When you spend over twenty years playing in a band, you pick up a few stories along the way. If there's a steady rise to fame, a mysterious hiatus, and a sparkling return there is frequently a good back-story. Often, life's lessons find their way into new songs and onto albums. If you're Canadian power-pop legends Odds, you decide to share those stories on stage. Formed in Vancouver in 1987 the band had a great run with platinum albums and consistent critical acclaim. After four albums and hits like "It Falls Apart", "Eat My Brain", "Make You Mad" and "Someone Who's Cool" the band took a long hiatus to return in 2008 with the LP Cheerleader (the first album of new material since 1996's Nest). The recently reunited group then threw itself into a strange and exotic creative endeavour -- storytime theatre.
"I guess you'd call it a play," says Craig Northey, Odds' longtime singer and guitarist. "It's a narrative about our strange history. We weave these ideas and war stories between [performing] the songs. There are visuals too with a big screen running simultaneous photos, effects and clips. It all works together to take people on a different ride than that of a regular concert.
"The last thing we wanted was some dreary 20th anniversary run through the back catalog. We wanted to get to the core of why we are still out there as a creatively vital band". Craig got some overqualified help on the script from his long time collaborators Kevin MacDonald and Bruce McCulloch from comedy legends "Kids in the Hall". The band has been test-running the show in B.C. and they're currently filming a DVD. Expect clips to appear on the Odds' website (www.oddsmusic.com) and for them to take it on the road in 2010.

Home Base: British Columbia

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