converted garage.

Blue Forrest Studio: The drums were recorded here.

Format: ADAT, the original black ones.

Console: Mackie 32 x 8 with the Mackie AutoMix system on a Mac.

Tracking Monitors: KRK. Guitar(s): Taylor 12 String: I borrowed a Taylor 12 string from my friend Simeon. I have to say it was a great guitar to borrow. The exact model escapes me, but it sure sounded great until I had to return it. At that point I noticed the bridge had cracked. He was bummed. It may have happened when I restrung his guitar with a heavier gauge of Dean Markley 12 strings.

Taylor 6 string: I think it was a 514 model. Another great sounding guitar that I borrowed from Simeon. I had re-strung it with Dean Markley acoustics.

Don Grosh Electric Nylon: This is a Strat style nylon string electric. Strung with Pro Arte extra hard tension strings.

The Taylor’s were recorded with the GrooveTubes MD1a. The Grosh was run direct.

Bass(s): Honer V: This is the bass that was used on this song. A 5 string bass that was relatively quite cheap but records very very well. At the time of this recording it was strung with GHS Boomers as I couldn’t afford the Blue Steels at the time.

The Amp Setup: The bass was recorded direct. Unfortunately you live and learn.

Drums: Tama – The exact model is something I don’t know. But Andy played the shit out of them and it was his kit
Cymbals – Combination of Zilidian, and Sabian. Two of the crashes where borrowed from Jamie Borger from Talisman. Andy ended up beating the shit out of them too
Snare – this snare was borrowed from Jack White. Not the guy from the White Stripes, but the original drummer for Rick Springfield. Jack let us borrow a couple of great snares
Remo drum heads – I bought them for Andy. I wanted to have fresh heads and the drum guy from Guitar Center and Andy both recommended that these were the ones to use

Mics: Sennheisers for drum overheads & hihats
Sure SM57’s on snare and toms

Mic Pres: API

Vocal: All vocals were recorded on a GrooveTubes MD1a mic

Song Story:
This song was due to some more depressed thoughts. It’s kinda scary looking back on this and realizing that I wrote so much stuff about despair and depression. I can’t really remember having a bad childhood or young adulthood. But I do know that I had a strong imagination and thought dark lyrics and long song structures were to be a “serious” musician’s thing.

I know I took myself way too seriously around the time that I first moved to Los Angeles and wrote a bunch of this stuff. I think I felt alone in a big bad city. Kinda weird when you find out that I come from New York City.

Anyway, the big chords and the varying parts were all part of a grand idea. The solo was also a departure and desire to create as many textures as I could.

Factoids:
1. Oddly depressing song about love.
2. Andy requested to play the bass on this song.

You tend to use what you can get your hands on. This was a huge learning experience for myself and for Andy as well. However since I spent the most time at the board doing this stuff I learned what I did and did not like about the gear. First off, I hate ADAT. Not because its digital, but because it was a pain in the ass at a later date. It turns out that ADATs have real shitty converters and you lose all the “Air” of the recording, everything above 15khz. I originally over-compensated by mixing the CD with way too much high-end EQ.

The album was subsequently dumped into Logic Audio some years ago. I have re-mixed the album from the original tracks. I was able to create a better drum mix and redo the high end. Melodyne became my one of my best friends in the re-mix process for Andy’s Vocals. The result is the new version that is now available only on streaming sites. The original pressing of the album may become a collectors item as I’m not planning on ever re-pressing it.

Copyright: 1997/06/20

ISRC: USONR0301009

ISWC: T0709688254

SESAC Song ID: 594738

Harry Fox ID: H7171R
Harry Fox Publisher ID: P8938Q

UPC: 654433000122

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Barricades of Hate

[verse]
There is a fightin’
Deep in the division lands
There is a cryin’
From a north and south hands

[verse]
Words of hatin’
Flow from the religious irate
Packs of troop movin’
To conquere another’s traits

[chorus]
Your side
My side
Whose side
Shall we break down the Barricades of Hate
Your truth
My truth
The whole truth
Lets say we break down the Barricades of Hate

[verse]
When we’re a fightin’
I can feel the tears of pain
Its not alright an’
In the end its all in vain

[chorus]
Your side
My side
Whose side
Shall we break down the Barricades of Hate
Your truth
My truth
The whole truth
Lets say we break down the Barricades of Hate

[instrumental]

[chorus]
Your side
My side
Whose side
Shall we break down the Barricades of Hate
Your truth
My truth
The whole truth
Lets say we break down the Barricades of Hate

[chorus round robin]
Your side
My side
Whose side
Shall we break down the Barricades of Hate
Your truth
My truth
The whole truth
Lets say we break down the Barricades of Hate

Song Length: 3:06

Writer: Jody Whitesides IPI/CAE 00196306650
Publisher: Too Much Music IPI/CAE 00456952518
Admin Publisher (Outside U.S.): Bluewater Music

Jody Whitesides: Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Synths
Jeff Scott Soto: Backing Vocals
Andy Miller: Drums, Backing Vocals

Recording Info:
Cover Art: Jody Whitesides
Cover Text: Kim Whitesides
Recording Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mixing Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mixing Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mastering Engineer: George Leger III
Vocal Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Producer: Jody Whitesides

El Padden Studio: All the guitars, bass and vocals were recorded here. The guitar room happened to be a small den room in the house Jeff and I were living in. The control room was a converted garage.

