On the Radar: Odeon
Whether or not San Antonio stoner rockers Odeon took their name from the legendary venue in Hammersmith in London is a mystery, since their biographical information is minimal beyond the names of the parties involved, but if you’ve got a few minutes on this Wednesday afternoon — a cold, dismal one here in the valley — I’d like to introduce you to the warmth in this newcomer band’s guitar tone. The rig, as pictured on their MySpace page, where three songs are also available for listening — “Total Distance” being the most finished — is central to Odeon‘s attack, and guitarist Matt Brown has obviously worked for a while on his sound, so it’s worth singling out for attention.
The underlying Geezer Butler-style bass fills on “Total Distance” come courtesy of Larry Lichey, Jr., who also sings, and Daniel Manzi plays drums adding and capitalizing on the groove of the riff-led track with steady crash work and a driving build. It’s bedroom production, but I think you can still get a feel for what Odeon are doing, though the other two tracks “New” — which designates itself as vocal-less and unfinished — and “6381” are decidedly rougher. But even they rock a mid-paced groove, and that’s pretty much what it’s all about here.
It’s pretty clear they’re just starting out, but it’s good to know the simplistic, guitar-goes-first ethic is still inspiring drunken jam sessions even in this age of easy-access technical wizardry. Odeon aren’t going to change your life or your opinions on stoner rock, but if you’ve got the time, they’ve got a couple riffs to share and presumably more to come, so there’s no harm in checking them out — free of charge, this being the age of wonders that it is. And for anyone in or around San Antonio (where folks know what salsa should taste like), Odeon will be playing The 1011 on June 2 with The Grasshopper Lies Heavy. So there you go.
Tags: Odeon, San Antonio, Texas, Unsigned bands
Hey man I tried emailing you using the form on your contact page but it’s not allowing me, something about my mail service not allowing something.
Anyway, if you read this please shoot me an email. I mainly wanted to thank you for reviewing my band (Odeon) and wanted to get a CD to you when our CD is done for a possible follow-up review.
Thanks,
Larry
larrylichey@gmail.com
Hey man,
My drummer called me today elated that he’d found a review written about our band. I play bass in Odeon, you wrote a little bit about us here:
http://theobelisk.net/obelisk/2010/05/12/odeonotr
I’m guessing you saw us on stonerrock.com as our guitar player posts there semi-often. I’m not sure when you visited the Myspace but ‘Total Distance’ has vocals now and I’ve added another song from our album, if you’re interested.
Two things: We’d like to put this on our Myspace page so I was thinking we’d just link to your post so you can get some more traffic. Also, if you’re willing, once the album is done we’d like to send it over for a possible update review. No pressure, just thought I’d ask.
Thanks a ton for the tip-o’-the-hat. We’re all very pleased with what you wrote and the added exposure.
Take care,
Larry