ROCKzology: ODAYIN metal-alt-rock band has prog heart

8.19.2010

ODAYIN metal-alt-rock band has prog heart

The five musicians of the heavy metal-alternative rock band from Michigan known as Odayin came across as a bunch of "lets-just-have-a-good-time-and-rock-these-people" dudes (normally six members but Graham Rockwood the keyboardist/bass was M.I.A. for this show)...formed in 2008 this band makes use of a word from the Ojibwa indian tribe that means "heart"...and they've got plenty of it. As stated in their band brochure which was passed out in the club prior to the show that gave a wonderful overview of the band and its members including their names, email, websites and booking info (great marketing idea/format by the way), "The heart stirs up many emotions or ideas, like passion, belief, truth and life. It's those feelings this group of six fun-loving individuals brings together to create energetic and thought provoking tunes for anyone to enjoy". I know it waxes a little philosophical, but there it is, a description of their band and what they're about.

(images in order of appearance: Steve Dombrowski, Randy Gray, Nick Weidner, Odayin Album Debut Poster, Dustin Buckley, Danny Pica, Graham Rockwood)

Odayin's music is very heavy metal oriented due to the stellar lead guitar work of Steve Dombroski with alternative-rock-influenced spurious vocals adequately handled by two alternating and sometimes harmonizing vocalists Nick Weidner and Randy Gray (also rhythm guitarist)...combine this with the more than ample vibes emanating from the bass guitarist Dustin Buckley and then

bringing it all together, the driving "heart" beat-to-be-

reckoned-with, rock drummer Danny

Pica...they coalesce as one solid magma of rock force to be heard that carried the night away (as well as the crowd) at the North Beach nightclub located in a suburb of Chicago.

Their show of originals opened with the tune which is the title track to the album they released in 2009 entitled "The Last Flight Of Chaos"...best of show goes to this one...does a great job of defining the band's sound...it features the alternating and harmonizing double vocal

leads, a very unusual approach but it helps to make their music unique...just a word here, when they began the show they failed to make mention of their name initially for those that missed the brochure, but did say they were from out of state. The second tune "The Doubt", showcased the bass player quite well in conjunction with the other guitars playing a distinctive repeating riff together...the third tune "Poison Arrows" loved the guitar line on this one and what lyrics I could hear were thought provoking...by the fourth tune about five chicks grabbed a table to stage right of the band and as a result the lead singer "dedicated the next song to table 7" which was called "Undertow"...it offered up a magnificent solo by Steve on his

blonde-bodied lead guitar and Dustin's bass the way it was being worked reminded me of the playing style of Stanley Clarke on this one...this was the first tune I could clearly her all the vocals on...previous tunes they were being overshadowed by the guitar lines it seemed to me...the next tune really rocked me...number 5..."Weight Of the Revolution" and I consider their second best one of the show...the harmonized vocals were way cool as well as the driving riffs and again the presence of Steve's major, major

lead guitar work (almost out-classing his band mates, his technical skill and ability is quite impressive and at times seems to carry the band)...on the 6th tune "Redefine", the bass player and drummer meshed quite well here and made for a great tune...after the 7th and final tune "TNT"...the band did right by announcing to the audience "Thanks for being here and listening to us...hope everything works out for everybody" which was referring to the fact that this was the last Friday night for the night club to be open...rumors of the death knell had been sounded for the venue earlier in the week.

The band has only one really well produced high quality video available to post here

where it shows scenes from their album debut party accompanied by the track "Weight Of The Revolution" from their album "The Last Flight Of Chaos"...the others out there on Youtube all have very bad sound quality so I would recommend going to their MySPace page or iTunes to listen to their other music offerings. I would suggest that they get some good quality videos out there to help follow-up and support their marketing campaign that was so nicely done with their informational flyer distributed at the show. The band appears to truly enjoy working together to entertain and brings forth a "now-lets-get-rocked-and-have-fun" atmosphere of stage presence. The two lead vocalist thing by Nick and Randy I think is what sets them apart from other bands I see out there...in addition to a great rhythm section comprised of Dustin and Danny and the rock-shredding lead guitar of Steve Dombrowski. Odayin is so good, when you go to see and hear these dudes rock live, don't be surprised if you get a...dare I say it..."heart" attack. Odayin ROCKS! 'Nuff Sed.

Odayin album debut party vid (circa 2009) featuring the track "Weight Of The Revolution" with a "KILLER" lead guitar solo by Steve Dombrowski: