Rink of fire

>> Hockey rockers the Zambonis
shoot and score big time

by ERIK LEIJON

For the Connecticut-based Zambonis, Canada may be the only place that truly understands the need to have a band that writes songs exclusively about hockey. “It’s good to talk with Canadian media,” says lead singer and former Hartford Whaler season-ticket holder Dave Schneider. “I was talking to an American news source earlier and I needed to explain what tripping was.”

If his obsession with hockey was ever in question, throughout the phone conversation, Schneider is anxiously expecting an employee from Cablevision to arrive at his home to rectify his cable situation. “I didn’t have my cable last night and I missed the Penguins-Islanders game. I can’t miss any more games.”

Schneider formed the band in 1991, with the idea to create a band that wrote only about hockey, but wasn’t merely a shtick outfit. Oddly enough, music fans have shown a more positive reaction over the years than hockey fans. “I think it’s because we don’t write typical hockey songs that you would hear on ESPN or at the arena. We’re not modern rock. We don’t sound like Kid Rock.”

Generally, Schneider isn’t too keen on the typical fare heard at NHL arenas. He doesn’t mind Blur’s “Song 2,” and opposes Gary Glitter’s “Rock and Roll Pt. 2” mostly because of Glitter’s legal woes, but Bush’s “Machinehead” causes him to “get up and force [himself] to puke.” As for the Canadiens’ selection of U2’s “Vertigo” as goal song, Schneider would prefer they use a song from an actual Canadian band.

They might not be heard often on an arena PA, but the Zambonis have developed a cult following in the hockey world, having played at the 2002 NHL All-Star Game in Los Angeles and the NHL Worldstars European tour in Riga, Latvia during the lockout. Schneider has parlayed his success as the world’s preeminent hockey troubadour into a job as on-ice MC during the AHL’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers’ home games, and as a sound man on Versus, the American-cable home of the NHL. The only time he turned down a hockey-related gig based on pride was an offer to provide music for the horrid straight-to-video Slapshot sequel.

Like any die-hard fan, Schneider is also an avid jersey collector. “Uglier is always better with sweaters,” he says. His favourite remains the Vancouver Canucks 1978 V-lined jersey, but his collection boasts such international eyesores as a hideous Japanese hockey team uniform given to him by former Sound Tiger (and brother to NHL All-Star Paul) Martin Kariya.

The Zambonis have many fans among the hockey community, but one of their favourite experiences involves current Hab Alex Kovalev, with hardcore vocalist/centre Tarquin Katis and producer/defenceman Peter Katis. “Tarquin especially is a huge fan, bordering on obsessive, with Alex Kovalev. When Kovalev was recovering from his ACL injury, he was training for two weeks in Rye, New York. Peter and Tarquin got to chase Kovalev on the ice for two weeks. We gave him our CD and he became a fan.”

A musical chameleon, Schneider is also a member of the LeeVees, a band that plays only Hanukkah tunes. He formed the group with Adam Gardner from Guster in 2005 after the two bands toured together. “It took me 15 years to get a record deal with my hockey band, and it took four days with my Jewish band—if any young people are wondering which direction to go in.”

At Barfly on Tuesday,
April 3, 8 p.m., $10