Blue Forrest Studio: The drums were recorded here.

Format: ADAT, the original black ones.

Console: Mackie 32 x 8 with the Mackie AutoMix system on a Mac.

Tracking Monitors: KRK. Guitar(s): Joe’s Guitar with Jesus paint job: This guitar has a Seymour Duncan Custom Custom pickup and a Cool Rails. It also has a Wilkinson Tremelo installed by Trev Wilkinson himself. Strung with Dean Markley Blue Steel medium gauge strings. This is the guitar used on the guitar solo.

Fender Guitar: my first guitar, the only original thing is the body. Everything else has been replaced or modified. Think of the Van Halen Frankenstein guitar only this one has a Desert landscape for a paint job. Had a DiMarzio at the time the PAF pro. Standard bridge, one Humbucker. Strung with Dean Markley Blue Steels medium gauge.

Ibanez Universe 7 string guitar: This is number 96 off the assembly line. I got it for $400 with the case, about 6 months before Korn hit it big time. Then the value shot up to over $2000. Seymour Duncan Custom Custom 7 string model – custom wound. Plus my middle pickup was custom wound by a guy in Canada, sounds ok, but I don’t have his name. Neck pickup wasn’t used on this disc but is the stock pickup. Tremolo was useless with strings this heavy – so I blocked it off. This guitar was strung with Dean Markley Blue Steels medium gauge.

The Amp Setup:
MesaBoogie TriAxis
Hush IIcx
Ensoniq DP2 for creating the effects
Alesis MEQ230
BBE Sonic Maximizer
GrooveTubes Dual 75 Poweramp that has been modified to be true stereo
GrooveTubes 2 x 10″ cabs – two of ’em for stereo tracking
I had a cross section of GrooveTubes 12AX7’s & 12AT7’s & ECC83 pre-amp tubes for the TriAxis
I had KT88’s on one side of the Dual 75 and EL34’s on the other side

The guitar cabinets were turned back to back, for the stereo effect

Bass(s): Honer V: This is the bass that was used on this song. A 5 string bass that was relatively quite cheap but records very very well. At the time of this recording it was strung with GHS Boomers as I couldn’t afford the Blue Steels at the time.

The Amp Setup: The bass was recorded direct. Unfortunately you live and learn.

Drums: Tama – The exact model is something I don’t know. But Andy played the shit out of them and it was his kit
Cymbals – Combination of Zilidian, and Sabian. Two of the crashes where borrowed from Jamie Borger from Talisman. Andy ended up beating the shit out of them too
Snare – this snare was borrowed from Jack White. Not the guy from the White Stripes, but the original drummer for Rick Springfield. Jack let us borrow a couple of great snares
Remo drum heads – I bought them for Andy. I wanted to have fresh heads and the drum guy from Guitar Center and Andy both recommended that these were the ones to use

Mics: Sennheisers for drum overheads & hihats
Sure SM57’s on snare and toms

Mic Pres: API

Vocal: All vocals were recorded on a GrooveTubes MD1a mic

Song Story:
Well, here I go again. I really think hate sucks. But let me clarify that. I really think hate sucks when it’s born of ignorance. Too many people do stupid things to others based on skin color. Dumb, Dumb, Dumb.

Anyway, this is the first of several anti-hate-racial type songs I’ve written.

Musically speaking it’s got a weird swing lilt in the riffs and rhythms. It’s also from what I remember, the first song on the CD that I quadruple tracked the guitars in the choruses and chord solo. I remember Jeff Soto hearing and commenting on how tight my playing was. Meaning how in sync it was for each track. No digital editing occurred to get the parts to be so locked up.

Factoids:
1. The guitar parts that bounce back and forth were a pain in the ass to record at that time in 1997 with my limited recording knowledge.
2. Has a bit of a round robin vocal concept in the ending choruses.

You tend to use what you can get your hands on. This was a huge learning experience for myself and for Andy as well. However since I spent the most time at the board doing this stuff I learned what I did and did not like about the gear. First off, I hate ADAT. Not because its digital, but because it was a pain in the ass at a later date. It turns out that ADATs have real shitty converters and you lose all the “Air” of the recording, everything above 15khz. I originally over-compensated by mixing the CD with way too much high-end EQ.

The album was subsequently dumped into Logic Audio some years ago. I have re-mixed the album from the original tracks. I was able to create a better drum mix and redo the high end. Melodyne became my one of my best friends in the re-mix process for Andy’s Vocals. The result is the new version that is now available only on streaming sites. The original pressing of the album may become a collectors item as I’m not planning on ever re-pressing it.

