It was Hammy and the Kids that inspired Port Moody native Craig Northey to write his new show A Good Weird Story.
Northey had been working with Hammy's star, Kevin McDonald, the founder of The Kids in the Hall, on his one-man production when Northey realized he could do the same sort of gig.
"I played with him and thought, 'Well, I'd like to do one of these. I've got some things to say that would be funny,'" the frontman for The Odds said. "And then I thought, 'Oh, no. It would be better with four.'"
The three other men Northey is referring to are his bandmates over the past 20 years or so: Doug Elliott, Pat Steward and Murray Atkinson (past Odds members are Steven Drake and Paul Brennan).
And so, with the help of another Kids' comedian, Bruce McCullough, Northey crafted the new musical autobiography about the band, called A Good Weird Story, a twist on their most commercially successfully album, Good Weird Feeling.
The show, which will launch the Evergreen Cultural Centre's fourth annual Music on the Grill series on July 7, is a kind of storyteller-concert retrospective with multi-media, Northey said.
"We re-enact Murray's audition for the band and a few things like that. We talk about why we made the choices we made and it all comes through the tragedy to the blissful ending," he said.
And, so far, the re-telling has been well received in the dozen communities it's appeared in including on Vancouver Island, in the Okanagan and Toronto. The Coquitlam presentation will be the first for the Lower Mainland and close to Northey's home: a place where his father, John, was once Port Moody's mayor and his mother, Gay, is currently on the Evergreen board of directors.
Northey, who is also known for his TV and film scores, his collaborations and being in the house band for the Canucks' playoff series, said A Good Weird Story offers an insight into the music scene a decade ago "when there was a music business.
"Things are a little different now but, back then, there was this sort of committee behaviour that happened when you were involved in big companies, and when the corporate world got involved in using rock 'n roll to sell their products."
"Today," he said, "I think [musicians] take it upon themselves to get out there. It's much more difficult and there are a lot more flukes but things are very grassroots and independent because there's no infrastructure and no gatekeeper, in a lot of ways."
Asked which stream he prefers, Northey responded, "I liked it when people paid for the music, when it was unethical not to pay for it. I thought that was healthy for the arts."
The Odds' A Good Weird Story is on Saturday, July 7 at 8 p.m. Tickets for the barbecue (at 7 p.m.) and show are $50, or $30 for the concert only. Call Evergreen at 604-927-6555 or visit www.evergreenculturalcentre.ca.
