It will be a worldwide stage for some of Canada's best musical artists when nightly Victory Ceremonies are held in downtown Vancouver during the Olympic Winter Games. Among the 12 headliners is Theory of a Deadman, a band already known to many U.S. Olympic enthusiasts thanks to the use of their music in NBC commercials.
"I don't know how it came about, but that was awesome," said frontman Tyler Connolly, who performs lead vocals and plays guitar. "[Bass player] Dean [Back] was watching TV in his hotel room and 'Sacrifice' came on."
Connolly said when they received their invitation to headline one of the Victory Ceremonies, they were also told another of their songs, "All or Nothing," would be used as a closing song on broadcasts.
"We're pretty excited we were asked to perform," said Connolly. "Considering we're from Vancouver, we thought it would be great to have something to do with Vancouver during the Olympics."
The band is currently touring the U.S. in support of their third album, "Scars & Souvenirs," so they won't get to spend much time in taking in the Olympic atmosphere before or after their Feb. 19 performance. Still, they love to see their hometown getting so much attention.
"I was in a movie theater a couple of days ago and one of the previews was this huge Olympic commercial," Connolly said. "It was saying, 'Welcome to Vancouver.' It was pretty cool. This is huge for Vancouver."
Connolly says the majority of Americans who tell him they've been to Canada say they've visited eastern cities like Toronto or Montreal. He and his band mates love the idea that the Games will bring a world of attention to the other end of Canada. It also provides exposure for Canadian musical acts to potentially billions of television and Internet viewers. Other Victory Ceremony headliners include Nelly Furtado, Barenaked Ladies, Trooper & Loverboy, Billy Talent and Burton Cummings.
Growing up in Vancouver, Connolly and the other members of Theory of a Deadman listened to a lot of classic rock. As they reached their teenage years, they were drawn to the grunge scene just three hours south in Seattle. He said their love of music was nurtured in school, where music classes were the norm. In high school Connolly was able to take guitar and music composition.
Recording artists also get a boost from something called CanCon (Canadian content), which is that Canadian radio stations have to play at least 33 percent Canadian music.
"It's pretty cool. They really seem to focus on trying to break in new bands and get Canadian artists out there. I haven't really seen that anywhere else in the world other than Canada," he noted.
The band is incredibly grateful for this Victory Ceremony opportunity, and a little disappointed they won't have a chance to check out any Olympic competition. Needless to say, all the guys are huge hockey fans (Vancouver Canucks in particular). Back played when he was a kid and got to put his hockey jersey up in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. "His dream come true," said Connolly, who along with rhythm guitarist David Brenner always watched hockey, but didn't start playing until they joined an adult league.
If they weren't on tour, the band members would also love to check out events like luge, snowboarding and speed skating.
Connolly asked who the top Canadian figure skaters are and said he remembers this really hot French Canadian skater he used to see a lot on TV, Josée Chouinard. She'll be in Vancouver doing in-arena reporting for figure skating and short track, so it's too bad he won't get to meet her (unless she makes it to the concert).
"Vancouver is going to be one of the best Olympic hosts because of the diversity of the city," Connolly said. "A lot of people around the world are going to get to see Theory of a Deadman. That's going to be great for us."
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Calling all future DeadFan Club members: Become a member of the official Theory Of A Deadman fan club for $35 (plus shipping & handling) for the year!
The DeadFan Club Welcome Package includes:
- Exclusive DeadFan Club membership t-shirt
- Official fan club membership laminate
- Full 24/7 access to our private, members’ only section of theoryofadeadman.com
- Exclusive online chats, webisodes, photos, audio and behind the scenes footage
- Periodic contests with exclusive prizes and random giveaways
- Access to our members only message board
- Letter from the band
- Theory of a Deadman sticker pack
PLUS, you get the chance to purchase pre-sale concert tickets and special VIP packages before the general public (when available).
Additionally, VIP ticket packages including a DeadFan Club membership are still available HERE for select dates.
login: theoryofadeadman, password: tickets
Sign up now, and don't miss Theory of a Deadman on their headlining tour with labelmates Taking Dawn!
Theory of a Deadman's Scars & Souvenirs has been officially certified RIAA Gold status. Scars & Souvenirs is the band's third Roadrunner Records release, and their first Gold album.
Frontman Tyler Connolly said, "We'd like to thank our record label, management and crew for all their hard work in helping us get Scars & Souvenirs to gold record status. We would also like to say thank you to all our fans who have bought the record and supported Theory over the years. This is a tremendous achievement for us and we are so f*****g happy!"
Theory of a Deadman is experiencing their greatest successes to date with Scars & Souvenirs. The album's first two singles "Bad Girlfriend" and "So Happy" both reached #1 on the Active Rock charts and Top 10 at Modern Rock. "Not Meant To Be" is the third single, which is currently Top 10 at Hot A/C. The track "Hate My Life" is fast becoming an anthem for our troubled times; sitting Top 5 at Rock and Top 25 on the Alternative charts.
The video for "Not Meant To Be," which features the track's co-writer, Grammy-nominated songwriter and American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi, is currently in rotation on VH-1, cracking into the Top 20 this week and FUSE, where it sits at #3 on the Rock countdown. The video for "Hate My Life" is also shooting up the charts at both MTV2 and FUSE. In a rare occurrence, both videos were added to the respective channels' rotation slots in the same week!
Digital sales from Scars & Souvenirs have also proved to be very successful. "Bad Girlfriend" has sold over 625K singles to date, clocking in at over 15K per week. "Hate My Life" has sold over 130K downloads, averaging over 12K per week. Most recently, "Not Meant To Be" has seen 10 consecutive weeks of continuous growth, up 20% to 45% the past 3 weeks to over 120K downloads. This is due in no small part to the success of various singles at various different formats.
Scars & Souvenirs is Theory's best selling album to date. As singles continue to climb radio charts at all formats, sales are already fast tracked to reach platinum. This week saw the highest album sales yet since release with a 20% increase to almost 16K and a Top 40 position on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart.
Theory is currently on tour with Hinder and Black Stone Cherry, and is confirmed for Crüefest this summer.
