Montreal Canadiens super fan and singer Annakin Slayd is enjoying this current playoff run, and he may just have something in store for Habs fans. Find out what he had to say in our exclusive Interview.
There’s something magical in town when the Montreal Canadiens make the playoffs and even more so when they make a deep run. When you walk around the city, you see plenty of flags flying on cars, and if you’re walking during the game, you can either hear cheers or curses emanating from houses. If you walk by a long-time fan’s car or house, you might even hear an Annakin Slayd song playing; his 25 (Feels like ’93) and Rock the Sweater records have become anthems for many fans. After hearing Feels Like 93 on my way to work the other day, it felt like a good time to reach out to Slayd and see how he’s enjoying the playoffs so far and how he became such a big fan of the Canadiens.
The Hockey News: I think it’s fair to say you are a big Canadiens fan. Can you tell me where that passion came from?
Annakin Slayd: I don’t have much of a story aside from the fact that I was born and raised in it. Just like most people of our city, it’s just kind of like the fabric, it’s in the air, it’s in the environment, and it’s really hard to avoid. […] At one point, you choose how emotionally involved you are in this, and that probably happened in 1993 for me. I do have a very strong memory of 1986, though. My dad was really excited during the final countdown. I remember doing the countdown with him when they won the Cup, and that’s kind of my first memory of being a Habs fan.
By 1993, I was in high school and very invested in all the series. I clearly remember going out into the streets of Laval to celebrate. The Desjardins goal is the first one that is seared into my mind. Although scratch that: in 1989 I was at summer camp, and you weren’t allowed to have any electronics, but for some reason I had some sort of little portable radio; I snuck it in, and nobody knew. Word got around the camp that I had it, though, and all the kids came to my little bunk to listen to the games on it, illegally, but I remember being heartbroken when they lost.
THN: Who would you say is your favourite player ever?
AS: There are so many, I think the first player to really have a strong effect on me was Guy Carbonneau. There was something about him that I just loved, the poise that he had, the leadership, the fact that he played the game and could do so many different things, defensively, offensively. He was tough. To me, he’s like the prototypical hockey player, you know. […] Everything about him screamed hockey, and to this day, I still look up to him.
THN: How do you feel about this current version of the Canadiens?
AS: I feel like so many times we felt surprised by playoff success, like in 2010, Halak comes out of nowhere, and we go on this long run. We were building something in 2014, but we were still kind of the underdogs against Boston, and a couple of other teams that year, always the underdogs, you know? Even in 1993, they were underdog; they weren’t supposed to win that year. In my adult life, I’ve always felt like, despite our long history of winning, I’ve only experienced the underdog side of it, those kinds of miracle runs. 2021, same thing, nobody, absolutely nobody expected them to go that far in 2021. So, I feel like this time, it’s different, because of the way they’re built. We know the talent’s there, we’ve done it in a different way now, and we can hold our heads up high and say we’re supposed to be here.
Even though we’re a little bit ahead of schedule, I still feel like with all the talent, the way they’re built and how smart they’re being, this is a new feeling. We’re feeling like, OK, we can get used to this now; we deserve to be here; we don’t have to be grateful to the hockey gods (he laughed when I pointed out the Game 7 win in Tampa Bay and admitted they did have a hand in that one).
We’ve had so much heartbreak with those Cinderella runs that didn’t carry to the end, but this year, if they lose in this round or later, we can say that it’s ok, it’s part of the journey, the learning experience. We’ve got the same team next year, we’re not losing a bunch of guys to free agency or trades like P.K. that come out of nowhere, and we’re like, “What are we doing?” There are so many times when we were starting over again, hoping to luck our way into a championship. I don’t feel like it’s like that this time. It feels like the path is clear, and we have to stay on it.
THN: Who’s your favourite current Habs? If you liked Carbonneau, it’s probably Suzuki.
AS: Well, Suzuki has got a lot of weapons in his arsenal, but I like the way the whole team is structured. I love Hutson and his little, gritty work-hard ethic, and his love and passion for the game and all that. I love those guys, you know? I don’t really have a favorite. I think it’s all a very neat package; they all complement each other, and it’s a really good team vibe. It’s the best vibe I’ve ever seen.
THN: You’ve written a lot of songs about the Canadiens, 25 (Feels like 93), Rock the Sweater, and MTL Stand Up. How long was the creative process to write these songs?
