Local band hopes to put metal on the map

Their next show

SPRINGFIELD — For three years, Sean O’Bryan had a skill that he, like so many others in this area, couldn’t put to use.

Openings were scarce.

Opportunities few.

The former Army mechanic could’ve switched fields, but that would’ve meant trying to wear skinny jeans designed for chicks — a metalhead having to play emo is about as soul-sucking as a union man having to put on a blue vest.

Wasn’t gonna happen.

Besides, Springfield’s metal scene was destined to rebound.

“The drought ended,” O’Bryan said, “when I joined this band.”

The band is Devium.

The local quintet has revived a scene once feared as endangered as the words “Made in the U.S.A.”

As for James Walters, who shares guitar duties in the band with O’Bryan, he’s had a hell of a time trying to find another welding job around here.

But it might not matter anymore.

Standing around one recent night for a photo shoot, the five guys found it hard to maintain the scowls on their faces.

“There’s no smiling in metal,” O’Bryan warned.

It’s hard these days for the men of Devium not to smile — the band will release its first single next month, followed by a six-song EP in April and a full-length album by year’s end.

All will be distributed by the Universal Music Group.

“It takes a frontrunner to boost the scene,” O’Bryan explained.

Right now, Devium looks to be that frontrunner — the first band that might go all the way.

A decade ago, Shovelhead came close. Grit did, too.

Those near-misses only led to frustration all around the local metal scene.

“A lot of people were getting disheartened with it,” O’Bryan said.

Bands couldn’t stay together.

Venues dried up.

By the summer of 2008, Club Panama, the east-side bar that has served as home to the metal scene for two decades, had trouble even finding enough bands to book.

“It’s a responsibility to ourselves to make it,” O’Bryan said. “If it benefits other bands, that’s great.

“I don’t look at it as a competition. We’re all trying to get to the same place.”

When this current lineup of Devium — O’Bryan, Walters, lead singer Chad Cochran, bassist Andy Moon and drummer Matt Denius — debuted at Panama on New Year’s Eve 2008, they could’ve easily wound up like hundreds of other bands Susie Maynard has seen in her 20 years as a club owner.

Some, she can’t even remember their names.

“When they first started out, they were OK. They were decent,” Maynard said. “Now they’re just phenomenal. They’re right up there with the best.”

The band not only is bringing some life back to the Springfield scene, it even saved Club Panama itself, Maynard said.

The shortage of bands caused the club to slip on its tax payments, leading to a two-day benefit concert last February to save the place from closure.

“When we were raking and scraping, Andy in Devium was the one who organized the benefit to save my butt,” Maynard said. “They pulled me out of the fire.

“I wouldn’t be here without Andy Moon. Club Panama would be history.”

It was the least they could do.

Devium is a Panama band through and through.

Moon lives just a couple of blocks away.

“I can crawl home if I need to,” he said.

O’Bryan first ventured in to jam when he was 17.

“It was the first time I’d been in a bar,” he said, “let alone played in one.”

And Walters?

“I once spent the night on the pool table in there,” he said.

Even the future of Devium looked bleak at various points.

“We had bouts when we wondered whether we were even going to do it,” Moon said. “There was a point when Chad walked.”

O’Bryan and Walters split, too.

It’s taken almost five years for everything to fall into place.

It all started in 2005, when Cochran responded to an online ad that Moon had posted.

“It was more professional than most,” Cochran said. “Most said bring your choice of beer.”

What Moon found in Cochran was a singer whose trachea has a built-up layer of scar tissue. When he was 5, he leaned down into the family swimming pool and took in a deep breath of fresh chlorine tabs.

The scarring allows his voice to be as flexible as Mike Patton’s in Faith No More and Mr. Bungle — he can growl for the heavy stuff and howl when things get melodic.

This past June, the band started talks with Primoris Music Group, a label with roots in Findlay and a distribution agreement with Universal.

Devium struck a distribution deal with Primoris, which means they’ll return to the table 12 months after their first release to renegotiate a full deal.

Translation?

The band still has to foot its own bills for right now.

“That really keeps you grounded,” O’Bryan said. “The weight is on us.

“The door’s open. We just have to get through there.”

Still, this is farther than anyone else.

“If anybody deserves to make it,” Panama’s Maynard said, “by God, they do.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0352 or amcginn@coxohio.com.