ODIAN

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JACOLENE BENADE
WEBSITE: www.myspace.com/odianband
COUNTRY: South Africa STYLE: Death Metal

ASKING WHAT A BAND’S NAME MEANS IS SOMETIMES A BIT WEIRD BECAUSE MOST OF THE TIMES BAND NAMES DON’T MEAN ANYTHING BUT I WOULD STILL LIKE TO KNOW HOW YOU GUYS CAME UP WITH “ODIAN”?

RUAN: I came upon the word while reading a book on runes. An Odian doesn’t worship Odin, rather emulates his path of Self-Transformation. And I think Marius said that the word means “Hate” in Spanish or something, so that’s pretty metal.

PIERRE: Well, I didn’t. They just pitched the name to me and I gave my thumbs up.

RHYNO: Ruan came up with the name. We had a lecture one day he came and asked what do think of the name Odian? I liked the sound of it right away it just sort of stuck.

THERE WERE A FEW INSTRUMENTAL DEMOS POSTED ONLINE AND THEN IN A MATTER OF A FEW WEEKS THE BAND HAD A FULL LINE-UP. HOW DID IT ALL GET STARTED SO QUICKLY?

PIERRE: I wanted to form a new band I didn’t really know who was going to be the members but as soon as I enrolled here on Stellenbosch that all sorted itself out.

MARIUS: Good band dynamics and neglecting our academic responsibilities...

THOMAS: I joined the band after the guys started playing for about 3 months. They had three band practises. I basically had to audition about four times, the one I didn’t even know I was being auditioned, but when I joined the one band practise, it just felt right. Pierre gave me the call to say I’m Odian’s new front man, on my way home. It was raining and I almost rolled the car. Hahahaha!

RHYNO: The band line-up was full from the beginning of the year except for Thomas who was recruited a couple of months later.

THE BAND SEEMS TO HAVE COME UP WITH A GREAT SET LIST VERY QUICKLY AS WELL, IS THAT THE CASE OR WAS THE SONGS ALWAYS THERE, BUT JUST WAITING FOR THE RIGHT PEOPLE TO COME ALONG AND PLAY THEM?

PIERRE: The majority of the songs are brand spanking new and a lot of it originated from my ideas. Ruan was quick to join in with the writing and we pretty much just aimed to get a full set down.

MARIUS: I don’t know. I just tab and play the drums to the tracks they give me...

THOMAS: Pierre and Ruan just go crazy with riffs and Rhyno and Marius complements that with their instruments, and really quickly when a song is being written. I would probably say that the songs were always there, but when I started putting my lyrics and melodies in it, it just started sounding better and more complete.

RHYNO: Pierre and Ruan are mainly the songwriters. I think that a couple of riffs have been in their arsenal for a while but I know majority of the set was written for Odian, but yeah, they should answer that really.

YOU HAVE STARTED TO BUILD UP A REALLY GOOD FAN BASE. HAVING HAD A FEW REALLY GREAT LIVE SHOWS SO FAR HOW ARE YOU PLANNING TO CAPITALISE ON THE “HYPE” YOU HAVE CREATED IN THE CAPE TOWN METAL SCENE?

RUAN: Buy me a beer.

PIERRE: Haha well, I don’t know how we got hype to start off with but I’m not complaining and as long as it’s there I’m just going to go on with my daily lifestyle as it is now! Seeing that it does something for the band. Haha.

MARIUS: What hype?

THOMAS: I don’t know about the hype, but if people enjoy the music and want more, we probably have to go up a notch. We should probably start selling drugs at our shows. Hahahahahaha!

RHYNO: From my point of view I just enjoy performing live to the dudes in the moshpit who came out to listen to us. I guess it’s just about giving everything you got in a live show. If you are tight the hype will persist.

WAS IT EASY FOR ALL THE BAND MEMBERS TO “FIND THEIR FEET” AGAIN ON STAGE, BECAUSE SOME OF YOU HAVEN’T PERFORMED LIVE IN A WHILE OR IS IT LIKE RIDING A BIKE; IF YOU’VE DONE IT ONCE YOU KNOW HOW TO DO IT FOREVER?

RUAN: Our first gig was my first time on stage in five years. To be honest, I thought I would freak out, but when I got up on stage, it just felt right.

PIERRE: Well, I was out of action so to say for almost a year but I don’t think I’ll ever lose it! But I know Ruan and Rhyno had to get past that first gig, but they pulled it off with style!

MARIUS: It is still hard for me to go on stage, wondering what will go wrong, such as muscle cramps or falling off stage (both of which have happened). But I don't want to disappoint the fans or my brothers in the band, so I give 150%. That’s why I had difficulty walking after the gig with Marching Dead... :)

THOMAS: Never. I’m so used to be on stage by now, because I’m also in an acoustic band, called “Die Einstes”, which made me feel at home on stage. I would say it is different with Odian, because I’m not behind a guitar. But the feeling behind the mic is addictive.