AS: It’s funny because they all have varied in a way. Feels like ’93, I wrote it in like a few days, it all just came to me, and I just knocked it out. You know, at the time, I didn’t see it as “Oh, this is going to be some big project that will catapult me to another level of my career”. I just thought, okay, let me do a Habs song, and then it just took off and went viral. Sometimes I listen to the lyrics and tell myself that if I had just put a little extra thought into that lyric, I could have made it better. That’s how fast I got it out.
MTL Stand Up was similar, in a way. When we found out we were playing Boston that year, after the whole Pacioretty thing, I was very inspired by it, and it all just kind of came out.
Rock the Sweater is the one I spent the most time on. I had it ready a year before I released it. It was ready in 2013, but I didn’t feel good about that year. I thought we’d see if we got through the first round, but it didn’t happen. 2014 felt a lot better, and I was ready to go with it, but I had plenty of time to touch it up and perfect it. I invested significant time to ensure it was as good as I wanted it to be.
THN: You must have heard about Kyle Ivan, the Ottawa Senators fan who released a song for the Sens this year. Have you ever had the kind of backlash he experienced from the fan base?
AS: I’ve never had it from my own fan base, thank God, but of course you’re going to get comments like “oh this is corny” or “you cursed us”. That’s all very funny because it depends, right? How can the song not be a curse in the first round but become one in the second? It’s very selective how people use that. Obviously, that’s all very silly with the curse thing, but mostly, I would get a backlash from the other team’s fans. Like, Boston and Philly fans came at me.
For the Habs fans, I would say it’s been great. It’s been embraced. When 2021 came around, I got a flood of messages about redoing a song or putting out a new one. I was pretty shocked because it had been seven years since the last one, and people still wanted them. I thought that was my time, and someone else would come in, but no, people wanted to hear more of my stuff. That was a huge compliment for me, because it shows that I did something that endured, you know? And I’m experiencing it all again now. I get five to ten messages a day. It’s great.
But I feel for the kid, because it’s a very hard thing to pull off, why did mine manage to endure or take off? I couldn’t even tell you the difference. I know that, whatever the reason, it didn’t hit the way he wanted to. There are a lot of other songs that are out now, and I’ve seen the backlash, and I’m like, wow, it’s all for fun, guys. People take it very seriously, and as a country and as a province, we take hockey very seriously, so if you’re going to go in there and you’re going to represent, you better represent right or hit the right note. Obviously, he did not, but compliments to him, he was a very good sport about it. He didn’t run from it. He did the little thing where they sent him to Taiwan, so good for him. But it does show that it’s a very hard thing to do; not many people can do it. Fans will turn on you very quickly in the Internet age.
THN: How close are you to releasing a new version then?
AS: In the same way that the first Rock the Sweater, I had something planned, I have something planned. We’ll see if we can get through the Buffalo Sabres, and if not, it might have to wait another year.
THN: Who’s the goalie of the future for you, Jacob Fowler or Jakub Dobes?
AS: Oh man, I always thought it was Fowler, of course, but then when I see what Dobes is doing…He’s a combination of Halak and Price. I remember the first kind of little run he went on and telling my friends there was something about that guy; it’s not just a hot goalie, it just seems like he’s got something that could last. Then he went through a slump, and I thought, maybe I was wrong, but I feel like that was reconfirmed now in the Tampa series. I think there’s something to him. I think they’re going to have to decide who has more value on the market, and they’ll have to say, “If we can get the essential piece that we think we’re missing in the future”, one of these guys, kind of doesn’t matter which one goes, because it looks like they both have a great future. I think it’s going to be what their value is on the market, and hit it while it’s hot.
THN: One last one, are you worried at all about Cole Caufield’s lack of production so far?
AS: I’m a little worried. I thought at first, no, I’m not worried because I remember 2021, I think the guy went through three rounds, and he never stopped scoring. Maybe when he got to Tampa, it fell off a little bit in the Final, and that’s why I was thinking “Well, Tampa knows how to play him, I guess.” So it’s only been one game [against Buffalo], and he looked a little better last game, so I’m concerned, but I really think once he finds his groove, you’re going to start seeing an explosion of goals. I hope it happens soon because we need him.
There you have it, Habs fans, you read it here first, there could be a new version of a Habs anthem coming your way shortly, courtesy of Annakin Slayd.
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