![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.musora.com\/musora-cdn\/image\/quality=85\/https:\/\/drumeoblog.s3.amazonaws.com\/beat\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/25175527\/Odds-on-Ice-1-1.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\nCan you imagine being the live drummer at some of the most important hockey games of the year? Pat Steward is the beatkeeper of Odds, who became the \u2018house band\u2019 for the Vancouver Canucks during the 2010\/2011 playoffs.<\/p>\n
How\u2019d he get the gig? Did he wear gloves and set up his drums right there on the ice? Here\u2019s what Pat has to say about an experience that was literally cool.<\/p>\n
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Before showing up at the game, we would pick a few songs with the media department based on where the team was in the standings. It was always hype-based, and usually about getting a win. We\u2019d come up with a 30-second arrangement for each song, which became an in-game \u2018hit\u2019. We\u2019d do one around 10 minutes into each period.<\/p>\n
We\u2019d also do a \u2018puck drop hit\u2019, which occurred in the 1-minute slot after the National Anthem performance. Elvis Costello did one with us, and so did Randy Bachman, Colin James, Paul Rodgers (Bad Company) and Rob Baker (The Tragically Hip).<\/p>\n
When the Canucks were away in Boston during the finals, people could buy a ticket for $10 and go watch the games on the Jumbotron. We\u2019d play on the ice during the period breaks.<\/p>\n
I was on a Colin James corporate gig with Odds guitarist\/singer Craig Northey when we got a call from Northey\u2019s friend, David Levinson. He was a key man with the Feldman-Macklam management group, but his side gig was \u2018DJ Dave\u2019 at Canucks games, where you\u2019d hear him do all these rockin\u2019 hits and funny David Lee Roth type sounds. He thought it would be cool to have a drummer playing and hyping up the crowd.<\/p>\n I was originally brought in solo. I set up a small kit (bass drum, snare, hi-hats and cymbal) on a small rug in the vomitorium, the area at the top of the stairs where you walk in from the main concession level. There was a system of wireless microphones on the drums, and I used in-ear buds to communicate with the media people upstairs. We did “Wipeout” the first game. I would also play along to classic rock tracks, and they would sometimes fade the music and let me solo.<\/p>\n The following season, I was in at least two games a month. Levinson said, \u201cIf we make the playoffs, I think we should bring in the rest of your guys.\u201d I said yes–definitely, let\u2019s do that. But we moved out of the vomitorium for those games–it was going to be too hectic. After we did the puck drop, I\u2019d put my kit on a cart and take it all to an area where I could just leave it there for the whole game.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.musora.com\/musora-cdn\/image\/quality=85\/https:\/\/drumeoblog.s3.amazonaws.com\/beat\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/08180617\/pat1.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nHow\u2019d you get the gig?<\/strong><\/h4>\n