Copyright: 1997/06/20

ISRC: USONR0301010

ISWC: T0709688265

SESAC Song ID: 594739

Harry Fox ID: B96873
Harry Fox Publisher ID: P8938Q

UPC: 654433000122

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Egoman

[verse]
Look at the man standing over there with an Entourage
Just who the hell does he think he is with his hair so big
People kissing his ass one by one where is their courage
Loftier than thou flips the hair back and asks can you dig

[chorus]
Egoman
Who ‘s the best in the land
Egoman
Your head ‘s too big for your britches
Egoman
You best look out or you’ll need stitches
Egoman
Its time to bring it down if you can

[verse]
How did you get that position in life without a fight
How have you forgotten the small feet that brought you here
Where it did it go and dissipate to its lost from sight
Would you really like to remain in the cold spot light

[chorus]
Egoman
Who ‘s the best in the land
Egoman
Your head ‘s too big for your britches
Egoman
You best look out or you’ll need stitches
Egoman
Its time to bring it down if you can

[solo]

[chorus]
Egoman
Who ‘s the best in the land
Egoman
Your head ‘s too big for your britches
Egoman
You best look out or you’ll need stitches
Egoman
Its time to bring it down if you can

[chorus]
Egoman
Who ‘s the best in the land
Egoman
Your head ‘s too big for your britches
Egoman
You best look out or you’ll need stitches
Egoman
Its time to bring it down if you can

Song Length: 3:53

Writer: Jody Whitesides IPI/CAE 00196306650
Publisher: Too Much Music IPI/CAE 00456952518
Admin Publisher (Outside U.S.): Bluewater Music

Jody Whitesides: Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Synths
Jeff Scott Soto: Backing Vocals
Andy Miller: Drums, Backing Vocals

Recording Info:
Cover Art: Jody Whitesides
Cover Text: Kim Whitesides
Recording Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mixing Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mixing Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mastering Engineer: George Leger III
Vocal Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Producer: Jody Whitesides

El Padden Studio: All the guitars, bass and vocals were recorded here. The guitar room happened to be a small den room in the house Jeff and I were living in. The control room was a converted garage.

Blue Forrest Studio: The drums were recorded here.

Format: ADAT, the original black ones.

Console: Mackie 32 x 8 with the Mackie AutoMix system on a Mac.

Tracking Monitors: KRK. Guitar(s): Ibanez Universe 7 string guitar: This is number 96 off the assembly line. I got it for $400 with the case, about 6 months before Korn hit it big time. Then the value shot up to over $2000. Seymour Duncan Custom Custom 7 string model – custom wound. Plus my middle pickup was custom wound by a guy in Canada, sounds ok, but I don’t have his name. Neck pickup wasn’t used on this disc but is the stock pickup. Tremolo was useless with strings this heavy – so I blocked it off. This guitar was strung with Dean Markley Blue Steels medium gauge.

The Amp Setup:
MesaBoogie TriAxis
Hush IIcx
Ensoniq DP2 for creating the effects
Alesis MEQ230
BBE Sonic Maximizer
GrooveTubes Dual 75 Poweramp that has been modified to be true stereo
GrooveTubes 2 x 10″ cabs – two of ’em for stereo tracking
I had a cross section of GrooveTubes 12AX7’s & 12AT7’s & ECC83 pre-amp tubes for the TriAxis
I had KT88’s on one side of the Dual 75 and EL34’s on the other side

The guitar cabinets were turned back to back, for the stereo effect

Bass(s): Honer V: This is the bass that was used on this song. A 5 string bass that was relatively quite cheap but records very very well. At the time of this recording it was strung with GHS Boomers as I couldn’t afford the Blue Steels at the time.

The Amp Setup: The bass was recorded direct. Unfortunately you live and learn.

Drums: Tama – The exact model is something I don’t know. But Andy played the shit out of them and it was his kit
Cymbals – Combination of Zilidian, and Sabian. Two of the crashes where borrowed from Jamie Borger from Talisman. Andy ended up beating the shit out of them too
Snare – this snare was borrowed from Jack White. Not the guy from the White Stripes, but the original drummer for Rick Springfield. Jack let us borrow a couple of great snares
Remo drum heads – I bought them for Andy. I wanted to have fresh heads and the drum guy from Guitar Center and Andy both recommended that these were the ones to use

Mics: Sennheisers for drum overheads & hihats
Sure SM57’s on snare and toms

Mic Pres: API

Vocal: All vocals were recorded on a GrooveTubes MD1a mic

Song Story:
I didn’t originally write this song to be for me. At the time I first moved to LA I met the music manager for Patrick Muldoon. Jeff Soto was good friends with him. Anyway, they were looking for songs for Patrick so that he could do a grunge album and tour.

So Jeff, his girlfriend Julie, Simeon, and I started writing songs. My effort was Egoman. I ended up playing guitar on a few demos for Jeff and Julie’s stuff. The album was recorded with Chet Thompson on guitar, but he couldn’t do the tour. So Soto recommended me for the gig and I had it. Until Patrick got a full time spot on Melrose Place. Looking back on it, this was the first time in my career when something that was supposed to happen – did not.

Afterwards, I really liked the song Egoman and took it for myself. What’s funny is that I’ve had several friends think I wrote the song about them. But atlas I really wrote it about a fictitious rockstar who was full of himself. Not like that doesn’t happen in real life, but it’s not based on any one rockstar. But maybe someday it will sum up my career, who knows.

Another interesting thing about the whole Patrick Muldoon thing is that there are people that actually search out those demos because Jeff was singing on them. I never got a copy of them. I was buggin Jeff about it as I had someone in Germany asking me for a copy. Then one day that guy sent them to Jeff and Jeff made me a copy.

As I sit here listening to the song and writing this I notice a couple of things. One is I remember Jeff showing me a neat mixing trick to fading vocals in with an off harmony. So every other “Egoman” line has a tritone harmony that fades in on it. Then I just caught something that I don’t think I’ve ever noticed until now. Read on…

Andy recorded all of the drum parts for the entire CD in one 12 hour day. 15 songs, in 12 hours. That’s got to be some kind of studio record. We re-headed drums, and changed out 4 different snares for different songs. Andy came from Planet Drum as I used to say. So he was nailing stuff in one to two takes tops. that’s why it took only one day to track the whole album. However as I listen to the mix now, I notice in this song between the last two choruses you can hear Andy say something. It sounds like “oh!” to me. Maybe he fucked up in there and I didn’t catch it.

