Extended Biography of Bodi-wan
[Forgive the low quality of the some of the photos; this was the old days of film, cheap cameras, and low light conditions with a lot of movement.]
Bodi-wan, often called the "Masked Metalhead" or “The Son of Halford”, is a vibrant Christian vocalist and musician.
Bodi-wan, AKA David Hodge
His career began with a Christian rock band called Zeo [not Zao whom is
popular now], which was Greek for “on fire”. The band started in 1991 and had stylistic influence from Judas Priest and Iron Maiden
on the secular side and Stryper and Petra on the Christian side (stylistically and lyrically). Bodi-wan, whose given name is David Hodge, began singing
while in high school and the band lasted about year doing original tunes.
Bodi-wan with Bob Hartman of Petra
The band split off when guitarist Shawn Doggett left to pursue a different
job and drummer Bill Duvendack and Bodi-wan went off to college. Other
members were Eric McClelland (vocals), Shane Beddingfield (vocals), Chris Babb (Bass), and Brenda Jobe (vocals). But
this was not going to stop the music that was brewing inside him.
Shawn Doggett and Bodi-wan
In 1994, his career led him to drive over 2 hours every weekend and some
weeknights to St. Louis, MO to play with a band formerly called Bad Reaction but changed to AFTRSHOK. The reformed band utilized former
drummer Bill Duvendack who called him on the job. It had a duel guitar
attack with female lead, Vicki Vroman and rhythm, Rich White. They
recruited Todd Keesal to fire up the bass. The band focused on originals
but played a few covers including Fight, White Zombie,
and few short lived others.
AFTRSHOK
AFTRSHOK did record a demo on a 4-track that included Black Death – Vroman, Metal Silenze – White and Hodge, Musician’s Creed – Hodge and White, and Pain – Hodge and Duvendack. The demo was never released, due to the lower quality of a four track device. It was recorded in one night (literally in the middle of the night!).
Nevertheless, the band kept
playing the scene in St. Louis. Due to internal directional conflicts, Bodi-wan was out the
band; but it was actually a good leave for both Bodi-wan and the band (they remained friends); Bodi-wan was replaced by KK Krimmel and soon after, the drummer left and then AFTRSHOK
changed their name to Culture in Crisis.
This lead to the 1995 forming of Ancient Silenze. The
band was a weird formation that included Bod-wan, rookie Rudy Hodge on guitar,
Bill Duvendack on drums and various bassists, including Alex Beddingfield,
Kerry Baptist, Mick DeWitt, and Guitarist/Bassist Kevin Royalty (who also played with a band called Mama's Boys). The band
played some of the old AFTRSHOK songs, some more
originals, and quite a few covers Priest, Maiden,
Fight, Poison, Saxon, etc.
Bodi-wan, Bill and Rudy
Rudy Hodge (Guitars), John Schlitt (vocalist for Petra), and Alex Beddingfield (Bass)
Kevin Royalty and Mama's Boys
Guitarist, Rudy Hodge with his high-flying antics and incredible technical expertise and Bodi-wan’s massive vocal range and stage emotion launched the band to an ever-higher fan base. Centered out of the middle of nowhere in Western Illinois, they were playing crowds well over a hundred people on rural stages, sheds, and the back of semi-truck trailers. Several of their largest gigs consisted of nearly 400 in crowd attendance.
Rudy Live at the Shed
The band continued to play limited gigs around Illinois while
recording a short demo via a new method of CD recording by Bodi-wan and computer
guru Paul Krush in Carbondale, IL. They did a 1-try,1-take direct to CD Burn that was kind of a
novel concept in those days.
Paul Krush (in Green) with with his computer skills!
Interestingly, the Ancient Silence Symbol originated from a paw print a dog left on their wall and they imitated it in art and made a digital image of it.
Bodi-wan with Apologetix's Keith Haynie
Bodi-wan with Apologetix's singer J. Jackson
Bodi-wan with Apologetix's former guitarist Karl Messner
Bodi-wan with Apologetix's Bill Hubauer
Bodi-wan with Apologetix's Jimmy "Vegas" Tanner
Ancient Silence recorded 5 songs on an album entitled “Aware to Wonder”. The songs included a couple of the AFTRSHOK songs as well as ‘No One Hears My Screams’ – Rudy Hodge and “Aware to Wonder” – Bodi-wan. Though never released professionally, they sold a few albums just from their fan base and did the entire thing themselves.
A few select CD’s included a live version of “Hell
Bent for Leather” by Judas Priest. With
this cover, it was easy to tell that the talent was there and
flourishing. The band finally ended when Duvendack called it quits on the
drums.
Bodi-wan with Glenn Tipton of Judas Priest (who turned to sign something just as the camera clicked! Ha!)
But this didn’t stop Bodi-wan’s musical career. Rudy and Bodi-wan continued with a band unofficially entitled Insanity and Genius. It had quite a powerful feel as the music was in the vein of power metal – Gamma Ray, Helloween, Hammerfall, Judas Priest, Primal Fear, Dream Theater, Joshua, Old Bride, Crystavox, Recon, Iron Maiden, Fight, etc.
