Odayin

"I saw you guys at the Necto in Ann Arbor and I thought to myself, WOW! these guys put on a great show and I have to have them come on the air and talk to us." - 89x in Detroit

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 eminating 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! - Rockzology

Thanksgiving Night-Revving up the night a notch was Odayin, who have just released a new disc, grabbed the stage and pumped up the party.
Featuring a set that included Undertow, and The Last Flight Of Chaos, the disc's title track, they held nothing back and brought more fans surging to the front of the stage. - Detroit Rock Review

Local Artist/Group with Best Chance of Going National;
Odayin

"Although the name sounds like metal all the way, this Harper Woods band, which takes its name from the Ojibwe name for "heart", describes its music as both "progressive" & "alternative...". an interesting combination." - Metro Times Detroit's Weekly Alternative

By: Karen Hubbard

Being voted by “Metro Times “Best of Detroit 2010” as local artist/group with best chance of going national”,
fans of Odayin have only received a glimpse of what’s to come. Detroit Live recently had an opportunity to chat with 4 of the 6 band mates. Nick Weidner, Randy Gray, Steve Dombrowski and Danny Pica give up the skinny on the inside workings of this young band!

DL: What genre of music do you consider your work to be?

O: It’s a creative mix of alternative and progressive rock. 89x style music.

DL: When did you form Odayin? What inspired you to make music together?

O: That’s a long story actually. In short, 5 of us were in another band before we formed Odayin. We
dreamed of doing things, but it fell apart. We kind of lost the motivation for a minute, and all of a sudden
Danny comes along & jams with usone day and boom! Inspiration right there & all of us were back on the
same page. We changed the name to Odayin. Once we did that it was the perfect fit.

DL: What’s the origin of the name Odayin and why did you choose it?

O: (Nick) So, there’s a street about 4 blocks over named Kenosha and 3 of us lived there at one point. We were at practice deciding on names and Randy was like, what about Kenosha? I looked it up and it meant pike, like the fish. We didn’t really want to be called Pike. While scrolling through a dictionary online I saw Odayin, it sounded sweet. Simple, one word, easy to spell. Then I looked up the meaning, and it meant heart. So I felt it was perfect for our drive & our overall attitude. We’re pretty positive people & we do a lot of charity stuff. The motions fit, and it sounds sweet.

DL: What are you up to right now, music-wise?

O: We released our first album “Last Flight of Chaos” in November, and we are currently in the studio recording our 2nd album. Friday June 4th we are at the Rack n Roll for an Olin Ezra show w/Six Months Gone, Misery Show & Konniption Fit. Thursday June 10th we are playing at the Cancer Rockstar Kickoff Fundraiser
& Afterglow Party in Royal Oak. We are also working on getting our CD stocked in the local Best Buy stores.

DL: Do you have a record label?

O: Not right now. It would be sweet to get an Indie label to notice us.

DL: What has been your biggest challenge as a band?

O: Getting people to take notice.We’re in Detroit. There are a billion bands in Detroit. We have to get press to see us and get our name out there. But getting people outside of Detroit to take notice is really difficult. Sometimes we have had people ask us to pay them to come to our shows. If people would just come, there would be a reason to pick us up.

DL: What aspect of making music excites you the most right now?

O: That it’s actually happening. Day by day progresses’ and this is what we are going to be doing. We are going to tour, and open up other doors. We want to be on the road and that gets us fired up every day.

DL: Have you had any previous print or broadcast media exposure or reviews?

O: We had an interview with J-Hud on 89x and it was pretty sweet. He’s seen us 3 times. He was at Necto, and one of the 89x Battle of the Bands and he actually told us he was blown away! The cool thing about J-Hud is that he won’t BS you. He was very straight up. We also recently won “Metro Times Best of Detroit 2010 Local Artist/Group with Best Chance of Going National”.

DL: Who produced your recording?

O: We do our own recording with our own tools. Most of it happens in the basement, in Danny’s bedroom! Nick
knew a little bit about it, and then within a week, he knew everything. Literally he learned within a week
how to record and mix. We all had our own understanding on how to do other things. But what we realized is to just sit back and listen to Nick because in the end it’s going to come out sweet.

DL: Who writes your songs?

O: (Nick) On the new album as far as our vocals, we’ve been writing this stuff together, so the vocals are more cohesive and enhance the sound. It should be interesting. We usually start with a guitar riff, and then from there it will blossom and then Randy or Nick write. Then Danny adds his drums. It’s really important when
we’re writing we can give the blueprint but everyone puts their own tweak into it. Like Dustin & Graham throwing their bass character in there, instead of making it something typical. We’re really good with “this is what I got but we can change it”.

DL: What do you like to do in your spare time?

O: Make some grilled cheeses, and watch 30 Rock. It’s become our church! We’ll go out to the bar and
drink, or sit here & veg out together. From work to skateboarding to the gym we’re just active. Any idle
time we have is definitely put into something productive.

DL: Any last words?

O: Some of the best advice we’ve gotten is just don’t give up. Trust your friends. This is more of a brotherhood that we have within the band. - Detroit Live Magazine