RHYNO: The debut gig was quite stressful for me. I used to play in Inferium and haven’t been on stage at that time for about a full year. If the first song goes well I am in the pocket and I just enjoy myself on stage.

I MAY BE WRONG BUT IT SEEMS THAT YOU GUYS HAVE THAT VIKING / AMON AMARTH METAL VIBE GOING WITH THE NINE NOBLE VIRTUES AND EVERYTHING POSTED ON YOUR FACEBOOK, BUT LISTENING TO YOU GUYS LIVE IT SEEMS THAT YOU COME FROM AN DIFFERENT DIRECTION MUSICALLY?

RUAN: Yeah, Amon Amarth is a Viking Metal band, where we are a bunch of Vikings that just happen to play metal. We would rather just praise the gods of metal with our music. No need for preaching.

PIERRE: Personally I don’t want our band to be a theme band! I write what I feel and I listen to Megadeth, Judas Priest, Pantera, etc. You get the idea? The whole 9 noble virtues is more a way of life or lifestyle for us, so it goes beyond the music. I go out to make “Fun” metal for myself! For me, it’s about a good live show. So the music is shaped round the aspects of playing live.

MARIUS: We are not a Viking Metal band, but we believe in the Nordic way of life. I don’t have to have blue eyes and long blond hair to have the spirit of my barbarian ancestors, nor do I have to play the same style as Amon Amarth to honour the virtues of the Nordic people.

THOMAS: Well I have a huge interest in Norse mythology, but that doesn’t mean I have to be Amon Amarth or Tyr. I love the music we make and some of the songs are about the whole Viking mentality. But yes, not all of them are necessarily, but it’s still BAD AS FUCK!

RHYNO: We didn’t want to be a thematic band because it can get limiting. I think Ruan and Pierre pretty much just write what comes out without really thinking about defining a specific sound. The lyrics are written by Thomas on a very wide range of topics. I guess we are influenced by Norse mythology, but we didn’t want to turn ourselves into a theme show.

SINCE POSTING THE DEMOS ONLINE WHICH I MENTIONED EARLIER YOU GUYS HAVE COMPLETED TWO SONGS AND MADE THEM AVAILABLE TO LISTEN ONLINE AS WELL, ARE YOU PLANNING TO RELEASE AN EP OR ALBUM IN THE NEAR FUTURE?

RUAN: We might be recording something in December. Depends how lazy we are. LOL.

PIERRE: We want to do an EP, but I feel the songs need to mature a bit more first and only then when we have a fist full of furious songs, then we will go into the studio!

RHYNO: I think there might be an EP in the pipe line, but only at the end of the year. None of us have the time right now.

WHO ARE CURRENTLY THE BIGGEST SONGWRITERS IN THE BAND AND HOW IS AN ODIAN SONG USUALLY CREATED FROM START TO FINISH?

RUAN: I would say Pierre. He shits out riffs like you would not believe. After that, I take some of his stuff and mess around and then we sit and grind heads about the parts. We then give the song to Marius so that he can write drum parts. After that we sit with Rhyno and write parts to go with Marius’ drums after which we do a little demo recording. Thomas then writes lyrics and there you have a kick ass metal tune.

PIERRE: I would like to say that I’m the main songwriter in the band seeing that almost all of the songs are mine, but I have to give credit to Ruan who helps me produce them. Ruan adds his own little flavor to the songs, a riff here a riff there and recently he added some of his own works to the setlist. So in general I shit out a bunch of turds and Ruan helps me polish them!

MARIUS: Pierre and Ruan are biggest song writers in our band. After they have finished the song outline, they give it to me to write drumtracks. After that I don’t know. Somewhere in this process Rhyno writes bass lines and Thomas writes lyrics. Then we have band practice where we put everything together. This works for some or other reason.

THOMAS: Pierre writes the songs and then everyone adds their part to make the song an Odian song. I write all the lyrics, that’s about it.

RHYNO: Pierre riff; Ruan arranges and structure, I develop the bass, Marius does the drums and Thomas weaves in the vocals. Simple as that really.

ARE YOU EVENTUALLY PLANNING TO TAKE A MORE BRUTAL OR MELODIC DIRECTION WITH YOUR MUSIC?

RUAN: I think it will go both ways.

PIERRE: Well I’m hoping for both! The future Odian songs are going to rip your ass open while you cry to the sweet melody!

MARIUS: If I can thrash and play epic fills and patterns, I could not care less. But as a Power Metal fan, I would really like a few melodic songs, but no too melodic. Brutality each day keeps the posers at bay...

THOMAS: I like the balance we have now, but I can’t say what were going to sound like in a years’ time. I would love the balance to stay the same, but with way more epicness. It must sound like our music started doing Tik. It should just get crazier.

