The Odds

The Odds formed in Vancouver in 1987 around two singing guitarists, Craig Northey and Steven Drake, who had each led bands on the local compilation Spotlight '86, plus Doug Elliott on bass and Paul Brennan on drums. Pat Steward had been asked to drum first and said no; he'd come around in 1994. The name, the band says, came from Brennan asking Drake, in some coastal B.C. town, what the chances were of ever getting clear of gigs that lousy.

They paid their dues in style, working up to four nights a week at Vancouver's Roxy as a '60s and '70s covers act called Dawn Patrol, playing as the Odds on weekends and bankrolling their own demos at Crosstown Studios in North Vancouver. Showcases in Los Angeles got them signed to Zoo Entertainment, and they produced their 1991 debut, Neopolitan, themselves.

What followed was sharp, tuneful guitar pop with a sly grin. Bedbugs, in 1993, paired "It Falls Apart" with the pointed "Heterosexual Man", funny without sliding into novelty. Good Weird Feeling brought "Eat My Brain" and "Truth Untold" in 1995, and Nest in 1996 had "Someone Who's Cool", the gentlest tune of the lot. By the end of the decade the Junos had nominated them six times.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.