Factoids:
1. Originally written for an actor, Patrick Muldoon, attempting to do a music career – when the album didn’t happen, I kept the tune.
2. There are vocal harmonies that fade in in spots of the chorus that are very dissonant – on purpose. That idea was floated to me by Jeff and a song I had worked on from him.

You tend to use what you can get your hands on. This was a huge learning experience for myself and for Andy as well. However since I spent the most time at the board doing this stuff I learned what I did and did not like about the gear. First off, I hate ADAT. Not because its digital, but because it was a pain in the ass at a later date. It turns out that ADATs have real shitty converters and you lose all the “Air” of the recording, everything above 15khz. I originally over-compensated by mixing the CD with way too much high-end EQ.

The album was subsequently dumped into Logic Audio some years ago. I have re-mixed the album from the original tracks. I was able to create a better drum mix and redo the high end. Melodyne became my one of my best friends in the re-mix process for Andy’s Vocals. The result is the new version that is now available only on streaming sites. The original pressing of the album may become a collectors item as I’m not planning on ever re-pressing it.

Copyright: 1997/06/20

ISRC: USONR0301011

ISWC: T0709688276

SESAC Song ID: 594740

Harry Fox ID: E6259Y
Harry Fox Publisher ID: P8938Q

UPC: 654433000122

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Coming Home

[verse]
By part of some Grand Design
I’m at an airport reading Vital Signs
Sometimes it’s a Marathon
To arrive for holiday Dreamlines

[verse]
Mystic Rhythms tie our families
As Emotion Detectors kill disease
The Big Wheel spins past dawn
And I arrive to familiar Territories

[chorus]
You Bet Your Life I Coming Home
The Speed of Love helps My Coming Home
We’re Closer To The Heart When Coming Home
I’ll be in The Camera Eye On Coming Home

[verse]
Middle Town Dreams seem to fade away
As a Working Man breaks his back for pay

[pre chorus]
To give Something For Nothing on that Show Don’t Tell christmas day

[chorus]
You Bet Your Life I Coming Home
The Speed of Love helps My Coming Home
We’re Closer To The Heart When Coming Home
I’ll be in The Camera Eye On Coming Home

[solo]

[chorus]
You Bet Your Life I Coming Home
The Speed of Love helps My Coming Home
We’re Closer To The Heart When Coming Home
I’ll be in The Camera Eye On Coming Home

[bridge]
When you Stick It Out on your own Freewill
You’ll find a Ghost Of A Chance for the Limelight still

[chorus]
You Bet Your Life I Coming Home
The Speed of Love helps My Coming Home
We’re Closer To The Heart When Coming Home
I’ll be in The Camera Eye On Coming Home

Song Length: 3:59

Writer: Jody Whitesides IPI/CAE 00196306650
Publisher: Too Much Music IPI/CAE 00456952518
Admin Publisher (Outside U.S.): Bluewater Music

Jody Whitesides: Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Synths
Jeff Scott Soto: Backing Vocals
Andy Miller: Drums, Backing Vocals

Recording Info:
Cover Art: Jody Whitesides
Cover Text: Kim Whitesides
Recording Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mixing Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mixing Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mastering Engineer: George Leger III
Vocal Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Producer: Jody Whitesides

El Padden Studio: All the guitars, bass and vocals were recorded here. The guitar room happened to be a small den room in the house Jeff and I were living in. The control room was a converted garage.

Blue Forrest Studio: The drums were recorded here.

Format: ADAT, the original black ones.

Console: Mackie 32 x 8 with the Mackie AutoMix system on a Mac.

Tracking Monitors: KRK. Guitar(s): Taylor 12 String: I borrowed a Taylor 12 string from my friend Simeon. I have to say it was a great guitar to borrow. The exact model escapes me, but it sure sounded great until I had to return it. At that point I noticed the bridge had cracked. He was bummed. It may have happened when I restrung his guitar with a heavier gauge of Dean Markley 12 strings. This guitar was used in the Choruses and Bridge.

Taylor 6 string: I think it was a 514 model. Another great sounding guitar that I borrowed from Simeon. I had re-strung it with Dean Markley acoustics. This guitar was used in the Choruses and Bridge.

Ibanez Universe 7 string guitar: This is number 96 off the assembly line. I got it for $400 with the case, about 6 months before Korn hit it big time. Then the value shot up to over $2000. Seymour Duncan Custom Custom 7 string model – custom wound. Plus my middle pickup was custom wound by a guy in Canada, sounds ok, but I don’t have his name. Neck pickup wasn’t used on this disc but is the stock pickup. Tremolo was useless with strings this heavy – so I blocked it off. This guitar was strung with Dean Markley Blue Steels medium gauge.