Bodi-wan and drummer for Judas Priest, Fight, and Racer-X Scott Travis in the foreground
The band has had trouble finding a suitable drummer to put down the tracks but continued to prep for recording. Casey Wellman joined in on bass for the recording of Rudy Hodge's song, “The Saint”. It is an incredible tune that awaits a full album to accompany it.
Bodi-wan had recently purchased a portable studio to go with all his
accumulated musical equipment and decided to put all the songs he had written
down on CD. During this time, Bodi-wan also went to the other side of
music and did some live recordings for 4MJ (Four
Men Jamming) who included Brian Hamilton on vocals, Mason Rainey on Bass, Craig
Nelson on Drums, and Rick Pendergast. Rick Pendergast used to be in a band
called Inner Sanctum with Mike Portnoy prior to Dream Theater.
If you are lucky, you might be able to find a rare live recording of
Bodi-wan, taking the stage with 4MJ’s Mason, Rick, and Craig to play Judas
Priest’s “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’”.
They had never played the song live and never practiced it but they got up and
did it one night and it was amazing!
Rick is a phenomenal guitarist who has been playing since 1979. 4MJ decided to call it quits in 2000 when Rick moved
from Illinois to Florida. Although the band has now come back together with
Rick’s son playing drums. For Bodi-wan though, this is where the skills
developed for mixing, mastering, and producing a good album.
In the meantime, Bodi-wan had been learning to play the guitar and bass. He
had already picked up quite a bit of drumming talent in his career but decided
to expand his horizons. He made an audition with a Christian Band named Fire and Brimstone to play guitar (the name was short
lived) which had a feel of the Christian metal masters Bloodgood, Recon, and Whitecross.
Bodi-wan with Rex Carroll of Whitecross, King James, The Rex Carroll Band, and Fierce Heart
Bodi-wan with Scott Wenzel of Whitecross
Bodi-wan with some of the members of Recon at Cornerstone Festival 2001; From left to right Vett Roberts (Robert Rodriguez), vox; Mike Grato, bass; John Christianson, drums, and Bodi-wan
It featured Mark Muir on bass from Herrin, IL. They began writing and
putting together an all-out Christian Metal album that few could boast. Through
the short course of events, Bodi-wan took a job in Peoria, IL. This caused a
disillusion to the band in Southern Illinois.
Bodi-wan on bass fiddling around
Mark took up the slack by forming a band known as Metal
Messiah, which recorded and had taken off in the underground Christian
arena at the time. Due to the move, the Masked Metalhead was without
access to a drum set – which was one thing he didn’t own himself. So the
idea was to lay down the tracks with a machine to keep time and pound away and if
possible go back through and change it later. But that never happened due
to lack of access to the drums.
Bodi-wan having fun on guitar
Nevertheless, he began working out and completing songs that he had written.
It is entitled “A Candle in the Darkness” and
utilized a few songs from a demo he was initially doing called “Evilution”. The songs were written by Bodi-wan,
mixed, mastered, engineered, arranged, and played by Bodi-wan! This is an
awesome accomplishment.
A Candle in the Darkness Album Cover
The first album seems to be so aggressive, yet melodic, in song and word and talent that some rockers are left in awe that this was done entirely by one person. The album is a phenomenal career booster even though the recording contains minute tape noise in certain sections that is unavoidable with that technology (reminiscent of the sound a record and needle give off on old record players). Some of the songs will instantly get stuck in your head and makes you want to listen to it over and over again.
Bodi-wan live in Western Illinois
At this point, Insanity and Genius remained
stagnant as work schedules and distance continued to wreak havoc. The
preliminary album takes are awesome but need time to record the final
songs. This album and recording has been placed on hold until further
notice but that hasn’t stopped Bodi-wan.
In Peoria, he stepped up to a hard rock praise and youth worship band called
Sustain Glory to play bass. They were in
need and since his move to Peoria has slowed Insanity
and Genius, he filled in the slot. They played a mix of originals,
and covers. It included a number of people who rotated in and out such as Dave Evans on drums, Nick Evans on guitar, Nick Bright on guitars, Joel Austin doing vocals and acoustic guitars, Addi [Evans] playing violin, and various female vocalists from the youth groups including Danielle Fitch, Shana Zimmerman, Danielle Blase, Carissa Bond, Carrie Finson. The band continued with further lineup changes after Bodi-wan moved away for another job.
Bodi-wan playing bass in Sustain Glory
Bodi-wan also began solo album number 2—“X-Secular”
as he moved to Kentucky, near Cincinnati for work. He
has largely transferred from a tape-based studio to digital with the latest
technology. He also has drums now but no great
quality drum microphones so it was a combination of real drums as well as drum programming.
Once again, the whole album is written, recorded, mixed, mastered, arranged, and
engineered by Bodi-wan.
X-Secular Album Cover
The song X-Secular was picked up for a compilation album by On Fire Records.
In time, there will be more to come…we hope.
Blessings in Christ,
I.A.
