OD Jo
Plainfield, Illinois, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2006 | SELF
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I was listening to OD Jo's latest CD on the drive home tonight. It occurred to me that as much as I like this recording, I have not written about it yet. The sound on this disk is a bit of a change for these guys, and it really demonstrates their songwriting talent as well as their knowledge of rock and roll history. All of these song are crafted to evoke a particular time, a particular sound, and a particular feeling. Not bluesy and not what some would consider roots music, but instead a kind of pop music that you seldom hear anymore.
There was a particular type of psychedelic pop that was popular in the mid-sixties. This type of music was a contrast to the harder, blues-based rock also popular at the time. It was a softer, more melodic sound characterized by rich vocal harmonies, musical experimentation and oblique drug references, married to catchy pop music. This music was wildly popular in Great Britain, and was copied successfully in the United States, most notably by The Beach Boys in their masterpiece "Pet Sounds".
The leading proponents of this sound were performers like Small Faces (Itchycoo Park), Pink Floyd (the Syd Barrett penned songs) and Donovan. It was fun, pleasant hippie music that made you smile, especially if you were high. If Jimi Hendrix or The Rolling Stones exemplified the darker side of the hippie sound, then this stuff was the shiny, bright opposite. This music fell out of favor sometime after 1969, amid the disillusionment of the war protests and the violence in the streets (Kent State and the like).
I don't know if OD Jo deliberately tried to achive this sound, but if they did, they hit the mark dead-center. Each of these songs has the musical experimentation that marks this genre, the harmonies, the inventive drumming, the use of obsure instruments (is that a mouth harp? did I hear a toy piano?). And each song is a catchy pop tune that would have sounded just right on AM radio back in the day (I almost want to say bubblegum pop, but that may be taken the wrong way). They have even included the sound of a phonograph needle dropping at the start and picking up at the end of each song. And the CD includes a separate monophonic version of each song, for further authenticity.
I highly recommend this CD, along with the other OD Jo recordings. This band deserves to be heard, and you deserve to hear them. By my count they have at least 32 original songs that are available on CD, and more coming. See them live when they play a club near you, or see them at their regular once-a-month gig at Moe Joe's in Plainfield.
- Keith Kasyan
Classic rock ‘n’ roll roots, a danceable funky sound and lyrics that underscore the fun side of life: That is the essence of OD Jo, a 7-year-old Plainfield-based band comprised of five members in their late 20s
“This is the best way to describe us,” said Otis Tapper, rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist. “If Led Zeppelin and Parliament-Funkadelic had a baby, that would be us.” Although OD Jo has played a few out-of-state engagements, the band mostly performs in the Joliet and Chicago areas. Upcoming shows include Sunday at Tap House Grill in Plainfield and April 5 at Mojoes of Joliet.
New to OD Jo? Although you might hear a few cover songs, you can expect to hear plenty of original tunes. Their brand of music appeals to teens and adults. The band’s name is a fun hybrid of “Otis” and “Joseph,” Tapper’s middle name. - Denise Baran-Unland
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Bio
On a stormy night in late 86. Otis Tapper was the youngest bass technician on the intergalactic funk tour for Leonard Brown. Otis was only 1.5 years old when a mind blowing epiphany told him to stop being a bass technician and start writing music. So he packed his little suitcase and told Leonard that he had to leave. At that moment Otis was beamed back to earth. He vowed to create music that would rival bands like BEAR, Banana Collision, and The Stank Quartet. For the next 15 years he did just that!!!!! In the meantime Isaac Jon Kleefisch raised by the indigenous tribes of the OBUKEA Nation, studying the intricate but sometimes misunderstood art of…
Llehsaknurd bass: Taught Forgotten Relearned Only to forget again, then one day… Mastered!! Isaac is a true world traveler and partaker of many conscience levels of being. He quested for funktastical music and would not stop till he found all the parts of his soul.
While perfecting classical piano and lead guitar on the planet Groove, Jake Alberico yearned for something more. To create music that would affect ladies so far down inside their bodies they literally forget about “you” the second Jake walked on stage. Every show had complimentary chastity belts for all married women. On his travels, he was known to have encounters with more than 1000 ladies, in which he played a song for and then cooked them breakfast.
If you were to ask the board of directors at Freemund University, retrophysicist and clickographer, Mike Caplan, was working on a cure for accidental death. However, if you were to walk into his lab, you would see things unknown to the human concept. He toiled day and night with an interdimensional beacon that could someday bring together that which has not yet been… broughten… um… together. …yeah
Molded from natural magma at the center of the world was Kyle Eul E U L Eul!! Created from the Earth’s heartbeat, he inherently had special powers. His gifts included the ability to see how something worked once, and then repeat the task flawlessly. He was living out his destany as his peoples greatest chiropractor when he felt something missing… in the bowels of his chest. Kyle realized that once he found the missing pieces… They would not be missing anymore.
Sure, one must be asking oneself, great story but how did they all meet? Well quit asking questions and just keep reading butthead!!
Mike lit his beacon.
Otis and Kyle met in high school. In the same city Isaac was an exchange student from OBUKEA. Otis and Kyle just happened to be in a solid bar brawl at Schovies Pub. Some neopristicle scumbag was eyeing Otis and he was not gonna take that shit. Otis busted a bottle over his head and got kicked out. Unbeknownst to Kyle and Otis the douche had a gun. The second he was going to pull the trigger he looked down at his leg. Who was pissing on it? Good old Isaac Jon Kleefisch, gently slurring “just relax everything is going to be ok.” This gave Kyle enough time to karate chop his gun hand. They were best of friends ever since, and oh yeah Jake is Otis’ cousin.
Sent from the future
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