Exclusive Interview with Metalcore Band Odds of an Afterthought

Tanner Greely, Andre Bertrand, Aaron Eickholt, and Logan Greely make up Minneapolis metalcore quartet Odds of an Afterthought. The band has earned the respect of the alternative music scene with their well-timed riffs, smoking breakdowns and proficient songmanship. Their new EP, Through The Eyes of Change, is out now.

I got to talk to Tanner about how the band was formed originally, where the name came from, their latest single  “Checkmate” and so much more.

For those who might not have ever heard of y’all, can you give us a brief history of the band and how it culminated into what it is now?

The band started in the early months of 2013 as a five member high school rock band. We played a lot of small coffee shop shows before playing our first full band show in May of 2013. We’ve gone through quite a few member changes over the years but we are very confident in our current lineup of members. We went from playing rock to hard rock to rock/metal to metalcore so over the years we’ve been constantly improving our genre to form the metalcore sound we have today. One of the core reasons we decided to transition into a metalcore sound is because the metal scene as whole here in Minnesota is booming. Tons and tons of talent here in the Twin Cities.

Where did the name Odds of an Afterthought come from?

Our name came from the internet. We couldn’t agree on a name up front so we turned to a band name generator online and used some key words such as ‘Afterthought’ to construct us a name. It gave us Odds of an Afterthought.

I’m always genuinely curious about what artists want to convey to listeners with their music. You guys classify your sound as metalcore, but if you had to describe it without using genre names, how would you describe it?

We definitely would describe our sound as aggressive, melodic, and catchy.

Kind of going off of that, who are some of your musical influences?

Musical influences for our new music would include older I See Stars (Digital Renegade, New Demons era), We Came As Romans, A Day To Remember (For Those Who Have Heart. Common Courtesy era), Issues (Black Diamonds era), and Attack Attack (2008-2010 era).

Let’s talk about your latest single, “Checkmate”. What inspired this song?

The inspiration for this song actually came from a change of mindset. We approached this song a lot differently than our previous writing sessions for older work. It was the first song we wrote for this new EP so it was the song that set the pace for the rest of the songs.

Instrumentally, I wanted to ensure that the riffs for this song were more aggressive than any of our previous material.

What was the songwriting process like for this song specifically?

The songwriting process started with Aaron (bass) and myself coming up with the riffs first. We sat and just demoed out a few different riffs until we had the one that stood out to us the most and then we just pieced together each part that followed the main riff in the verse.

Do you guys tend to write by yourselves or do you like collaborating with other writers and artists in co-writes?

We write by ourselves. It usually starts with Aaron and I and then we have Logan (drums) and Andre (guitar) jump in later on and guide the track with their own input.

Was there any major changes to “Checkmate” that happened once you guys got into the recording studio, whether it be in the lyrics or something sonically?

We were pretty confident with “Checkmate” going into the studio. The biggest change and addition to the song was definitely the electronic elements. We went into the studio not knowing what the synths and pads would sound like in the song and we really just went with the flow and demoed out some different ideas with our producer Dustin Phillips (The Ataris).

Your brand new EP, Through The Eyes of Change, is coming out on May 14th. What can fans expect from it?

This ties back to the description of our sound. You can expect this EP to be aggressive, melodic, catchy and relatable.

What are some music industry-related goals or benchmarks that you’re aiming to reach as a band in the next couple of years?

I think one of our main goals as a band is to land some bigger support slots for tours. We’ve been doing a lot of solo tours or tours with local Minnesota bands but this EP is easily the best material we have ever written and we would love to go upward with it and play alongside some bigger names in the metal scene around the country.

Lastly, we’re called Talk Nerdy With Us because we all have an inner nerd so what is something that you’re currently nerding out about?

Anything that has to do with paranormal activity or ghost hunting. We find ourselves frequently looking up the most haunted places to visit in each city we play in on tour and it just gives us something else to do while on the road.

Make sure you follow the band on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.