Where’d you all grow up? And how’d that environment shape your views and love of music?
Christian: I grew up in Boston, there was a great music scene there in the late 2000s/early 2010s. It was a strange blend of indie, folk and hardcore music. Each neighborhood had a different sound and the older you got out there, the easier it was to find more of what you were into. There were great venues, all age venues, that were essential to my influences like the Democracy Center, Lilypad, All Asia, even DIY spots like the White House or the heartbeat collective, that were always hosting shows that made me realize I always wanted to be in a band.
Paul: I mostly grew up in a town called Lynnfield in MA and there was absolutely nothing to do there besides like organized sports and riding your bike or driving your car all around town. Even today all there is, is one huge cookie cutter bougie outdoor mall, which they demolished half a huge cookie cutter bougie golf course to build, and that got popping right as I moved out of town, go figure. The lack of excitement around town left plenty of time to listen to a ton of good music and think about what else was out there in the world. In time I had older friends in bands that played at all those same venues mentioned above, and I thought to myself if I could get to play at at least one of those, then I would have made it. I still feel that way since we have gotten to do that. That mindset and that environment had me practicing in my basement a LOT, it was some of the most fun I had growing up, besides taking lessons from this local guy known as Kook (who is an absolute legend and got all us kids playing music by hosting lessons in his hybrid shed-out-back-turned-awesome-jam-space).
When was the moment you first fell in love with music?
Paul: My first musical memory was listening to the “Please Please Me” cassette in the back of my mom’s car while she took me around running errands before I was old enough to go to school. I can genuinely remember sitting in the little red Acura Integra and hearing “Do You Want to Know a Secret”, I can see the memory in my minds eye, and I definitely distinctly remember bouncing around to “Twist and Shout” at a cottage on Cape Cod around the same time in my life, 3 maybe 4 years old at most. I don’t know what it was about it then, but something just spoke to me, and then that pop rock introduction to music got me really into listening to the stuff on the radio that my older sister liked, like the Spice Girls and N*Sync; some of it is simple sugary cereal music, sure, but the melodies are powerful and their songs were hits for a reason. When I was in preschool I brought an S Club 7 CD to show and tell and everyone laughed, “isn’t that GIRLS music?”, and even at that young age I simply didn’t give a shit and realized, if it sounds good to me, then its good flat out, and I hope our music has the same effect on people who really love music for the way it makes them feel, not for what other people think of it.
Christian: When I was a kid my mom was always writing songs and poetry. I can remember there being stacks and stacks of cds in every room throughout the house, and you were never more than a couple steps away from a little cd player or a speaker. Once she took my siblings and I to a local studio and we recorded some of her songs with her. I haven’t stopped recording or writing music since then.
Which bands/artists have been your biggest musical influences?
Christian: For me, It would definitely be the Cure, New Order, Francoise Hardy Slowdive, and Madonna
Paul: Mostly a lot of stuff that doesn’t really sound like music we make. Some of my absolute favorite shows and experiences learning about an artist came from bands like the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Streetlight Manifesto. The first CD I ever bought with my own money was American Idiot and doing a deep dive on Green Day’s rich underground/DIY roots really made a huge impact on the outlook of my life, I’ll love them forever. In high school, bands like FIDLAR and Best Coast definitely drew me toward Los Angeles and got me thinking about different musical ideas. That’s really a question with a never ending answer… its ever changing!
How did you all first come together as a band? And what would you say your band dynamics are?
Christian: Me and Paulie met while working at our college radio station KWVS, and we’ve been inseparable ever since <3333
Paul: What he said. Our dynamics are fluid, and that fluid is gasoline.
How would you describe your music? What do you want listeners to take from it?
Paul: I wouldn’t describe our music, I’d tell people to listen up and find out for themselves! I want people to take away great memories, feelings of relation and deeper self understanding, a comfortability with freely expressing themselves, and most importantly the feeling that they can start a band themselves and make music and play it all around – the only thing holding you back is yourself! DIY!
How has your sound evolved over the years since your initial formation?
Christian: I would definitely say yes haha. Odd was a solo project at first when I was still living in Boston, but after moving to LA it took on a completely different sound. I was really inspired at first by shoegaze, post punk, and surf rock, but when I moved to LA I listened to a lot more indie rock and bedroom pop, which made odd in turn a lot lighter, airier, and more fun haha. After moving to Chicago the scene here is a lot harder than both LA and Boston. It’s darker, almost, more industrial. Moving all over, you take bits and pieces from the scenes you were in, the scenes you were a part of. With softcore, that was definitely a Chicago piece. Definitely a blend of goth alternative rock and post-punk. I think what we want listeners to take away from it, is that anyone is capable of making anything, if you want to share something then do it. Oddysseys, the name is from our desire to create strange places and journeys for ourselves and hopefully listeners can see how we’ve progressed as a band or as people through the years.
What’s the general process when it comes to crafting a song?
Christian: I mean, it really varies from song to song, but generally I’d say, we will have an idea for a riff either bass or guitar, or even a synth line really, then start demoing it right away, I think the idea of writing on the spot always takes you places you never knew you could go to. Then when we can’t think of anything else for the track we’ll stop the demo and have to name it at the end. With that name, then I’ll listen to the instrumental and see how it makes me feel through the week, then go and lay the lyrics and melody on top of it.
Paul: We have a pretty good ability to just lock in on a certain groove or riff or beat or something and just put a whole song together almost on the spot. Sometimes it happens hilariously easily; that’s not to brag, because much of the stuff that’s come together that way hasn’t seen the light of day yet, but it’s great to get on the same page and flesh something out when we’ve started from nothing, or just the bones. Some of our most exciting or interesting stuff has been born from simple jams that just kind of take form as we riff off of each other and build a vibe together.
