Revive the Rose brings the noise for IceDogs hockey
OHL team theme song penned by Welland band
Revive the Rose frontman Andy Colonico explains his band, much like the Niagara IceDogs, shares a downto-earth, rough-and-tumble ethos.
With that in mind, it is only fitting that the Welland-based band has teamed up with the St. Catharines Ontario Hockey League team to write the ’Dogs official theme song.
“Bar Down” premieres Wednesday with a video on YouTube.
YourTV Niagara has come on board to use the song for its coverage of the team, and on Sept. 28 the band will play the IceDogs home-opener at Meridian Centre, where the video itself was filmed.
“We’re proud to support such a down-to-earth hockey team,” says Colonico, adding there are myriad similarities between the team and the band, beyond the obvious Niagara connection.
The OHL, he says, is that last step for players before making it big in the NHL; his band is on a similar cusp of reaching a wider audience as it tours and picks up an increasing number of radio spots with its songs. Hockey is an aggressive, rough-and-tumble sport, much like the band’s driving rock-and-roll ethos. There’s also the camaraderie that comes with playing on a team or performing in a band.
“I understand what it is like to have that brotherhood,” says Colonico, who first approached the team in a stroke of serendipity.
He happened upon an IceDogs display when Christmas shopping at the Pen Centre last year. He started talking to the players, floating the idea of writing a theme song for the team. The players connected him with management, and the band began writing.
The song delivers a driving piece of rock, and its fair share of Canadian
hockey lingo, from wheeling to chirping and beyond. Even the title refers to a particular shot sniped off the crossbar and down into the net.
“It’s definitely a hype song,” says Colonico, who describes himself as a casual hockey fan.
Through writing the song and recording the video at Meridian Centre, his level of interest has increased.
He and his bandmates hope the song will amp up the players before they hit the ice.
“It’s our message to tell them to keep doing what they love,” says Colonico, who turned to his hockey-playing friends, such as Joel Porter and David Chernish, to make sure the song embodies the spirit of OHL hockey.
“It (the song) really fits the intensity of hockey,” says Ice Dogs director of community marketing and group sales Nino Bourikas.
He says it has been great to see the band gain increasing popularity over the process, adding it was a no-brainer for the team when Revive the Rose first offered up a tune to pump up the team and fans alike.
“If it doesn’t get you amped up for a hockey game, I don’t know what will,” he says.