The odds are against them. Not two to one, or 10 to one. But 20 to one.
     Still, 20 to one isn’t all bad when you’re the only band from Arkansas in a nationwide best-band competition. Which is, in fact, where The Odds are.
     This Northwest Arkansas-based rock band dominated in two rounds of competition held this spring at Hard Rock Cafe in Memphis. Online voting for the "A Shot at the Cabo Wabo" contest ends Friday. The link is www.hardrock.com/promo/cabowabo2004.      Each of the contest’s 20 bands — chosen at 20 Hard Rock sites nationwide — posted a song on the Web site that voters can listen to. The Odds’ selection is "Girlfriend."
     Guitarist Matt Perrine got the e-mail that looked like spam, inviting bands to send in CDs. It was due four days later, but they submitted their newly finished 10-song CD, Stick It in Your Pocket.
     Being chosen from their submission was "validation that somebody else besides our mamas like the CD," says Derek Van Lynn, who supplies keyboard and vocals.
     Other members are Severino Myers on bass and vocals; Rick Erke on percussion; and Keith Hollingshead on drums.
     The members didn’t expect to survive the first rounds in April. But, based on audience votes, they beat bands from Louisville, Ky., Nashville, Tenn., and West Memphis. In May, they went up against two semi-finalists — Shadowboxx from New Orleans and Yes No Maybe from Memphis — and won again with audience and "hidden judge" voting.
     "It was like beating [the University of] Tennessee and LSU in the same night," Van Lynn says of the win.
     Perrine felt certain one of the other bands had won; Van Lynn had confidence in The Odds.
     Band members have already put to use some of their booty from that win, like their fancy Nokia cell phones. They display the guitar signed by Sammy Hagar on stage during shows. But they haven’t seen the meal cards for Hard Rock Cafe yet.
     Away from the band, the guys spend their time as bluegrass music store employee, computer programmer, arts center technician, construction worker and house husband.

     The group has been together about a year and a half. Hollingshead and Myers met in band at Fayetteville High School, and both have worked as sound men for local shows.
     Van Lynn took piano lessons in his youth, and went on to play weddings and church services. He even toured the country with Sleepy LaBeef a few years back, and has brought attention to the band after being named best keyboardist in local music awards.
     But Van Lynn moved to Fayetteville to get a master’s degree in creative writing, "and I’m using those skills and my old poems to write the lyrics for The Odds," he says.
     Members all write music together, ending up with 25 original tunes like "Did Not Tell," "Big Man," "Angel Divided" and "Fire It Up." They usually start with the music and add lyrics later.
     "We’ll take somebody’s idea and the rest of the band will complete it," says Perrine, who remembers his own dad crafting songs in their basement years ago.
     "The irony is, I sometimes have to take some of those old poems and make them rhyme," Van Lynn says.
     In addition to original songs, they play familiar tunes from the Rolling Stones, Talking Heads and The Who.
     The six finalists will be named Tuesday. The grand prize winner will be announced Sept. 20. That’s not too far away now.
     Sammy Hagar and other celebrity judges will ultimately decide which band wins the contest and gets to open for Hagar at The Cabo Wabo Meltdown 2004 in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, in October. The winner will also get more band equipment and a recording studio session.
     It would be a big leap for the band whose touring circuit comprises Fayetteville, Rogers and Eureka Springs. But, they’re ready, with enough material for two more CDs.
     Van Lynn is pretty confident in an Odds win, but he’s still not completely convinced. If not them, he says, "I guarantee it’ll be the chicks from New York."
     He’s talking about Slunt, a New York band led by two women who play music with a harder edge. If the promoters choose from the band’s looks, Van Lynn is certain the girls from Slunt will rake in the votes.
     If they do, it won’t be The Odds’ end. Far from it.