Northey Valenzuela
Jesse Valenzuela and I finally put these songs on tape (or its virtual equivalent). A tremendous amount of rewarding fun. We wanted to be the next Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham and, in the process, discovered there will only ever…
Music
Odds – Lump of Coal, Christmas Compilation
It was fun to be on a compilation that featured Henry Rollins, Hoodoo Gurus, Young Fresh Fellows and the Primitives. Our version of “We Three Kings (Kings of Orient)” was a good exercise in figuring out what we sounded like….
Waltons – Empire Hotel
Steven Drake and I got to produce a couple of Waltons tracks. We thought a lot of that band so it was an honour. Jason Plumb is a freak of nature. He can sing like this at 6am. I’ve seen…
Waltons – Liv
There is a live version of “Middle of Nowhere” on here. That’s the one I co-wrote for “Empire Hotel”.
Strippers Union – Local 518
Rob Baker (the Tragically Hip) asked me to his party and I ended up being the one with the lampshade on my head. Rob and I collaborated on a dozen songs. We both sing them and Pat Steward (drums), Doug…
Gin Blossoms – No Chocolate Cake
Jesse Valenzuela and I wrote this one for the Gin Blossoms “No Chocolate Cake” album. It was adopted by LA traffic reporters during the temporary shut down of highway 405 – “Carmageddon” I’m really proud that I actually helped with…
Odds – Neopolitan
First Odds album but really our third. The first two “cassette albums” were sold from the stage during the three years prior. Who taped over theirs? We were Canadians “discovered” in LA and when we finally got around to a…
Odds – Bedbugs
Followup album. I think it’s sounds have held up the best over time. I don’t know why. Our foray into ridiculous semi-immortality began with “Heterosexual Man”. The photo on the back is us having an argument about what that song…
Kids in the Hall – Death Comes to Town
The Kids in the Hall reunion TV series. I loved working on it and, as usual, it was a ton of work and a creative stretch. I was trying to hold down 3 gigs at the same time so Toronto’s…
Damhnait Doyle – Hyperdramatic
Got together with Dav and wrote a couple of songs in the Odds old stinky basement space on Granville Street. One of them is on here.
Jimmy Rankin – Edge of Day
One winter I ended up in Halifax with the flu. I staggered up the road from my Colin James gig and Jimmy took me into his warm kitchen. The snow was about 18 feet high outside but it was sunny….
Glen Phillips – Abulum
Glen and I wrote a song called “Back Up On My Feet” under a grapefruit tree on our good chum Tom’s LA patio. Tom was away for the week. I hope he knew we had the keys. . . Glen…
Liam Titcomb – Can’t Let Go
Liam is a great friend and sickeningly talented young man. Would you believe he is only 15? OK…he’s older than that…but barely. He sounds like he’s 35. That won’t get you very far in this world but it makes me…
Rosanne Cash – Rules of Travel
Proud to have written the opening song on this great album. Played congas on the back of a guitar in NYC. THE Rosanne cash sang my words. Well…her voice was thrashed from pregnancy induced laryngitis but she gave it go…
Tom Wilson – Dog Years
Tom and I met when his band Junkhouse first came to Vancouver and he “cold called” the Odds business line to ask us to come down and check out his band. Friends for life. We’ve since written many tunes together…
Wide Mouth Mason – Stew
I first met Wide Mouth Mason by jumping into their road hockey game outside the studio we were both recording in. Years later I crashed for a wintery week in Saf’s parent’s Saskatoon basement and we played as a band…
Wide Mouth Mason – Rained Out Parade
After the success of Wide Mouth Mason’s “Stew” album we decided to get back together in Saf’s Sakatoon basement and see if any more songs came out. We wrote a couple in more hurried fashion. When I look back on…
Odds – Cheerleader
Its taken us a long time but in the end we are very proud and happy to be back. First released in Canada under the Spinal Tappish moniker “the New Odds” we didn’t think people got the joke. It’s now…
Odds – Good Weird Feeling
It was fun to be on a compilation that featured Henry Rollins, Hoodoo Gurus, Young Fresh Fellows and the Primitives. Our version of “We Three Kings (Kings of Orient)” was a good exercise in figuring out what we sounded like….
Odds – Nest
Kids in the Hall – Brain Candy
Scored the film, co-wrote, performed & co-produced the “Death Lurks” tracks, Odds have a song on here too. Grivo was a complete dickhead to work with. He coughed a loogie in my Fresca. One of the greatest things I’ve seen…
Northey Valenzuela
Jess Valenzuela and I met when our bands slept on the floor of the same mutual friend’s apartment in LA. It was like “A Hard Days Night” only a lot smellier. Gin Blossoms and Odds would go on to tour…
Giddy Up
I was demoing songs for my 1st solo album. I’d started on it with David Gamson (Scritti Politti, Meshell Ndegeocello) and was going back and forth to LA to work on it when 911 happened. The border got tight and…
Colin James – Traveler
Colin and I went to LA to live in a giant mansion on the top of a hill in Silver Lake. It was called “the Paramour” ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramour_Mansion). Mark Howard was producing and that’s where he was set up. It…
Colin James – Rooftops and Satellites
Here’s the one tune from “Rooftops and Satellites” that Colin and I wrote. We wrote it on an autumn train trip across Canada. It was an Olympic Spirit traveling show put on by CP Rail. We had the Royal CP…
Colin James – Limelight
This was the 1st gold record anybody ever gave me that wasn’t an Odds record. Thanks Colin for having me along. I just wrote on a few songs. A couple of them Colin, Tom Wilson and I wrote two of…
Colin James – Fuse
This is the first record I made with Colin James. It was the start of a great musical partnership. I co-produced with genius recordist Joe Hardy. Colin and I wrote most of this album together. He also covered “Something Good”…
Hockeyville
In 2006 I was hired as musical director and composer for CBC’s “Hockeyville”. At that time it was a live variety show and we performed under the name “Craig Northey and the Hounds of the Hockeyvilles”. Here are a few…
Adam Levy
Adam and I share serious mutual friends so it was natural that we would become actual friends. He flew up and spent a few days in my shack writing songs. We wrote two and one is on this beautiful and…
Warren Zevon
The best mentorship a youngish songwriter could receive just fell in my lap. We were asked by Warren Zevon to be his band and open the show on his Mr.Bad Example tour in 91-92. One of life’s unexpected blessings. He…
Strippers Union – the Deuce
Enter Craig. Originally the idea was that he would help me write lyrics but after about 20 minutes I said to myself ‘he’s got that base covered so I’ll focus on this over here’. Actually Craig entered many years ago. I /we had the great opportunity to share a stage with Craig and the Odds many times over the years. I was and remain a huge fan of their music (from the moment I first heard it).