Members of Vancouver-based Odds, this year’s musical headliner at the Steveston Salmon Festival, are used to being busy on July 1.
And while they have yet to experience the Canada Day holiday in Richmond’s historic fishing village, they are keen to soak up the local atmosphere during the upcoming national holiday.
“I know there’s salmon, and I know people out there like to have a good time,” said Craig Northey, lead singer of the group that was formed in the late 1980s. “So, I suppose the two will come together in a way that allows us to compliment the event.
“We’ve done Canada Days all over the country, from small to big, and it usually involves fireworks and people with face tattoos, cakes and all kinds of things.”
It can also be the centre of some rather “odd” occurrences, too.
Take for example the gig two years ago on the lawn of the B.C. Legislature in Victoria.
“That was most famous for almost being blown up,” Northey said. “There were 50,000 people and we no had idea that was going on.”
That was the day when police apprehended a pair of would-be terrorists who were alleged to have planned mayhem by setting off pressure cooker bombs in the crowded Victoria harbour front.
“It was all very strange,” Northey said.
With that incident firmly in the rearview mirror, Northey, along with bandmates Doug Elliott, Pat Steward and Murray Atkinson, feel July 1st celebrations are one of the most meaningful dates on the calendar for Canadian musicians.
“Most places on Canada Day, there’s such a good vibe,” he said. “We found that a family atmosphere in the middle of the day, people are all full of pancakes, and they are ready to celebrate what a good thing we’ve got going here as a country.”
But while that hasn’t prompted them to pen anything overtly patriotic, their music seeks to tell the typical Canadian story in a more subtle manner.
“I don’t know how much we are nationalists or patriots — we do love our country. But we haven’t written anything that’s an ode to being Canadian,” Northey said. “I think all our songs speak to what it’s like to be a Canadian. Our narratives are sort of blocky, comedic takes on interpersonal struggles and existentialism.
“I think many Canadians can relate to that, especially those who have to live through long, cold winters,” he quipped.
That aside, Odds have lent their talents to some uniquely Canadian productions over the years. They were behind the opening and closing theme songs for long-running sitcom Corner Gas. Plus, they have worked with The Kids in the Hall comedy troupe, and served as the house band at Canada Hockey House during the 2010 Winter Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. It’s a role they reprised for the Vancouver Canucks during a pair of playoff runs in 2010 and 2011.
“That (Canucks house band) wasn’t necessarily our music, it was more of us jumping up in the crowd and playing instrumental riff rock,” Northey said.
As for what they are expecting from the audience this Canada Day, Northey said: “In some places you have to draw people out a little more. But I have a feeling Steveston will be ready to go.”
Odds play the Steveston Salmon Festival’s Main Stage at 1 p.m. on July 1.