The Amp Setup:
MesaBoogie TriAxis
Hush IIcx
Ensoniq DP2 for creating the effects
Alesis MEQ230
BBE Sonic Maximizer
GrooveTubes Dual 75 Poweramp that has been modified to be true stereo
GrooveTubes 2 x 10″ cabs – two of ’em for stereo tracking
I had a cross section of GrooveTubes 12AX7’s & 12AT7’s & ECC83 pre-amp tubes for the TriAxis
I had KT88’s on one side of the Dual 75 and EL34’s on the other side

The guitar cabinets were turned back to back, for the stereo effect

Bass(s): Honer V: This is the bass that was used on this song. A 5 string bass that was relatively quite cheap but records very very well. At the time of this recording it was strung with GHS Boomers as I couldn’t afford the Blue Steels at the time.

The Amp Setup: The bass was recorded direct. Unfortunately you live and learn.

Drums: Tama – The exact model is something I don’t know. But Andy played the shit out of them and it was his kit
Cymbals – Combination of Zilidian, and Sabian. Two of the crashes where borrowed from Jamie Borger from Talisman. Andy ended up beating the shit out of them too
Snare – this snare was borrowed from Jack White. Not the guy from the White Stripes, but the original drummer for Rick Springfield. Jack let us borrow a couple of great snares
Remo drum heads – I bought them for Andy. I wanted to have fresh heads and the drum guy from Guitar Center and Andy both recommended that these were the ones to use

Mics: Sennheisers for drum overheads & hihats
Sure SM57’s on snare and toms

Mic Pres: API

Vocal: All vocals were recorded on a GrooveTubes MD1a mic

Song Story:
Ok, ok, ok, ok…

Very few people ever caught the meaning behind this song. Originally I vowed that I wouldn’t give the secret of it up. I finally decided to give it away. Provided you gave me your e-mail address and such to get to this part of the website.

First off. Notice the musical feel of this song. If you know anything about progressive rock you’ll instantly recognize that this sounds like a Rush song, or at the very least, Rush inspired. Now compile a list of every Rush song ever written, then go read my lyrics to this song. What do you notice about all the capitalized words in each line? That’s the biggest hint I could possibly ever give.

This song is nuts on so many levels, the verse riff is in like 13/16 or something nutty like that. Then each chorus ends a 16th note shorter on each break as the song goes on. I had attempted to create a click track for this song as I did with all the songs, however based on the all the time additions and subtractions I ended up mucking it all up. So instead we scrapped the click track in the studio and ended up with me playing in the control room live with Andy recording.

This is my true ode to Progressive Rock and may it never die!

Factoids:
1. Try counting through this song – you win a prize if you can tell me all the time signatures used. There are a lot of them, I suggest counting carefully.

You tend to use what you can get your hands on. This was a huge learning experience for myself and for Andy as well. However since I spent the most time at the board doing this stuff I learned what I did and did not like about the gear. First off, I hate ADAT. Not because its digital, but because it was a pain in the ass at a later date. It turns out that ADATs have real shitty converters and you lose all the “Air” of the recording, everything above 15khz. I originally over-compensated by mixing the CD with way too much high-end EQ.

The album was subsequently dumped into Logic Audio some years ago. I have re-mixed the album from the original tracks. I was able to create a better drum mix and redo the high end. Melodyne became my one of my best friends in the re-mix process for Andy’s Vocals. The result is the new version that is now available only on streaming sites. The original pressing of the album may become a collectors item as I’m not planning on ever re-pressing it.

Copyright: 1997/06/20

ISRC: USONR0301012

ISWC: T0709688287

SESAC Song ID: 594742

Harry Fox ID: X8271J
Harry Fox Publisher ID: P8938Q

UPC: 654433000122

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Spiral Event

[verse]
It’s been said that someone or something
Can live only as long as the last to remember it
And so we learn how the truth forgets
While the lies forge their way up front

[verse]
I know I’ve heard somewhere and sometimes
That a second guess is as good as givin’ up
But I believe I’ve learned that we don’t mind
And in the end it means we all regret

[chorus]
Desperate times call for desperate measures
The human race is losing all its valued treasures
Misplaced lines or mis-held discontent
And our meaning dwindles in a Spiral Event

[instrumental]

[chorus]
Desperate times call for desperate measures
The human race is losing all its valued treasures
Misplaced lines or mis-held discontent
And our meaning dwindles in a Spiral Event

[verse]
Though it happens to our history
A small white one sneaks through the shield
To per-petuate the catch 2 2
But know lies tear apart heart and soul

[chorus]
Desperate times call for desperate measures
The human race is losing all its valued treasures
Misplaced lines or mis-held discontent
And our meaning dwindles in a Spiral Event

[chorus]
Desperate times call for desperate measures (desperate times)
The human race is losing all its valued treasures (human race)
Misplaced lines or mis-held discontent (misplaced lines)
And our meaning dwindles in a Spiral Event (down in a spiral event)

Song Length: 4:09

Writer: Jody Whitesides IPI/CAE 00196306650
Publisher: Too Much Music IPI/CAE 00456952518
Admin Publisher (Outside U.S.): Bluewater Music

Jody Whitesides: Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Synths
Jeff Scott Soto: Backing Vocals
Andy Miller: Drums, Backing Vocals

Recording Info:
Cover Art: Jody Whitesides
Cover Text: Kim Whitesides
Recording Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mixing Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mixing Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mastering Engineer: George Leger III
Vocal Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Producer: Jody Whitesides

El Padden Studio: All the guitars, bass and vocals were recorded here. The guitar room happened to be a small den room in the house Jeff and I were living in. The control room was a converted garage.

