Politics
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
Jeff Scott Soto: Backing Vocals
Andy Miller: Drums, Backing Vocals
T.B. Player
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): 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 in this were recorded using a GrooveTubes MD1a.
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 16 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.
Copyright: 1996/06/15
ISRC: USONR0301003
ISRC: USONR2400623
ISRC: USONR2400603
ISWC: T0709688196
SESAC Song ID: 594730
Harry Fox ID: P8197I
Harry Fox Publisher ID: P8938Q
UPC: 654433000122
UPC: 764656463007
UPC: 764656462987