On June 12th, Hemiispheres (comprised of songwriter and former Evanescence member David Hodges and multi-instrumentalist Whakaio Taahi) will release Grief, a musical project born from the restrictions that Covid-19 has caused on co-writing and in-person sessions for songwriters across the globe. This time has sent a lot of songwriters back to what got them started in the business — writing for themselves.
Now, many folks are writing 100% of their songs without their co-writers, or working only with one person. Career songwriter David Hodges has spent the past decade and a half (after his success as a founding member of Evanescence,) writing songs professionally for others. The art of songwriting involves a complicated skillset, extracting a genuine experience and emotion from an artist often only in one day. The job is to help them tell their story – and of course, do it in a commercial manner that people can relate to across language and cultural barriers globally.
The process is multifaceted and David Hodges is one of the best at this professional art, having sold over 75 million records during his career. After years of helping artists like Christina Perri, 5 Seconds of Summer, Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, Kelsea Ballerini, Celine Dion, Daughtry, Blink 182, Ben Rector, Avril Lavigne, Dan + Shay, Keith Urban, and many more tell their stories, David spent the lockdown with his regular co-writer Whakaio Taahi (a founding member and former guitarist of the Australian band Tonight Alive,) doing something that they hadn’t done in years – write for themselves.
Like the phrase “the cobbler’s children have no shoes,” we can often spend so much time taking care of others and helping them become their best that sometimes we don’t make time for ourselves. The past few months have allowed David and Whakaio a unique opportunity to get back to the basics and create art from their own stories, from their core — and this time, for nobody else but themselves.
This therapeutic writing process birthed Grief, the debut project by Hemiispheres (David and Whakaio), from inception to completion. The project was created in 5 short weeks and was written, recorded, performed and mixed by the guys, who were isolated together during safer-at-home orders in Nashville. It began with one vulnerable writing session (with frequent collaborator Melissa Fuller) that led them both back to their artistry. With narration by David Ryan Harris (artist and famed guitarist for John Mayer,) Grief takes you through a therapeutic and imaginative journey through the process of grieving and reminds us that we are all drawn to music because of the connective and healing powers we get from songs. Music can somehow touch us in a way like nothing else can.
Today, artists ranging from Ed Sheeran to Christina Perri consider Hodges one of their close collaborators as he continues to work on these artist’s new releases. David has also taken an active role in developing other talent. The first songwriter he signed to his Kobalt-partnered publishing company, Steven Solomon, wrote James Arthur’s “Say You Won’t Let Go,” that is in the top 15 streamed Spotify songs of all time. This, among other releases, adds to the company’s growing success.
Hodges is also a founding partner in top management company Milk & Honey, whose clients have had some of the biggest hits of all time. From Luis Fonsi, Justin Bieber and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito,” to Charlie Puth and Wiz Khalifa’s “See You Again” and Demi Lovato’s “Sorry Not Sorry,” Hodges has been an active part of building a stable of other talented songwriters across genres and in different markets globally with his partners at the Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, and London-based management outfit.
David Hodges and Whakaio Taahi, or Hemiispheres, will release Grief, a masterwork in story-telling, on June 12th everywhere.