Format: ADAT, the original black ones.

Console: Mackie 32 x 8 with the Mackie AutoMix system on a Mac.

Tracking Monitors: KRK. Guitar(s): Ibanez Universe 7 string guitar: This is number 96 off the assembly line. I got it for $400 with the case, about 6 months before Korn hit it big time. Then the value shot up to over $2000. Seymour Duncan Custom Custom 7 string model – custom wound. Plus my middle pickup was custom wound by a guy in Canada, sounds ok, but I don’t have his name. Neck pickup wasn’t used on this disc but is the stock pickup. Tremolo was useless with strings this heavy – so I blocked it off. This guitar was strung with Dean Markley Blue Steels medium gauge.

The Amp Setup:
MesaBoogie TriAxis
Hush IIcx
Ensoniq DP2 for creating the effects
Alesis MEQ230
BBE Sonic Maximizer
GrooveTubes Dual 75 Poweramp that has been modified to be true stereo
GrooveTubes 2 x 10″ cabs – two of ’em for stereo tracking
I had a cross section of GrooveTubes 12AX7’s & 12AT7’s & ECC83 pre-amp tubes for the TriAxis
I had KT88’s on one side of the Dual 75 and EL34’s on the other side

The guitar cabinets were turned back to back, for the stereo effect

Bass(s): Honer V: This is the bass that was used on this song. A 5 string bass that was relatively quite cheap but records very very well. At the time of this recording it was strung with GHS Boomers as I couldn’t afford the Blue Steels at the time.

The Amp Setup: The bass was recorded direct. Unfortunately you live and learn.

Drums: Intro drums: a very early version of the Roland V-Drum kit. I don’t recall what one, but is prior to the TD-10 and the mesh heads.

The rest of the song is combination of the Roland R8m drum machine and some additional sound samples (read about it in the song story).

Vocal: All vocals were recorded on a GrooveTubes MD1a mic

Song Story:
Hmmm…

In case you didn’t know. I’ve never owned a T.V. However living with Jeff Scott Soto provided me with many means for watching on. At the time we lived in Santa Clarita he had like 5 T.V.’s and I think 9 VCR’s. He was a true T.V. slut.

Anyway, I had somehow become a huge X-Files fan. I’m was one to get too into many T.V. shows cause I didn’t own one (and now there’s no real need for one as so many devices can show content). But at the end of Season Two of the X-Files there is an old Native Indian talking about how stories can only last for as long as they are told to younger generations. So that sparked the first verse.

Musically speaking this song was inspired by Nine Inch Nails. I got some wacky samples from Aldy Damian. Here’s a rundown of what you hear sample wise. The kick is a combination of my former Roland R8m drum machine and a Harley Davidson being kick started. The snare is a combination of a trashy Roland R8m snare, a clinking chain and a door slamming. The toms were some distorted toms that Aldy recorded. The rest are all sounds from a Roland R8m that I used to own. I programmed it. It’s cheesy, but for some reason it worked.

The drumming in the intro is Andy playing his buddy Jeff’s Roland electronic drum kit.

There is a break in the song where the music drops out and vocals keep going. That was an inspired accident. I had a friend, Keith Simmonds, who was checking out my progress on the recording of the CD. At one point I muted the music to check something and he freaked. He thought it was the coolest thing he’d ever heard when I left the vocals going. So that’s why that is now part of the mix over “lies tear apart…”.

Factoids:
1. The kick is a sample of a Harley Motorcycle kicking over on a startup.
2. My first guitar solo that really wasn’t a flashy solo.

You tend to use what you can get your hands on. This was a huge learning experience for myself and for Andy as well. However since I spent the most time at the board doing this stuff I learned what I did and did not like about the gear. First off, I hate ADAT. Not because its digital, but because it was a pain in the ass at a later date. It turns out that ADATs have real shitty converters and you lose all the “Air” of the recording, everything above 15khz. I originally over-compensated by mixing the CD with way too much high-end EQ.

The album was subsequently dumped into Logic Audio some years ago. I have re-mixed the album from the original tracks. I was able to create a better drum mix and redo the high end. Melodyne became my one of my best friends in the re-mix process for Andy’s Vocals. The result is the new version that is now available only on streaming sites. The original pressing of the album may become a collectors item as I’m not planning on ever re-pressing it.

Copyright: 1997/06/20

ISRC: USONR0301013

ISWC: T0709688152

SESAC Song ID: 594743

Harry Fox ID: X8271C
Harry Fox Publisher ID: P8938Q

UPC: 654433000122

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Beside the Lies

[verse]
Feeling terrified
No more walls to hide behind
Fearless rejection
All the hope slowly passing by

[chorus]
For all the effort immortalized
Support gives way to hidden guise
Pass the buck and close your eyes
Its livin’ Beside the Lies

[verse]
Frightened emotion
Steps along a wounded ID

[bridge]
Pressure builds in intensity
Do your homework
And you will see
There is another reality

[chorus]
For all the effort immortalized
Support gives way to hidden guise
Pass the buck and close your eyes
Its livin’ Beside the Lies

[instrumental]

[verse]
Tragic reaction
Withdraw behind a new line
Re-route objective
Falls on toward a side light

[chorus]
For all the effort immortalized
Support gives way to hidden guise
Pass the buck and close your eyes
Its livin’ Beside the Lies

