The Odds - 3 Albums 1993 - 1996 [FLAC] - Kitlope

Odds are a Canadian alternative rock band. The band's power pop style has been frequently compared to that of contemporaries such as Squeeze, Elvis Costello, Weezer, Tom Petty, Sloan, The Clash, XTC, Franz Ferdinand, Kiss, and The Tubes.


The band was formed in 1987 in Vancouver, British Columbia, consisting of vocalist-guitarists Craig Northey and Steven Drake (both of whom had led different bands appearing on a Vancouver music compilation album, Spotlight '86), bassist Doug Elliott and drummer Paul Brennan. The band members claim the name came when Brennan asked Drake, in a town somewhere on the BC coast, "What are the odds of us ever escaping bullshit gigs like this?"

In the late 1980s, the band played up to four nights a week as a 1960s and 1970s cover band called Dawn Patrol, while playing as the Odds on weekends and funding their own demo recordings at Crosstown Studios in North Vancouver, hoping for a break. They traveled to Los Angeles doing showcases and eventually signed to Zoo Entertainment.

They released their debut self-produced album, Neopolitan, in 1991, which spawned the radio hits "Love Is the Subject" and "King of the Heap". A third single, the sexually explicit "Wendy Under the Stars", failed to chart. After the release of Neopolitan, the band were picked up by Warren Zevon, becoming his touring band for his album 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 Dave Foley, Kevin McDonald and Mark McKinney from The Kids in the Hall, themselves often noted for drag performances, as stereotypically macho jocks in the audience. Three singles from that album, "Heterosexual Man", "It Falls Apart" and "Yes (Means It's Hard to Say No)", charted in the Top 100.

Brennan left the band in 1995 during recording of their third album, and subsequently joined Big Sugar. He was replaced by Pat Steward, a former drummer for Bryan Adams, Matthew Good and Limblifter. 1995's Good Weird Feeling, their most commercially successful album, included drum tracks from both Brennan and Steward. The album featured the top 40 hit singles "Truth Untold", "Eat My Brain", "Satisfied" and "Mercy to Go". "Eat My Brain" also found a place on the Craig Northey-produced soundtrack to the Kids in the Hall movie Brain Candy.

Their next album Nest, was released in 1996. The track "Someone Who's Cool" was originally written for the Friends soundtrack.[1] The follow-up single "Make You Mad" featured a video which was co-directed by and starred Bruce McCulloch of The Kids in the Hall.

Odds toured extensively during the 1990s, including as an opening act for The Tragically Hip. The band performed until 1999, headlining that year's Arts County Fair year-end concert at the University of British Columbia, but released no further new studio albums.