Steven Drake (vocals, guitar, piano) Doug Elliot (bass, vocals, piano, casio) Craig Northey (vocals, guitar, mini-moog, sax, casio, harmonica) Paul Brennan (drums) Pat Steward (drums; replaced Brennan 1994)
Drake (ex-Nerve Tubes, 20th Century), Elliot (ex-Rubber Biscuit), Northey (ex-Hoi Polloi) and Brennan (Animal Slaves) formed The Odds in October of 1987 and their first gig was at the Savoy nightclub in Vancouver later that November.
The members of The Odds met in the Vancouver music scene, playing in various bands. Northey and Drake (originally from California) met through a battle of the bands contest and Drake's act, 20th Century, won. Paul Brennan was a drinking buddy of Northey's. When Drake and Elliot later hooked up with Brennan, he suggested a worthy fourth member would be Northey and they became Dawn Patrol -- a '60's and '70's cover band. They did this 4 nights a week waiting for that big break to come for their alter egos on weekends, The Odds.
Disappointed with the reaction from the Vancouver music scene, the band relocated to Los Angeles where they were spotted by legendary rocker Warren Zevon who adopted them as his band for one tour and an album and also helped them secure a record deal with Zoo/BMG.
The Odds first came to the public's attention through the song "Wendy Under The Stars" from their debut album 'Neopolitan'. Some controversy erupted as the chorus's preceding line contains the 'f' word, but the band anticipated such resistance at radio and video by substituting the line 'made love to' in the offending areas of the song.
Momentum grew after the second release, 'Bedbugs', in 1993 with its two hit singles "It Falls Apart" and "Heterosexual Man" which, despite being banned or ignored by every radio station in Canada, made for one of the funniest Canadian videos of all time: The Odds in drag with guest 'actors' Kids In The Hall (who were dressed, not so ironically, in 'heterosexual' roles).
Their similarity in style to American Matthew Sweet led to an opening slot on Sweet's North American tour. Drummer Brennan left in 1994 during the making of 'Good Weird Feeling' and has since toured with Mae Moore. Brennan would make one final appearance with Northey and Elliot on the Taste Of Joy album 'Trigger Fables' in 1995. His replacement was Pat Steward (Bryan Adams) who had previously played with Doug Elliot in Rubber Biscuit. It was at this point that the band switched from Zoo/BMG to Warner Music.
'Good Weird Feeling' became the band's breakout album with the hits "Truth Untold" and "Eat My Brain" -- the latter used in the Steven Drake produced soundtrack of Kids In The Hall's 'Brain Candy' movie. The song's humorous video featured a chase sequence starring members of TPOH and Junkhouse. The Odds would also appear as the backing musicians on two Bruce McCulloch tunes also in the movie - "Some Days It's Dark" and "Happiness Pie"
Despite this homegrown success, the band were never able to headline their own tour and were instead relegated to double bills with the likes of 54.40 and The Killjoys. The association to 54.40 afforded Steven Drake the opportunity to produce that band's 'Trusted By Millions', followed by mixing work for The Tragically Hip on their 'Trouble In The Henhouse' CD.
1996's 'Nest' continued in the band's power-pop approach and featured the hits "Someone Who's Cool" and "Nothing Beautiful", but despite the advent of continous touring, the band found itself more involved in outside projects (like being Murray McLaughlin's backing band on his album 'Gulliver's Taxi' and Kim Stockwood's 'Bona Vista'), leaving The Odds without a direction.
1997 was full of disjointed tour dates and completion for the soundtrack to 'Dog's Park'. But the band did manage to salvage 1998 with some larger festival gigs.
Following the backing band position with George Martin on his 1999 'In My Life' tour, the band has gone on permanent hiatus (this was amicable as per an internet message on March 15, 1999 from Craig Northey confirming that he'd left the band).
Later that year the members of The Odds, minus Steven Drake reformed as Sharkskin, an all-instrumental band, with the addition of Simon Kendall (keyboards). Craig Northey has also been busy as a songwriter for hire with a new publishing deal. He is writing material with the likes of Jesse Valenzuela (ex-Gin Blossoms) among others.
Source: http://www.canoe.ca/JamMusicPopEncycloPagesO/odds.html