[bridge]
Stand fast holding dignity
Do your homework
And you will see
There is another reality

[chorus]
For all the effort immortalized
Support gives way to hidden guise
Pass the buck and close your eyes
Its livin’ Beside the Lies

[chorus]
For all the effort immortalized
Support gives way to hidden guise
Pass the buck and close your eyes
Its livin’ Beside the Lies

Song Length: 3:44

Writer: Jody Whitesides IPI/CAE 00196306650
Publisher: Too Much Music IPI/CAE 00456952518
Admin Publisher (Outside U.S.): Bluewater Music

Jody Whitesides: Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Synths
Jeff Scott Soto: Backing Vocals
Andy Miller: Drums, Backing Vocals

Recording Info:
Cover Art: Jody Whitesides
Cover Text: Kim Whitesides
Recording Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mixing Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mixing Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mastering Engineer: George Leger III
Vocal Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Producer: Jody Whitesides

El Padden Studio: All the guitars, bass and vocals were recorded here. The guitar room happened to be a small den room in the house Jeff and I were living in. The control room was a converted garage.

Blue Forrest Studio: The drums were recorded here.

Format: ADAT, the original black ones.

Console: Mackie 32 x 8 with the Mackie AutoMix system on a Mac.

Tracking Monitors: KRK. Guitar(s): Joe’s Guitar with Jesus paint job: This guitar has a Seymour Duncan Custom Custom pickup and a Cool Rails. It also has a Wilkinson Tremelo installed by Trev Wilkinson himself. Strung with Dean Markley Blue Steel medium gauge strings. This is the guitar used on the guitar solo.

Fender Guitar: my first guitar, the only original thing is the body. Everything else has been replaced or modified. Think of the Van Halen Frankenstein guitar only this one has a Desert landscape for a paint job. Had a DiMarzio at the time the PAF pro. Standard bridge, one Humbucker. Strung with Dean Markley Blue Steels medium gauge.

The Amp Setup:
MesaBoogie TriAxis
Hush IIcx
Ensoniq DP2 for creating the effects
Alesis MEQ230
BBE Sonic Maximizer
GrooveTubes Dual 75 Poweramp that has been modified to be true stereo
GrooveTubes 2 x 10″ cabs – two of ’em for stereo tracking
I had a cross section of GrooveTubes 12AX7’s & 12AT7’s & ECC83 pre-amp tubes for the TriAxis
I had KT88’s on one side of the Dual 75 and EL34’s on the other side

The guitar cabinets were turned back to back, for the stereo effect

Bass(s): Honer V: This is the bass that was used on this song. A 5 string bass that was relatively quite cheap but records very very well. At the time of this recording it was strung with GHS Boomers as I couldn’t afford the Blue Steels at the time.

The Amp Setup: The bass was recorded direct. Unfortunately you live and learn.

Drums: Tama – The exact model is something I don’t know. But Andy played the shit out of them and it was his kit
Cymbals – Combination of Zilidian, and Sabian. Two of the crashes where borrowed from Jamie Borger from Talisman. Andy ended up beating the shit out of them too
Snare – this snare was borrowed from Jack White. Not the guy from the White Stripes, but the original drummer for Rick Springfield. Jack let us borrow a couple of great snares
Remo drum heads – I bought them for Andy. I wanted to have fresh heads and the drum guy from Guitar Center and Andy both recommended that these were the ones to use

Mics: Sennheisers for drum overheads & hihats
Sure SM57’s on snare and toms

Mic Pres: API

Vocal: All vocals were recorded on a GrooveTubes MD1a mic

Song Story:
Ah, one of my favorite intros I’ve ever done. All those crazy sounds were captured on a micro cassette recorder. I was recording various noises and sounds. Then I caught Jeff Soto screaming at his Nintendo game. He used to get so caught up in it, it was comical, screaming and yelling at the screen. Ah the good old times. Anyway as I recorded each noise into a micro-cassette recorder, then dumped all those bits into the ADATs and played it back it was really neat to hear the micro-cassette turn on on each bit. I got really lucky with the one with guitar riff lining up in time with the actual song.

What’s really scary about this song is the guitar riff for the verse. It doesn’t start on the “one”, it’s totally offbeat. Even freakier is if you listen to track 14 of Satriani’s album that came out a few months after Delicate Stretch of the Seems. Go find it, I think it’s called Crystal Planet and the song is Time. I heard that and finally said I had to stop thinking like Satriani when I write.

Anyway, the concept is how people can sometimes be two-faced and you eventually find out that there are some you cannot trust.

Factoids:
1. Opening segment has a lot of samples recorded on a micro-cassette.
2. Sonically backwards between verses being heavy and choruses being clean.

You tend to use what you can get your hands on. This was a huge learning experience for myself and for Andy as well. However since I spent the most time at the board doing this stuff I learned what I did and did not like about the gear. First off, I hate ADAT. Not because its digital, but because it was a pain in the ass at a later date. It turns out that ADATs have real shitty converters and you lose all the “Air” of the recording, everything above 15khz. I originally over-compensated by mixing the CD with way too much high-end EQ.

The album was subsequently dumped into Logic Audio some years ago. I have re-mixed the album from the original tracks. I was able to create a better drum mix and redo the high end. Melodyne became my one of my best friends in the re-mix process for Andy’s Vocals. The result is the new version that is now available only on streaming sites. The original pressing of the album may become a collectors item as I’m not planning on ever re-pressing it.

