Odds were a Canadian alternative rock band in the 1990s. The band's power pop style was frequently compared to that of American contemporaries such as Matthew Sweet. (The band is sometimes referred to as The Odds, although they were always credited on album covers as simply "Odds".)
The band was formed in 1987 in Vancouver, and consisted of vocalist-guitarists Craig Northey and Steven Drake, bassist Doug Elliott and drummer Paul Brennan. Band members claim the name came when Paul said to Steven (in a one horse town somewhere on the BC coast), "What are the odds of us ever escaping bullshit gigs like this?" The band played up to 4 nights a week as a 1960s and 1970s cover band, Dawn Patrol while playing as the Odds on weekends, hoping for a big break.
That break came after they became disappointed in the Vancouver music scene, and commuted to Los Angeles every few weeks to play shows which gave them enough exposure to sign with Zoo/BMG. They released their debut album, Neopolitan, in 1991. That album's most famous single was the controversial "Wendy Under the Stars", which featured the chorus I was fucking Wendy under the stars/The night that Elvis died. (A radio edit changed the lyric to "I made love to Wendy".) With this album, they gained a fan in Warren Zevon. He invited the Odds to be his band & opening act on his tour for Mr. Bad Example.
In 1993, the band released Bedbugs, which attracted attention for its lead single "Heterosexual Man". The video for that song featured the band members performing in drag, with The Kids in the Hall (themselves often noted for drag performances) as the stereotypically macho jocks.
Brennan left the band in 1994, and subsequently joined Big Sugar. He was replaced by Pat Steward, former drummer for Bryan Adams, and current drummer for Matthew Good and studio drummer for Limblifter.
The band followed up with Good Weird Feeling, their most commercially successful album, in 1995, which featured the hit singles "Truth Untold" and "Eat My Brain". "Eat My Brain" found a place on the Craig Northey-produced soundtrack to the Kids in the Hall movie Brain Candy. The Odds' final album, Nest, was released in 1996. The track "Someone Who's Cool" managed to break into Top 40 in the US and was a Number One hit single in Canada.
The band amicably broke up in 1999, releasing a greatest hits/singles compilation in 2000. Northey, Elliott, Steward and Simon Kendall subsequently formed the new band Sharkskin. Drake became a record producer, helming albums for The Tragically Hip, Kim Bingham, 54-40 and Static in Stereo. Northey has since become a songwriter for hire, writing for the likes of Colin James, Rosanne Cash, Wide Mouth Mason & the Who. In 2004, Northey collaborated with former Gin Blossoms frontman Jesse Valenzuela on the Northey Valenzuela album. The pair also recorded the theme song to the sitcom Corner Gas, "Not a Lot Going On".
In 2005, the members of Sharkskin backed the Hip's Rob Baker in the side project Stripper's Union Local 518.
In 2006, "Someone Who's Cool" was the theme song for the short-lived CBS comedy Love Monkey, starring Tom Cavanagh, Jason Priestley & Teddy Geiger. Cavanagh personally convinced music supervisor Nic Harcourt to make "Someone Who's Cool" the theme song.
In 2007, Craig Northey, Doug Elliott, Pat Steward and Murray Atkinson performed old and new songs on the Barenaked Ladies' Ships & Dip cruise as the New Odds. The New Odds toured through various British Columbia locales in the last week of August into early September 2007, totaling nine shows. They had performed on Ships & Dip III from January 27 – February 1, 2008 sailing through Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.
The New Odds album entitled "Cheerleader" will be released on May 20, 2008 as the very first release on Kim Cooke's new label Pheromone Recordings.
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