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oddbender

About Me

oddbender actually started as a side project with richard loehnig on bass and thomas schwarz on drums. when the guitarist(s) that rich wanted never showed up to practice, i started writing on guitar so we would have material for when we got a guitar player. well, i never got to go back to drums because we soon found an excellent drummer in ben malewski. i brought in tom burnett and we were rolling. less than one month after solidifying the line-up, oddbender played their first show in feb00 opening for full power at the golf klub in st joseph, mo. recording was another important factor in the development of oddbender as it was with me personally. i had been recording everything on a four track machine (and i mean everything) so i ended up with literally dozens of cassettes. i bought my recording computer from matt hoffman and began assembling the tracks in digital form as well as recording new stuff. the output was prolific and slightly overwhelming. anyway, back in the band world tom had decided he didnt want to be in a band anymore so we replaced him with a friend that was always there, sean "skippy" abbey. we played one show with this line-up in july00. the band fell apart completely by winter but i was unphased because i was recording full time and working on other projects. a year went by before i approached ben about returning because i had acquired an old friend and phenomenal bassist, mike flanagan. in true oddbender fashion, we played our first show with voodoo stew at the rendezvous in sept01 after just three practices. but also in true oddbender fashion, this line-up didnt last long either. i started producing demos for people and in this time, i had become sort of known for recording in our circle of friends. not because i was particularly good, but just because of the sheer volume of material i was archiving. this is why the 2003 disc is so eclectic. i was using anybody who happened to cross musical paths with me. if you were ever in the same building with me and my computer, there is a good chance you are on a recording somewhere. this went on for quite some time until i began playing drums for a band called divine zero. their guitarist quit so i moved over to guitar(sound familiar?). despite there being no original members and a slight difference in musical styles, this band had the feeling of oddbender so we rechristened the name and played a few shows at the starving artist in the spring of 03. after this line-up split i started work on what was to become the 2005 album. this record features no outside musicians. there were a few things i could have benefited from some outside help but overall, im glad it is all me. surprisingly, there is very little guitar and tons of keyboards. currently, i am rehearsing to play as oddbender solo acoustic, and looking for a band to play with which may or may not turn into oddbender. if not then the name will remain as my recording project. either way, always expect the unexpected from oddbender... love lots thomas, music layout powered by HOT FreeLayouts.com / MyHotComments oddbender I edited my profile with Thomas Myspace Editor V4.4 (www.strikefile.com/myspace)

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Music:

Member Since: 21/11/2005
Band Website: none
Band Members: oddbender is currently eric clark- drums, keys, vocals _____ _____ thomas schwarz- guitar, vocals _____ and anyone else that wants to show up and play. various friends and musicians are involved with creating oddbender music but it centers around the songwriting partners of eric and ts. not the "bandleader" in the strictest sense, i like to allow every player freedom to make it theirs. this is why there is such diversity in the tracks, from metal to blues to experimental sound scapes. archiving hours of material. the down side with being alone in the studio is losing touch with the live experience, so we intend to continue performing live still. so if you are a visual artist or a performer of some kind, come join the show. it can only get bigger and better!!!
Influences: ------- now i think the sound of oddbender is much more defined since i have someone to check and balance my absurdity. ===== for the sound: incubus, ween, eels, jeff buckley, led zeppelin, weezer, radiohead, foofighters for band politics: frank zappa, beatles, steely dan, mike patton and his many projects, miles davis, ween, for vocals: wolfmother, kings x, coldplay for guitar: john mclaughlin, jimmy page, steve vai, keller williams, billy gibbons, buckethead, joe walsh, neil young etcetcetcetcvtectectectefctetectectecgevyfecfgbgk..'/54 kzhyrsgyht lwjh r8tu8i7rtomn8trvylemn b986r7ubnml4 eth-[0o4567iouh5 y]=0y wow how holy cow that is a great list. though many things are forgotten or just plain left out, it is still too long and ultimately unnecessary. oddbender is the foster home for music im involved with. most of the times its the weird stuff. and the dark stuff. like john lennon and frank zappa meeting the cure at a keller williams show... if you will. lets just say its polyhyphenated. HA
Sounds Like: there are currently two dozen oddbender cds available, the best of which are detailed below... 2001: featuring the original oddbender line-up; thomas schwarz, richard leohnig, ben malewski, tom burnett ... this record was almost entirely improvised in practice (except for the songs written with vocals in mind) and later parred back to the very best. we were sort of a punk metal jam band. r.i.y.l.= deftones, foofighters, tool 2003: three versions of oddbender are preserved on this album. this is also the beginning of the "studio only" stage of oddbender; musicians and friends who contributed, knowingly or unknowingly, include: tom burnett, ben malewski, rich leohnig, matt hoffman, sean abbey, mike flanagan, steve hurley, scott foulk, josh amos, derek thompson, andy peters, rick russell, chris weigand, kara simmons, chris clark, travis insco. r.i.y.l.= zappa, mike patton, ween 2005: this record features myself on every instrument. i just wanted to see if i could do it... and i did, with varying degrees of success. though not exactly a definitive oddbender collection, it does contain some of the best songs ive ever written. r.i.y.l.= ween, eels, radiohead 2006: more of the same. great songs, great sounds but not much focus or discipline. all instruments and voices are ts with a few notable exceptions. r.i.y.l.= zappa, matador records, ween 2008: this set shows the return to the punk jam band philosophy but a bit more experimental. r.i.y.l.= incubus, radiohead, foofighters, deftones, tool
Type of Label: Major

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