Copyright: 1997/06/20

ISRC: USONR0301014

ISWC: T0709688163

SESAC Song ID: 594744

Harry Fox ID: B96874
Harry Fox Publisher ID: P8938Q

UPC: 654433000122

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That’s What It Is

[verse]
Can you tell me what it is that makes you happy
And is it me that is always on your mind
Well don’t just stand there I think I want to know more
Can you tell me the reasons that make you free

[pre chorus]
You push me to the wall and I think I’m gonna cry again
I want you so much I think I’m willing to go insane

[chorus]
That’s What it is
That’s what makes me happy
That’s What it is
That’s what keeps me sane
That’w What it is
Love is what it is

[verse]
Would you ever think to turn your back on me
Without you I believe I’d be another empty shell
Well lets walk the coals I wanna say what the hell
Don’t you think you really need someone like me

[pre chorus]
You push me to the wall and I think I’m gonna cry again
I want you so much I think I’m willing to go insane

[chorus]
That’s What it is
That’s what makes me happy
That’s What it is
That’s what keeps me sane
That’w What it is
Love is what it is

[instrumental]

[pre chorus]
You push me to the wall and I think I’m gonna cry again
I want you so much I think I’m willing to go insane

[chorus]
That’s What it is
That’s what makes me happy
That’s What it is
That’s what keeps me sane
That’w What it is
Love is what it is

[pre chorus]
You push me to the wall and I think I’m gonna cry again
I want you so much I think I’m willing to go insane

[chorus]
That’s What it is
That’s what makes me happy
That’s What it is
That’s what keeps me sane
That’w What it is
Love is what it is

[instrumental]

Song Length: 5:12

Writer: Jody Whitesides IPI/CAE 00196306650
Publisher: Too Much Music IPI/CAE 00456952518
Admin Publisher (Outside U.S.): Bluewater Music

Jody Whitesides: Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Synths, additional Drum Programming
Jeff Scott Soto: Backing Vocals
Andy Miller: Bongos, Backing Vocals

Recording Info:
Cover Art: Jody Whitesides
Cover Text: Kim Whitesides
Recording Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mixing Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mixing Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mastering Engineer: George Leger III
Vocal Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Producer: Jody Whitesides

El Padden Studio: All the guitars, bass and vocals were recorded here. The guitar room happened to be a small den room in the house Jeff and I were living in. The control room was a converted garage.

Format: ADAT, the original black ones.

Console: Mackie 32 x 8 with the Mackie AutoMix system on a Mac.

Tracking Monitors: KRK. Guitar(s): Taylor 12 string, borrowed from my buddy Simeon. I double tracked it. Crazy full sound for a 12 string guitar.

Mic’d with the GrooveTubes MD1a.

Bass(s): Honer V: This is the bass that was used on this song. A 5 string bass that was relatively quite cheap but records very very well. At the time of this recording it was strung with GHS Boomers as I couldn’t afford the Blue Steels at the time.

The Amp Setup: The bass was recorded direct. Unfortunately you live and learn.

Drums: A set of bongos I had borrowed from music store called Big Valley Music (it’s long since gone out of business at this point). Andy’s hands and fingers.

Additional percussion is all from the Roland R8m. Programmed by Jody.

Vocal: All vocals were recorded on a GrooveTubes MD1a mic

Song Story:
This was my first attempt at a power ballad type love song. In many respects it comes no where close to a power ballad and I really like that. It was one of the first songs of mine where Jeff Soto was like, man I wish I wrote that part. That made me feel really damn good inside. Thank you Jeff.

The song is quite long. I think I got caught up in the dual solo thing thanks to Keith Simmonds. He wanted to try soloing over the second solo part on the demo. However when I recorded the CD I did both solo sections. I was totally engrossed in the more is better attitude so I kept that length for the song. If I were to recut it, which isn’t likely to happen, I would probably snip and tuck it a bit to make it flow quicker.

The second all acoustic song on the CD. We ended up doing the bongos at El Padden. Andy sat in the dark with two mics on him and these bongos I had borrowed. Two takes, no rehearsal, I believe we used the second take. The rest of the percussion is stuff I had programmed on the computer.

Factoids:
1. Andy played on some borrowed bongos for this and rocked ’em.
2. [sarcasm] Likely the first pop style song in history to use a descending diminished chord run. [/sarcasm]

You tend to use what you can get your hands on. This was a huge learning experience for myself and for Andy as well. However since I spent the most time at the board doing this stuff I learned what I did and did not like about the gear. First off, I hate ADAT. Not because its digital, but because it was a pain in the ass at a later date. It turns out that ADATs have real shitty converters and you lose all the “Air” of the recording, everything above 15khz. I originally over-compensated by mixing the CD with way too much high-end EQ.

The album was subsequently dumped into Logic Audio some years ago. I have re-mixed the album from the original tracks. I was able to create a better drum mix and redo the high end. Melodyne became my one of my best friends in the re-mix process for Andy’s Vocals. The result is the new version that is now available only on streaming sites. The original pressing of the album may become a collectors item as I’m not planning on ever re-pressing it.

Copyright: 1997/06/20

ISRC: USONR0301015

ISWC: T0709688027

SESAC Song ID: 594745

Harry Fox ID: X8271D
Harry Fox Publisher ID: P8938Q

UPC: 654433000122

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