Oddman, Will Haven and Shortie

I showed up to the show, stinking to high heaven. I was out skating for a few hours before and forgot to change my shirt. Actually, I didn’t forget, I just started drinking with Skip and never got around to putting on my clean fresh duds.
Fuck it, I thought. I’m going to a metal show and I’ll be in the bar the whole time anyway — not too many people smell too good in the later evening in bars.
Getting into the show was easy, thanks Justin. Making my way upstairs I didn’t see anyone I knew, so I figured I could just drink quietly and do a pleasant review, which is exactly what happened, thank god! The first band up was Shortie from Sacto. This five-piece was rocking right off the bat. I gotta give much love to a metal bassist who plays with his fingers. I could never do that. These guys had their own sound, slightly reminiscent — and I mean slightly — of older Tool. The frontman had a particularly funny habit of flipping off the crowd; actually, the whole band proudly displayed their No. 1 digit several times. This inevitably invoked the crowd response of returning the favor, and I wondered how the band would fare after the show if any of the rowdies at the show found them on the street.
The second band up was Will Haven. They are also from Sacto. These guys can play the feedback song with the best of ‘em. You know that one? It’s where you take your guitar and stand right in front of your speaker in order to make the worst, most annoying sounds possible. I have to say this about Will Haven, they play what they play well, but I didn’t believe it for a second. They had this hard-core sound but no edge to it. I really don’t think they are as pissed off as they come across. I could be wrong, but I’m writing this review, not you, so deal with it.
Oddman kicked ass, plain and simple. It was evident right away that the crowd was theirs and they were going to punish everyone’s eardrums with some motherfucking hardcore shit. This was the first time seeing these guys, and I’m stoked they are coming out of Chico. I’m not gonna jump on some bandwagon here and say they are the next big thing (I’m great at falling off wagons, though). I will say this: I believe Oddman will go as far as they want to. It sounded like they have been putting in a lot of practice time, because they were tighter than a sorority girl’s sweater on the first day of school. I almost don’t want to hear the CD because they sounded so good live, but I’m sure that, like all of you out there, I’ll eventually have one in my collection. You owe it to yourself to check these guys out before they bail this town to conquer bigger and badder ones. I’d like to thank everyone who wrote notes in my book, I don’t have the space to put anything in this time. Semper Fi!

– Marcus Dorin
– Photos by Alyssa Starkey

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