ODD MAN OUT
Odd Man Out began as an idea in 2008 at San Francisco St house in Olympia WA. A small group of friends were frustrated with their peers losing The Straight Edge and decided to make a call to arms. It was then taken to the Bob Lee Reed Basement in Olympia, WA and a five song demo was recorded. The demo was recorded between Jeff Caffey and Bob Reed, the vision was modern hardcore meets Straight Ahead, Judge and Confront but quickly morphed into its own monster. Featured on the original tracks was Adriana Pusckewicz of then Trainyard and later Outlook fame. This five song demo sadly never saw the light of day and lives on a hard drive but the first three tracks from it were later brought to life and released on cassette in 2011. No credits were made on this cassette besides “Odd Man Out is The Straight Edge” and a few copies were left at the now defunct Phantom City Records.
In 2012 Jeff decided to revisit the demo and do it justice. It was then that “XXX”, “Over My Shoulder” and “Pound for Pound” were written, to accompany the original first three tracks on the og demo. Mirce Popovic, Griffin Kelly and Steven Serna were enlisted for help as stalwarts of the NW Straight Edge at the time. Mirce had moved from Boise, Idaho and he and Jeff immediately started multiple bands. Griffin was playing with Power at the time and had to be bribed with roasted San Marzano tomatoes and various treats to make the trek down to Olympia to practice. Fast forward to 2014 and The Flex and Violent Reaction announced a full US tour and called on Jeff for help with the Northwest dates. To make the show a memorable one Vacant State from Vancouver, BC came out of hibernation to play and Odd Man Out played their first set at Old School Pizzeria in Olympia, WA. The 7” was released shortly after in 2015 by Warthogspeak records in the Bay alongside friends and label mates Caged Animal and straight edge was never the same again.
Jeff moved to Seattle in 2014 and it was then that he met Casey Shaw who would become Odd Man Out’s permanent bassist after much searching. He also met Waylon Trim who took over the drumming duties in 2017.
In 2015 Odd Man Out did its very first tour which was with Protester from Washington DC. They played one US east coast date, three dates in Texas and six dates in Mexico with Protester’s Connor Dunnegan on drums and Robin Zeijlon on bass. Shortly after they did Chicago onward to the east coast with Power. It was on this tour that they met Firewalker in Boston who would become long time friends and eventually do some dates in Europe together.
In 2016 Odd Man Out played the final rain fest and released an exclusive cassette for the event. Odd Man Out’s sophomore release titled CCHC, “Capital City Hardcore” as a final acknowledgement to the roots of the band in Olympia, WA was split released by Pop Wig records and UXO in 2016. This is when touring for Odd Man Out picked up quite a bit and had them out with acts like Fury, Angel Du$t, Turnstile and Trapped Under Ice. Around this time was when Jeff joined Angel Du$t and between that, Gag and various other touring projects time was slim. This pushed Odd Man Out in the direction of “only the cool tours band”, going places and doing things his other bands weren’t likely to do. A very long Mexico and South America tour was booked in 2017 to start turning rocks in uncharted territory. In Colombia they met Raw Brigade which created a teamwork still running to this day. They also toured Brazil extensively.
2018 and 2019 saw much more touring. A European tour with Turnstile and Fury and a run starting at Refuse Records showcase in Berlin for Angel Du$t and Odd Man Out laid the beginning of checking everywhere in Europe off the list for Odd Man Out. Playing everything from Outbreak in the UK to Poznan Poland, to Faro Portugal. This year also marked the release of a discography LP on Refuse Records containing a few exclusive tracks.
Odd Man Out released their first LP in 2019 titled “New Voice” on Pop Wig records. A lot of time and work went into the record but unfortunately they were never able to tour on the release due to conflicting schedules among band members. They were able to tour Asia in 2019 however. Waylon left the band shortly after the LP was completed and Robin Zeijlon joined the fold again for a run through Southeast Asia and Japan. 2019 also saw the first installment of JAG , “Just Another Gig” in the NW, which Odd Man Out played as well as the last year of OHC and Pop Wig Rock gig #3 in San Francisco. The world then shut down during the pandemic.
In 2020 a Raw Brigade / Odd Man Out East Coast tour was booked and had to be cancelled. It would have been the fourth time Odd Man Out played Damaged City Fest in DC. Post pandemic in 2021 Odd Man Out teamed up with Raw Brigade to tour the west coast and make good on the cancelled tour. They also played JAG volume 2.
2022 saw Odd Man Out’s return to Colombia with the advent of Bogotá Hardcore Fest, a short run in the NW and a return to Europe for Refuse Records fest and two weeks with Change
2023 and 2024 saw more short tours, a few festivals and a tour to Costa Rica with Gag but it wasn’t until The Deal and a tour with Japan’s Brave Out on the West Coast that everyone decided it was worth investing some time in new music. The flame still burns and everyone was still the best of friends through hardcore.
The group decided rather than continue to try tirelessly to secure a full time drummer, they would ditch that hang up, continue to scab and drive forward having Jeff take on the drum and vocal duties on recording for the first new music slated for the group due in 2025 on Indecision Records.
Odd Man Out is a band founded on friendship containing Hardcore and Straight Edge Stalwarts of the NW scene. Between the four active members there are few bands out of that region they are not directly involved in and most are the contacts you would be in touch with for a show or event in the area. Odd Man Out is the Northwest as a whole. Odd Man Out is, and always has been, The Straight Edge.
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