Meet Paul DiRico and Christian Treon | ODDYSSEYS

We had the good fortune of connecting with Paul DiRico and Christian Treon and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Paul DiRico, do you have some perspective or insight you can share with us on the question of when someone should give up versus when they should keep going?
Christian: The simple answer is that you never do. The idea of giving up or keeping on it hasn’t really crossed our minds as a band. We like to keep everything one day at a time, and sure there are existential questions that arise when a project has finished, but what we try to do differently is see what has meaning. When I say that, we as a band try and reflect on what we care about or what’s on our mind. If we get tired of the whole single + album + tour schedule, we try to take a step back and see what we want next. As a band we’ve tried all sorts of things outside of making music, which I think has helped our longevity. We write political zines, we book tours and shows for other artists, we direct music videos, design product lines/merch, or we work our normal jobs and volunteer. The band becomes an umbrella term for us to explore what we want in our lives, and what we get to create as a collective. More than anything it’s about finding a balance of growth and fulfillment. If doing this makes us unhappy, unhealthy or leaves us feeling dissatisfied, then we wouldn’t keep on, however because of all the opportunities it has afforded us in living our lives, I couldn’t see us ever stopping.

Please tell us more about your work. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
Paul: What sets us apart from others and what we’re most proud of is how hard we work and how long we’ve held out from doing things that would obviously push us further ahead – the problem is that a lot of those things feel pretty inorganic and almost the same as “pay to play” scenarios; for example (and with full acknowledgement that this is at least a bit cynical), with enough money, you could essentially buy yourself a great playlist placement, or a ton of followers, or get yourself a manager and a booking agent and boom you’re off to the races.

We’re pretty much okay with the slow roll and the hard grind in the sake of living with yourself every day. We’ve gotten to where we are today by doing an absolute boatload of research, sending way more emails than I ever thought I’d have to as a musician, juggling full time jobs / spending most days figuring out our next step and most nights working to pay rent and to afford opportunities as they come up – whether to collect gear, record, make merch, go on tours – and then taking actual steps to get all of these things done, which we have done, a bunch of times over! On top of all of that we find time to practice, write songs, make music videos and promotional content, and oh yeah, have time for friends and family and relationships. It’s all so expensive and inaccessible, and it makes sense that people would want to fast track to some recognition, but if that’s not coming from the way that you perform, the ways that you approach achieving your goals, a strong work ethic, sound values, and the subsequent conversations that you have with people about your work, then it raises the question about what someone’s “in it” for. Maybe that doesn’t matter to every artist, it certainly doesn’t matter to people selling tickets or putting together Spotify playlists, but it does to us.

Now, that’s not to say that artists who go for these kinds of things aren’t also putting out a great product, some of them definitely are and props to them for knowing or paying who they know, but what really sets us apart in that respect is reflected in the hard work we put into everything we do and the relationships we try to build with our collaborators.

Is it easy? Absolutely not, it’s extremely difficult and challenging every single day. Are there as many days where we’re busting our behinds as there are when we wish someone was doing a bunch of this stuff for us? Absolutely. But, to no surprise to anyone, it’s really hard to get people on board when you don’t already have a bunch of capital. What we do have is drive and, according to some people, talent. And we need to see that through.

This is all to say, every feeling we have about this is motivation. If there’s an opportunity to seek – a venue we want to play at, a band we want to play with, any imaginable accolade – we have to think about how to get there practically, and not off someone else’s back. All we know how to do is work hard and vouch for ourselves – if someone else sees that and wants to get on board, by all means, but either way this train doesn’t stop.

It’s nice to have your stuff shared everywhere fast, but why that happens has always felt a bit more important to us than the fact that it happens at all, which is hilarious to say as we sit here typing answers to impersonal questions that will be dropped into the internet void, but at least this was free!

If there’s one thing the world should know about this project, its that this and any other project is not merely in the hands of the powers that be – great, life changing shows (for the artists and the audiences) can happen in venues that aren’t run by Ticketmaster. Merch doesn’t have to be $40. You can do a lot with a little. Don’t underestimate yourself and don’t give in. If anything is going to change, it starts here.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Paul: Okay soooo we once lived in LA but we currently live in Chicago and it is the best. If you have one week you should go to these places that were sought out either through good friends or serious hunger (like literal food hunger). Hang out at Reckless Records on Belmont, get a slice or two at the Slice Shop across the street, get a coffee at the Brewed and then go in to Bric-A-Brac records next door, go to the Garfield Park conservatory and leave Chicago for the jungle and/or desert, eat Spinning J’s and Loaf Lounge, go to the very real actual beaches along the lake, walk through Lincoln Park and the free zoo with some headphones on, eat real cheap and real good at Red Hot Ranch, see shows at places like the Empty Bottle or even the Metro (even though its a big name it’s a small size and crazy artists play there all the time), and say hi to our friends Sylvia and Jeff at the Chicago Music Exchange (if you’re into that sort of thing). There’s so much more stuff, figure it out for yourself too!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Christian: David Cardona Bohorquez is one of our closest friends, greatest collaborator, and probably one of the biggest reasons odd is still making music. When I first met David, I was only 19 years old and had hired him to master our first ep ODD back in 2015. He had found the project interesting enough that he offered to mix the project as well, which in hindsight might have been an excuse for him to listen to it more and for us to spend more time together in the studio. Through that first project, I learned so much about David’s artistry, mastery, and genius, and even then I knew I had found a collaborator for life. David is more than a musician and sound engineer, he is a mentor, a sage, and a role model whose vast knowledge of music and philosophy is paired with an enthusiastic curiosity for the unknown. His encouragement and guidance has paired with Oddysseys on many occasions and has led to him working on a vast number of singles, our first album Odd Behavior, and our latest releases Misremember 1 and 2. We as a band are lucky to call him friend, guitarist, mixing engineer, brother, and professor, because on top of running his own studio (Sound Architect) he is also a professor at BERKLEE COLLEGE of MUSIC. Can you believe this guy? We are so immensely grateful for having him in our lives, and cannot wait for the next opportunity to work with him again. You can find his work, his music as 28 Lines, and grammy nominated catalog at https://soundarchitect.herokuapp.com/about. Cough cough David if you’re reading this we have another single for you.

Website: https://www.odd.band/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oddysseys/?hl=en

Twitter: https://twitter.com/oddysseys

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Oddysseysmusic/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@oddysseyz

Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7b5YV6ZD7IcamrC28c6cUd Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/oddysseys/1203907045 Bandcamp: https://oddysseys.bandcamp.com/album/misremember

Image Credits
1st Image – Taylor Priede 2nd – 4th Images – Paul DiRico and Christian Treon 5th and 6th Images – Taylor Eads