White metal band Whitecross recently released their new single "Man In The Mirror" music and lyrics by Rex Carroll and Antonio N. Acevedo, and to celebrate we asked Rex to tell us about the track. Here is the story:
The proverbial question: which comes first, the lyrics or the music? (The answer, of course, is YES.) I've found the best thing when writing lyrics is to tell true stories because that's how you connect with people. I was blown away when my good friend Antonio showed me about four pages of lyrics he had written telling about his decade-long journey to sobriety. I'm so proud of his life, and I could tell he took a big risk by allowing the world to see that part of his experience.
It just so happened that right when Antonio came to me with his lyrics, I had been working on an opening guitar riff. Many great rock songs have an amazing guitar hook that draws you into the song, such as "Smoke on the Water" or "Enter Sandman." I'm always hoping to find that next epic riff! If a great lyric comes along, sometimes I'll hold onto it until it matches with exactly the right music. But in this case, I was working on a guitar riff, and in walked the lyrics. The song came together pretty easily.
Another thing was happening while "Man in the Mirror" was coming together. I was just starting to work with our Whitecross lead vocalist, David Roberts. Dave has a voice that hearkens back to classic Whitesnake and Scorpions, and we were looking for a song to "put him on the map" and showcase his huge vocal range. I'm thrilled to say I think we accomplished all of that entirely within the framework of the song without having to stretch any details in the writing.
The long and short of it is that we have a killer song based on a true story, some fun guitar hooks, and a great vocal performance. As the lyric says, we all have to face "the man in the mirror," so I hope that helps somebody somewhere get to where they need to be. Finally, it's a really fun song to play live, and I'm pretty happy about that!
Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more about their forthcoming album "Fear No Evil" here
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