RHYNO: We will see, I don’t think we are planning anything like that right now. As I said, we write what comes out.

THESE DAYS EVEN I CAN GET A DECENT GUITAR TONE OUT OF MY COMPUTER WITHOUT PLAYING THROUGH AN AMP WITH ALL THE SOFTWARE THAT IS AVAILABLE, HAVE YOU GUYS TAKEN THE “DIGITAL” ROUTE YET AND DO YOU THINK RECORDING THE “REAL” WAY WILL EVER REALLY DISAPPEAR?

RUAN: All our demos are recorded digitally, but I think Pierre will agree with me, we both love playing on our amps. The EP will be done on amps though. Btw. Thomas’ vocals are digital too, because he is actually Battle Droid from the future.

PIERRE: Digital is definitely a very cool thing! Makes life a lot easier, but for an album me and Ruan both agree on the fact that nothing beats the warm resonance of a fucking cab with a Valve amP!

MARIUS: The drums on our current recordings are programmed. As an old school purist when it comes to recordings, I believe that my drums should be recorded. Not only because it is hard to tab fills, but because you lose a lot of feel and dynamics when you program. But that said, we don't have the time, or the money to record drums at this moment. And the samples we use sound awesome.

RHYNO: Ruan is a qualified sound engineer so he is in charge of the direction the recordings are going to take. The idea is to record everything the real way, but that takes a lot of time and money, although that’s definitely the future for us.

ARE YOU AIMING FOR THAT “SIGNATURE ODIAN SOUND” WITH YOUR GUITAR AND BASS TONES THAT WILL SET YOU APART FROM OTHER DEATH METAL BANDS OR DOESN’T IT REALLY MATTER HOW YOU SOUND AS LONG AS THE MUSIC YOU ARE MAKING IS GOOD?

RUAN: I guess we just work with what we got live, but on a recording side, I study the mixes of Andy Sneap, Collin Richardson, Jens Bogren and Fredrick Nordstrom.

PIERRE: I write songs as they come to mind so if it turns into a signature sounds then I guess that’s a bonus!

MARIUS: Not my department. As long as I am having fun behind my kit I could not care less.

RHYNO: We are in the process of creating a signature sound. We are trying to be original in every single way.

I LOVE THE PART OF YOUR BAND BIO THAT READS “ODIAN BRINGS YOU A MAELSTROM OF SOUNDS INFLUENCED BY ALL THE GREAT GODS OF METAL AND ROCK MUSIC.” WHO WOULD YOU RATE AS THE BEST METAL BAND THAT HAS HAD THE BIGGEST INFLUENCE ON YOU AS A MUSICIAN?

RUAN: I would say Meshuggah. I am completely blown away with what they do rhythmically. Rhythm is a huge part of my music. I would rather jam in 19/16 time than shred…but I guess I’m just lazy.

PIERRE: MEGADETH! Or MegaDAVE haha! They are the reason I picked up a guitar to start of with.

MARIUS: Slayer was the reason I bought a double bass pedal, but the band that had the biggest influence on me as a musician is probably Blind Guardian. I love power metal and thrash metal, and they combined it perfectly. I listened and played “Imaginations From The Other Side” almost daily while I was a youngster. But the best metal band in my opinion is Manowar. I just love their music and their way of life. Hail and kill!

THOMAS: I have an unhealthy infatuation with Trivium. Yeah I said it. They’re the band that you either love or hate. I love them. I’m also a huge Mors Princium Est, Dimmu Borgir, Amon Amarth and Decapitated fan. It’s random, I know.

RHYNO: For myself I would have to say Steve Harris from Iron Maiden. He influenced my playing style. I will always play bass with my fingers. I jammed their songs starting out as a bass player and I guess it sort of just stuck.

ANY COMMENTS; THINGS FANS SHOULD LOOK OUT FOR OR PEOPLE YOU WOULD LIKE TO THANK?

RUAN: Watch this space. Hail to the Hammer! Thanks for the support and keep on truckin’.

PIERRE: The Fans should look out for their well being and I would like to thank the members of the band who until now has given me no reason to hate them….yet. HAHA
I am Victory!

MARIUS: Thanks to everyone that is supporting our band. Also a huge HAIL goes out to every band we have had the privilege to gig with. Come and see how we destroy Somerset West with MIND ASSAULT on the 29th of August. Hail and farewell.

THOMAS: Squirrels are false according to Metal. That’s my comment. I would just like to thank all the bands we’ve had the privilege of playing with so far and all the fans and friends that have supported us so far. There are still a lots coming your way. Awesomeness. And if you’re reading this and haven’t heard of us, were on Facebook and Myspace. Do it, or else expect a battle axe in your skull.

RHYNO: To every single person that comes out to supports us, thanks a lot man! I really appreciate it. And to all my friends that have been so supportive of the band as well.