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About my CD: IX

I thought this would be a nice little space to talk about my new CD: IX. Here, you’ll find information about the production on the album and the people who played on them.

All songs written by John Mendoza.
Guitars and vox: John Mendoza*
Drums: Gary Scheffler *
Bass: Greg Sullivan *

* Track 8:
Lead Guitar: Owen Hoxie
Drums: Joseph Difranco
Bass: John Gallagher

Bass and Drums recorded at Milk Boy Recording (Philadelphia, PA)
Guitars recorded at Grey Skied Studios (Deptford, NJ)
Vox and lead guitar recorded at Cringer’s Cave (Marlton, NJ)
Cd Mastered by Owen Hoxie

This album was started in July of 2005 and was completed in June 2006. I worked on the album on and off during the whole time. It’s all from me… I’m proud of it and I’m excited to finish up recording my next album. Anyway… I hope that you enjoy it.

Here’s a bit about each song:

How Does It Feel? - This is, by far, my favorite song on the album… thus, I put it first. I wrote this while I was on a date with a woman that I met at a bachelor party. Anyway, we were having a great time on the date and then she told me that she was still dating this other guy for 3 years(WTF?!?!?!?). She told me that he had cheated on her but wanted her back and that she wasn’t sure if she wanted to go back to him. It’s jerks like that who give nice guys(like me) a bad name. =P

Everything You Are - This was written when I was still singing lead for another band(The Azul Project). They called it “Def Leppard”, I guess because of all of the vocal harmonies. Musically, it was inspired by Lifehouse... I love those guys!!! Also, it was the first time that I experimented with multitrack recording for the 4 part harmonies in the chorus. This is a “feel good” tune about realizing that the person you want is “the person you want”, but only after letting them go. But this time around, that person is different so you aren’t sure exactly how things are going to pan out.

‘Till the End - I wrote this song about 6 years ago. I had just gone through a bad break up from a relationship where all of my friends and family told me that I should get out, but I just couldn’t see that because I was in the relationship myself. I’m sure you know what I mean. This was a promise that I made to her saying that no matter where life takes us, I’ll always be there for her when she needed me. I’m such a sappy little sap…

Angel - This is always a crowd pleaser and is the one song on the cd that I really let go on the guitar solo. Some call it shred… I call it… errr… shred. Anyway, this song is about a woman that I was dating for a while. I thought that she was so outstanding and I wanted to make myself better so I could be “just like her”. She was so full of promise and determination. It was really inspiring to be dating her. The riff leading into the guitar solo was written by Owen Hoxie. He’s everything I want to be as a guitarist.

Devil’s Cry - This song was written when I was still with my old band. Owen(other guitarist) and I had a field day writing the solo for this. I think it pays homage to one of our favorite guitarists, Brian May. The lyrics were given to me as a poem. It was a pretty dark poem about someone that lived their life in such a sad and demented way, only the “Devil” knew how to relate(aka Paradise Lost by John Milton). I took the words and tweaked them out a bit to make them fit the song a bit better… I think so anyway.

Missing Me - Doesn’t get any sadder than this. It’s a simple concept… lamenting for a lost love. This was my attempt of trying to write like a singer/songwriter… aka Damien Rice. That guy’s the SEX!!!!!

How Can You Say? - This is probably the most “out of left field” song for me. The music has more of a swing feel to it and lyrically it’s about asking a person, “How can you just let me go? How can you say this is what you want?”. The solo was a hoot to play… Big props to Greg for laying down a killer bass line… such a great groove.

I’ll Be Alright - I wrote this song years ago. I had just started dating a woman. I thought she was amazing… great personality, blond hair with blue eyes, smart. I’m usually pretty confident when it comes to this stuff, but this song is about how I was falling for her, but I knew that she wanted more out of life. It’s about how I know that she might leave me one day and I would be ok with that… I just wanted her to be happy. Awwwww… This song took me all of 10 minutes to write. The performance is from the original demo that I recorded with my old band(The Azul Project). I loved it so much, I just wanted to use it again. Plus, Owen lays down a tasty tasty guitar solo.

Angel(piano version) - As I was finishing up the songs for the album, I wanted to have a song with just me and the piano. I realized that “Angel” fit the chords and melody perfectly. It’s as emotional as I can get I think. It’s John Mendoza… in my most candid and intimate performance. Also, I did it in one take… how do you like them apples!?!?!?!?!

Thank you again for the support!!!