We’ve all had those moments.
That instant when realisation hits. The sudden knowledge destiny is unfolding right before our eyes.
It could be meeting a potential soulmate, achieving a lifelong goal, watching your team salvage victory from almost certain defeat. Moments when time stood still.
The new single from Los Angeles five-piece Cody & The Blackouts captures that lightning in a bottle – not just once, even twice, but thrice.
Time Stood Still, penned by the band’s lead singer and songwriter Cody Hudock, references three momentous events in history: the birth of Gutenberg’s printing press, Freud’s breakthrough theories of psychoanalysis, and how the Beatles and their producer George Martin changed the game forever when it comes to writing and recording popular music. Hit, hit, hit.
Cody and his Blackouts
If anyone could weave these wildly disparate subjects together in the context of a single pop song, it’s Cody Hudock. Born into a family of songwriters, Hudock learned the trade from his father and older brother.
“I picked it up quite naturally, in much the same way the son of a baker might understand intrinsically how to make a good loaf of bread from their first go at it,” Hudock says.
After acquiring early performance experience playing keys in older brother Jordan’s popular LA indie bands, Coalinga and Marvelous Toy, Hudock launched his own songwriting vehicle, Cody The Band.
The group released three EPs before Hudock embarked on his solo debut, 2016’s ambitiously titled The Great American Album. Released under his own name, it garnered some delirious word of mouth:
“If there were an award for ‘greatest living songwriter you’ve never heard of’, then Cody Hudock’s sterling solo effort would place him firmly in the running,” gushed LA blog The 704.
What would become the core of The Blackouts played together on The Great American Album: Cody, his wife and vocalist Joanna Hudock, and multi-instrumentalist Jordan Bennett.
Drummer Brent Stranathan and bassist Will Weissman were soon added to the fold, as the band began playing shows across Los Angeles. When Bennett moved to Atlanta a year later, guitarist Jimmy Holman proved a worthy replacement.
Made in Hollywood, Mixed at Capital Records, LA.
Recorded at Hollywood studio Elephant In The Room, produced by Ethan Kaufmann (Avril Lavigne, Wild Party) and Brent Stranathan. Mixed by longstanding Capitol Records engineer Chandler Harrod (John Mayer, Neil Young). Time Stood Still captures the unique studio chemistry of Cody & The Blackouts.
That chemistry translates to the song’s accompanying performance video. Shot in crisp black and white at The Room Downtown, LA., with Matt Soson as Director of Photography. Edited in Australia by Emmy award-winning Jason “JJ” Jamieson.
Time Stood Still, from the album Gold, released on Chance MUSIC