'Codependent Parasites' is a genre-blending masterpiece that fuses melodic hard rock, active rock, and melodic metal elements into a captivating sonic journey.
From the outset, a commanding guitar riff grabs your attention, setting the tone for a compelling musical experience. The raw vocals of Elias Soriano (Nonpoint) and Dave Perry (Fear of Water) carry emotion, that mirrors the song's deeply personal inspiration. The addition of guest vocals adds a layer of intensity, creating a captivating contrast in this metal melody. Instrumentally, the track excels with its diverse elements, featuring robust guitar work, dynamic drums, and a pronounced bass-line.
Kile Odell's production ensures top-tier sound quality, allowing each element to shine as the release seamlessly blends heavy, hard-hitting elements with catchy, melodic hooks, ensuring a memorable journey. The song's dynamic shifts keep listeners engaged from start to finish as the Fear Of Water sound demonstrates its place as a rock-n-roll one to watch.
Can you tell us more about the inspiration behind 'Codependent Parasites' and how the personal experience influenced the songwriting process?
Codependent Parasites was inspired by my long-term partner creating a large amount of chaos & emotional damage in my life by maintaining a secret affair for the better part of a year [...] with a guy that I incorrectly believed to be a good friend of mine. Things got much worse for everyone involved once they were exposed for their deceptive & destructive behavior. I truly have zero respect for people like this and have the utmost confidence that karma will catch up with them very soon.
I wanted my rage & betrayal I felt to be clearly expressed within the confines of this song while still focusing on making the track musically accessible and catchy.
“Happiness is the best revenge.” While I don’t always agree with the passive nature of that quote, I really like the sentiment. The idea of crafting a visceral release of my emotions that’s also capable of achieving commercial success is my “Happiness”, and I believe that has been achieved with Codependent Parasites.
The genre-blending nature of the track is quite unique. How did you approach combining elements of melodic hard rock, active rock, and melodic metal to create such a dynamic sound?
I can’t speak for others, but personally I believe it would require more effort/intention to ensure that the music I create only strictly adheres to the parameters of one genera/sub genre. I wanted to create something that would be accessible & enjoyable for a wide variety of rock/metal fans without wasting energy ensuring the track conformed to a set definition of one genre.
I am always very focused (perhaps to a fault) on making sure anything I release is dynamic and musically interesting. I’m happy to say that this song will take the listener on a ride.
Elias Soriano's vocals add a remarkable intensity to 'Codependent Parasites.' What led to the collaboration with him, and how did his involvement shape the final version of the song?
I have been a HUGE fan of Elias’s band NONPOINT for over two decades. He has one of the most powerful voices and unique stylings in the hard rock world. His contribution to this song took it to a whole new level and I can’t thank him enough for working with me.
My music career has seen some really fortunate evolutions since 2020. Working with prominent producers, joining the band RA and touring with Nothing More has opened up a lot of doors including the opportunity to meet incredible musicians that I’ve admired for years. Connections & introductions can only take you so far though; at the end of the day, a song needs to stand on its own to be good enough for an artist like Elias Soriano to become involved. I take tremendous pride in his endorsement of what I’m creating.
The instrumentation in the track is quite diverse. Could you elaborate on how the various instruments and plugins were chosen and integrated to create the song's rich and layered sound?
Kile Odell's role as a producer is highlighted in the release. What specific contributions did he make to the song's production, and how did the collaboration between you and Kile impact the final outcome?
Kile Odell is incredibly talented and has worked on some phenomenal records; many of which have seen great commercial success. I created a large playlist of songs that I love as well as songs he’s produced to help create a sonic vision of what I wanted to achieve. It’s important to me to have a uniquely identifiable sound, both from a songwriting and an audio engineering standpoint.
Kile is phenomenal at taking an idea from my head and making it into a recorded reality. I’ll be really specific about certain sonic aspects and he’ll bring them to life. I’d say I like the bass tone from this Breaking Benjamin song, the lead guitar tone from this Killswitch Engage track, the rhythm guitars from an Animals as Leaders song, the snare from Architects/the kick of Sevendust/the toms of Slipknot etc... and he can start to piece that together once he sees the full vision of what I’m trying to create in the end.
Aside from ensuring a completely professional sounding radio-ready song is delivered at the end of our session, Kile was also an active part of the creative process; always giving great feedback on vocal phrasing, emotional delivery, plug in choices, thoughts on transitions, etc. Although these songs were fully written by the time I started working with Kile in Nashville, it was great working with him to deconstruct what I had created and rebuilding it to ensure the best possible song.
The music video is a unique one-man performance. Can you share more about the concept behind the video and the challenges you faced while creating it?
I am really proud of this video! I’ve always wanted to find a way to authentically & creatively depict the one-man-band nature of what I do. Director Nick Stich of Pattern Behavior did a tremendous job of taking my vision from my head and turning it into a reality. It kind of broke my brain a little bit (in the best way) the first time I saw four versions of me performing together as a band in the same room. I believe the multi-instrumental nature of what I’m doing is an important point of differentiation for me so I wanted a visually striking video that effectively portrayed that message.
Playing the song 50+ times on drums, bass, guitar and vocals in a hit warehouse under studio lights was incredibly exhausting but the end result is totally worth the effort.
Definitely go check it out on Instagram.
You've mentioned exciting collaborations in the pipeline. Can you provide any insights into what fans can expect from these future collaborations, including the artists involved and the direction you plan to take with your music?
I have been making music as a one-man-band for 20 years. I am entering a really fun new phase of that journey where everything I do for the foreseeable future will be a collaboration with artists that I admire.
As a fellow multi-instrumentalist, I am beyond excited to release the collaboration I did with Clint Lowery of Sevendust. He has been an inspiration of mine since I began teaching myself how to play all of these instruments.
I am also deeply proud of my upcoming collaborations with Aaron Nordstrom (Gemini Syndrome), Heidi Shepherd (Butcher Babies) & Sahaj Ticotin (Ra). There are many more exciting match ups in the works which I can’t wait to share with the music community.
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