The Vancouver Canucks are playing their first home playoff game in almost 10 years at Rogers Arena Sunday night, and what better way to celebrate the occasion than with an anthem written by two local supporters of the team.
Music producer Jovan Heer and singer Ali Monir are Vancouver artists who happen to be die-hard Canucks fans. Out of love for the sport, they decided to collaborate on a song representing the team they want to see take home the Stanley Cup.
“I started making music, I learned it all myself, I posted my songs online and it caught the attention of DJ Heer, and he came to me with an opportunity: to make a Canucks song,” Monir said.
“And being a fan myself, I thought it would be a great way to incorporate the players, so it works perfectly.”
Monir wrote the lyrics and Heer — who has been a DJ for almost 20 years — produced the track, which they recorded in Monir’s home studio.
The artists gave a special shoutout to the team’s goalie.
“I’m a die-hard Demko fan,” Heer said. “I’ve always played goal growing up, so I’ve always loved him, and I was a Luongo [fan] before that — but now its all Demko.”
“Without the goalie, nothing can be possible,” Monir said.
With recent switch-ups, they also had to change the lyrics.
“It was supposed to be one time for Kuzmenko, but we changed it to Lindholm when he got traded.”
The artists also had to accommodate for changes in the weather.
“I had about 200 people ready to go for the music video, but there was a downpour that day and it was crazy windy, but we did what we could and we made it happen,” Heer said.
The pair also wanted to represent the city, so they filmed the music video right next to Rogers Arena, saying the rain added to the Vancouver vibe.
“The umbrellas added a good touch though,” Heer said. “It looked good.”
“We were so cold,” Monir said. “We were freezing in the wind.”
CityNews got a personal performance from the artists. As well, fans can catch the duo’s single on YouTube, where it has over 7,000 views as of Saturday.