Shane Ocell has the biggest, hardest . . . callus I've ever seen.

It's the size of a small marble, sitting on the knuckle of his right middle finger. He cultivated the knot through his unconventional drumming style — holding the stick between his fingers while using the rest of his hand to strum a guitar.

Oh, and he sings, too. As local one-man band Via Vengeance, Ocell does everything (vocals, guitar, drums) at once during shows, and he doesn't cheat on his CDs, either. All the tracks on his new album were captured live in the studio, without recording each instrument on a separate track. Since Via Vengeance came into existence, Ocell's goal was to play heavy music without effects or overdubs, completely solo, and pull it off live.