I Don’t Blame
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: 4:03
Writer: Jody Whitesides IPI/CAE 00196306650
Publisher: Too Much Music IPI/CAE 00456952518
Admin Publisher (Outside U.S.): Bluewater Music
Jody Whitesides: Lead Vocals, Guitars
Andy Miller: Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals
Jeff Scott Soto: Backing Vocals
T.B. Player: Bass
Recording Info:
Cover Art: Jody Whitesides
Recording Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mixing Engineer: Jody Whitesides
Mastering Engineer 2025: Jody Whitesides
Mastering Engineer 1998: Brian Fedirko of One on One
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. (for 1998 release).
Tracking Monitors: KRK.
2025:
Remixed at: Snow Park Studio in Park City UT
Mixed in LUNA
Mastered in LUNA
Guitar(s): Desert Guitar: my first guitar which was a Fender “Japocaster” as it used to be referred as, 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. A single Seymour Duncan Custom Custom hum-bucker pickup. Standard bridge. Strung with Dean Markley Blue Steels medium gauge.
Joe’s Guitar with Jesus paint job: This guitar has a Seymour Duncan Custom Custom pickup and a Cool Rails in the neck position. It has a Wilkinson Tremelo installed by Trev Wilkinson himself. Strung with Dean Markley Blue Steel medium gauge strings. I used the bridge pickup for this sound.
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 normally 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 this version that is now available on streaming sites. And via a Deluxe Digital Package for sale on my website. 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
ISRC: USONR2400621
ISRC: USONR2400601
ISWC: T0709688185
SESAC Song ID: 594727
Harry Fox ID: I9561P
Harry Fox Publisher ID: P8938Q
UPC: 654433000122
UPC: 764656462925
UPC: 764656462888