Band Review: The Odds

I came to The Odds in a roundabout way. My well-established love for the Gin Blossoms led me to Northey-Valenzuela, a collaboration between Gin Blossom guitarist Jesse Valenzuela and Craig Northey. Their self-titled 2006 release does not seem to well-known. I wanted someone via the internet to hear "Hurting On The Outside", and I could not find anything to link to. "Not A Lot Goin' On" was the theme song for hit Canadian sitcom "Corner Gas", so you can find versions of that a more easily.

Anyway, when I got onto Twitter (February 2012), the Gin Blossoms were my very first follower, a few seconds after I followed them. (They follow back.) This led to my following Jesse Valenzuela (and Scott Hessel) when they got on Twitter. (The band members in general have been a little slow to warm up to tweeting, but if anyone else gets on I am there.) It was following Jesse that let me know when Craig Northey got on.

Well, cool! I'll follow him. And there's this reference to Odds Music. Great! He's working on a new project. No, not even close. The Odds formed in 1989. They went on hiatus from 1999 to 2007, but have been pretty productive since reuniting. They have a lot of music out there, and I knew nothing about it until Craig Northey got on Twitter.

Sadly, this appears to be normal. Based on the data from "A Good Weird Story", they have accumulated 9 Top Ten hits, 6 Juno nominations, 1 platinum and 2 gold albums, 3 number one videos, and provided themes for 3 hit TV series (I am assuming that does not include "Corner Gas"), and yet still, based on the video, even people who recognize the songs don't realize that it's them. Therefore, The Odds may just be the most successful band that you have never heard of. But now you are! So keep reading!

Because the catalog is so large, I am afraid this is another situation where I have not been able to make it through everything three times. I'll just give my impressions as well as I can.

My initial thought is that they would be fun to listen to in a bar. That's not that a larger concert wouldn't be good, but their vibe is mellow and fun, with kind of a bluesy feel, and so I think in the more intimate and casual setting, there would be overall good feelings.

There is a real intelligence to the music as well, with the use of language and with the subject matter, sometimes with humorous elements. A great example of this is the song "Heterosexual Male". It is a clever satire, but it also has a great beat, and it has a music video that really enhances it, with some help from a few Kids in the Hall.

And videos is a good place to start. The band's web site has just a treasure trove of videos there. Going through these will give you a broad overview of the music, and perhaps an idea of which album to start with. Also, while I would guess that none of them were particularly high budget, they tend to be fun, inventive, and visually interesting, while representing the songs well. They also tend towards the dimly lit; I'm not sure what the deal with that is.

You can also get a free download of new song, "Heaven Where Hell Should Be" by signing up for the newsletter, so that's another reason to visit the site. It really does seem to be the central location, though there are Facebook and Twitter profiles. Well, the Twitter account has not tweeted since 2011, but the just reaffirms that the official site is the way to go.

As funny as "Heterosexual Male" is, I think my favorite song of theirs at this point is "Someone Who's Cool", and while it does not appear to have been written by someone who felt cool, I think they are. Check them out.

http://www.oddsmusic.com

https://www.facebook.com/oddsofficial

https://twitter.com/TheOddsMusic